Easyjet Tourists fume over holiday island stranding
AHOLIDAYMAKER stranded for a week when his return flight from Cyprus to Bristol was cancelled due to bad weather has slammed Easyjet after it “abandoned” passengers.
Stewart Scott claimed he was left more than £600 out of pocket after paying for extra accommodation, meals, transfers, airport parking and alternate flights after limited flight options meant he was unable to travel back to the UK.
Mr Scott, who lives in Somerset, was due to fly from Pathos to Bristol on the evening of March 8, but said that due to weather conditions in the UK, the departure kept getting pushed back until around 10.30pm, when it was abruptly cancelled.
Mr Scott claimed that by the time the announcement was made, there were no representatives from Easyjet at the airport, and said that the remaining terminal staff told him: “It’s nothing to do with us; you have to leave the airport.”
Mr Scott said: “I can understand the weather, but it’s the simple fact that at half-past ten at night they literally said, ‘Your flight’s been cancelled go to gate six at Pathos airport, collect your luggage.’ And bearing in mind the time, there was no help getting transport to hotels, no help to change to another flight.”
Despite family members back in the UK trying to help him secure another flight, Mr Scott, whose car was parked at Bristol Airport, was unable to get on a return flight until March 15 with airline Jet2. With no funds left to cover the last-minute extension, Mr Scott stayed in the cheapest accommodation he could find.
After much back and forth, Mr Scott said that Easyjet had refunded the majority, but not all, of his original return flight and has agreed to pay for his accommodation along with one taxi journey.
However, the airline has yet to decide whether it will refund him for his replacement return flight, he said.
The Post also spoke to another passenger from the same flight, who echoed Mr Scott’s experience. Julie Saunders from Wiltshire said: “We were just told to collect our bags and that we would have to book taxis, find our own hotel and our own way back to the hotel, and there weren’t any flights available. I just walked out the door and was in a complete panic. It was the first time I’d flown without my husband or family.”
Fortunately for Mrs Saunders, she had been on the island to visit her son and daughter-in-law, who were still nearby and able to lend her money and help book a very early Ryanair flight departing two days later to Stanstead Airport.
Upon her return, Mrs Saunders said her husband had to take time off work to pick her up at the airport and take her to Bristol to collect her car, costing him half a day’s wages, along with fuel and airport parking.
She estimates the price of her accommodation, taxis and the flight exceeded £500.
A spokesperson for Easyjet said: “Due to adverse weather conditions resulting in the closure of the runway at Bristol Airport, the flight from Paphos to Bristol on March 8 was unfortunately unable to operate.
“The safety and wellbeing of our customers is our highest priority and we did all possible to minimise the impact of the weather disruption, providing free re-booking options and securing hotel accommodation and meals for customers where possible.
“We know hotel accommodation and flight options on some routes to the UK were unfortunately limited at this time as a result of the weather disruption impacting all airlines and while this was outside of our control, we are sorry for difficulty this will have caused and we advised any customers who made their own arrangements that they would be reimbursed.”