Passengers spend night on floor as their flight home after holiday is cancelled
IN scenes resembling the Third World, exhausted tourists settle down on an aiport floor for the night after their flight home to Tyneside was canclled.
A TUI plane punctured two tyres on the runway at Fuerteventura’s airport, which left it closed for several hours.
Dozens of flights were disrupted including a Jet2 flight to Newcastle which was due to depart the Spanish island at 9.30pm on Monday.
Around 200 people who were due to board the plane were ushered into an arrivals lounge and spent the night sleeping on the floor, passengers said.
Longbenton grandma Brenda Prior, 69, and her wheelchair-using sister Iris Mowett, 73, spent an uncomfortable night on the airport floor with no information from Jet2 staff.
“We were told there would be a delay when we checked in but didn’t think it would be anything like this,” she said.
“There’s around 200 of us waiting, the plane that was supposed to take us home was diverted to Lanzarote so we’re just waiting.
“At around half three the Jet2 staff disappeared and we’ve just been left, it’s shocking really, my sister is in a wheelchair and there’s little ones all lying on the floor.
“We’ve been given €20 for food and water but that’s only got us a sandwich. It’s shocking, it’s not good enough.” Lisa Henderson, 33, from Consett, has been stranded with her almost two-year-old baby and her partner overnight. She said: “We’ve ran out of nappies and I was told just to ask for some from other parents. “No one knows what is going on, there are cockroaches crawling on the floor and we’ve had to break into the cafe to get milk for our babies. It’s been 12 hours now with no food or sleep and there’s no assistance.” A spokesperson for Jet2 said it had been unable to secure overnight accommodation for the stranded passengers on Monday night and apologised for the situation. They said yesterday: “Due to an incident involving another airline at Fuerteventura Airport, the runway was closed for several hours, causing major disruption to all airlines flying to and from Fuerteventura. As a result, our scheduled LS522 flight to Newcastle was unable to depart. “Despite our best efforts, we were unable to source suitable accommodation at such short notice, however we will be taking our customers to a hotel today where lunch and day room facilities will be available before their flight at 5pm. “We apologise to all affected customers for any inconvenience caused by these extraordinary circumstances, which were beyond our control.”
We were told there would be a delay when we checked in but didn’t think it would be anything like this Brenda Prior