Travellers are left frustrated as lightning strike cancels NI flight
EASYJET has apologised to passengers after a flight from Paris to Belfast was cancelled due to the plane being damaged by lightning.
The airline said the safety of customers and crew was their highest priority after making the decision to cancel the flight from Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris to Belfast on Wednesday.
“We did everything possible to minimise the impact of the disruption for our customers, providing the option of transferring to another flight free of charge or receiving a refund,” easyJet said.
“While this is outside of our control, we would like to thank customers for their patience and apologise to them.”
Ciaran McGivern, from Glengormley, was on his honeymoon in Paris when the flight was cancelled.
“The ground staff kept referring us to the app and the app kept crashing,” Mr McGivern said.
“The app first said we could get a flight on Sunday and it filled up very quickly. It was getting to the point where we’d confirm a flight online and it
would say ‘sorry, there’s a problem’. I asked for a refund and the ground staff said if we made an alternative arrangement they would refund us and they just offered me £30, which was the cost of the flight on Monday.
“The last two flights on Aer Lingus to Dublin were £700.”
James Carson (26), from Donaghadee, said there was confusion at the airport after the flight was cancelled.
He discovered this by looking at the easyJet app and the next possible direct flight home with the carrier was a week later.
“The flight should have departed at 5.15pm, it was delayed until 9.45pm that evening and it
was actually 8.40pm when the flight was cancelled,” he said.
“It just came up on the display board, there was no announcement made to passengers.
“Whenever you asked for assistance you were just asked to review the application on your mobile phone.
“We then had to go through passport control but it was total chaos.
“Whenever we went through we were told you’re just going to have to book on to the next easyJet flight to Belfast, which was on Sunday.
“It was fully booked so it was going to be next Tuesday.
“Then it turned out it was going to be Thursday, August 8,” he said.
Mr Carson said he and his partner Rachel were told they would have to consider paying for flights with another airline when it turned out all the easyJet flights were booked.
“The prices were skyrocketing. We felt we were getting mixed information from easyJet about refunds.
“We managed to get a flight to Luton and we got a flight to Belfast, paid for by easyJet.
“Luckily, we didn’t have to spend anything ourselves.
“There were families there with kids. It was a terrible experience.”