Family had to sleep on airport f loor af ter 26-hour jet delay ... and were given just £5 each
A FAMILY were given just a few euros in spending money and forced to sleep on an airport floor as their flight home was delayed for almost 26 hours.
Retired businessman Martin Lockett, 70, had enjoyed a ten-day halfterm holiday with a 20-plus group of family and friends on the Costa Adeje in Tenerife.
But when the group, including his three young grandchildren, set out to fly home they were told their Monarch flight had technical difficulties.
Passengers were promised overnight accommodation as the delay got longer, but airline staff were unable to find rooms because of the size of his party. So instead, the group – the youngest aged two – had to spend the night huddled on coats and towels on the cold, hard floor of the arrivals lounge after being given just £5.24 (six euros) each.
Eventually they were all allowed on board a flight back – but it was to Birmingham, 90 miles from their planned destination of Manchester, so they had to finish their nightmare journey by bus.
After taking legal action against Monarch, Mr Lockett has now been awarded £349 compensation. The rest of his party is likely to receive similar pay-outs – a potential total of £6,976.
Yesterday Mr Lockett, who ran a business hiring out entertainment equip- ment, said their experience last October had been horrendous. The grandfather from Crewe, Cheshire, said: ‘It went wrong as soon as we boarded the plane.
‘The cabin crew told us that the plane had arrived with a fault, then the captain came on and said there was a problem with a generator and we would be taken off the plane and a coach would pick us up and take us to overnight accommodation.
‘We went back into the airport and were left in the arrivals area, there were no coaches, no hotels, we were given a six euro voucher and left there overnight.’
He added: ‘I’m 70 and I was sleeping on the cold hard floors with my grandchildren, the youngest of which is two.
‘We weren’t even allowed access to our luggage to get medication for the children and my heart tablets.’ Their flight was scheduled to depart at about 8.30pm, meaning that once they were taken off the stranded plane it was around midnight.
Finally after 26 hours of waiting, and with the plane still not fixed, Monarch staff put the family on an alternative flight to Birmingham, providing them with transport to Manchester.
Mr Lockett said: ‘The airport staff were so obnoxious, telling us we weren’t booked on a flight back when Monarch were saying we were.’
He said it was a ‘shocking experience’. ‘Eventually we got on a plane and ended up in Birmingham. It was seemed like it took forever and was so frustrating.
‘I’m an ex-rock climber so I can sleep pretty much anywhere, but to see the children having to sleep on the floor was awful. When they offered us a plane to Birmingham we said yes – after what we’d gone through we’d have caught a flight to Afghanistan to get out of there.’
Kevin Clarke, from Bott and Co Solicitors, which is representing the family, said: ‘This is one of the worst cases I’ve seen ... Like all airlines, Monarch are well aware of the rules on flight delays.’
He added: ‘It’s up to the airlines to have alternative arrangements in place to fly passengers home when technical problems do happen.’ A Monarch spokesman said its staff tried to find a hotel, but because the island was so busy and the party so large they were unsuccessful.
He added that the group were entitled to £15.70 each while at the airport, even though they were only given £5.24 each.
The spokesman went on: ‘We did everything we could to source hotel accommodation, but none was available for the size of his party; hence putting him and his family and friends on another flight that departed sooner.’
‘The airport staff were so obnoxious’