As easyJet has canceled a series of flights, families’ summer holidays have been devastated and jeopardized – as scheduled trips to and from several UK airports have been canceled
A British couple have been stranded in Montenegro after their easyJet flight back to Gatwick Airport was cancelled.
Nathan Barnes, 31, and his 30-year-old wife Rachel were due to return from the popular tourist destination on Thursday morning, but their flight was one of several cancelled at short notice by the budget airline. They received the devastating news despite checking in at Tivat Airport in the south-west of the country.
Nathan told the Mirror exclusively: “It was the most stressful holiday of our lives. We were all left with no food or water, no easyJet reps or updated information.
“We had a flight booked to fly back to Gatwick at Tivat Airport in Montenegro with easyJet at 11am. We arrived early as the airport is extremely busy and cannot cope with everyone. We arrived at 8am and checked in as usual. We waited in the departure lounge but the flight was delayed several times. Around midday we were informed that a bird strike had caused damage to the aircraft which required inspection but would be resolved shortly.
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“Around 2 or 3 pm we were told by the pilot himself that the plane could not fly and that they are waiting for an engineer or expert to fly to Milan and that we will have to stay overnight and fly in the morning when the plane is fixed. Then we had to go back through security and baggage claim and wait in the terminal for an update on a bus and accommodation for 170 people. We were left for hours with no update or help from airport or easyJet staff.”
Nathan says that there were elderly people in the group who had to wait at the airport for several hours. By this time he and Rachel had decided to book an alternative flight to Gatwick from nearby Podrica airport, finding and paying for a hotel themselves and spending money on taxis. However, this flight, on a different airline, was cancelled this morning and the £600 that Nathan and Rachel had spent was lost.
Nathan continued: “All the money we spent – over £600 on a motel, taxi and new flights – was wasted and then we got a message from easyJet saying our rescheduled flight was at 6pm today. We took a taxi back to Tivat. that was another £100 euros (about £84) and a one hour and thirty minute drive back to the original airport to catch the rescheduled 6pm flight.
“Many elderly people had to wait for hours, easyJet eventually got people into hotels but not until around 7pm which meant they had already been at the airport for 11 hours before they were attended to.
‘There was a group of pensioners in their 60s, 70s and 80s who were left to fend for themselves for hours on end. I’ve heard they were eventually taken to a hotel, but that may have been their tour operator, not easyJet.
“One elderly person was supposed to have an eye operation, but it has now been canceled due to the flight delay. Luckily we also had Friday off, but many other people had to go back yesterday. I just hope we can go home today.
“We also learned that the original aircraft that was damaged in the bird strike had already taken passengers on board and that one of them had noticed the damage, not the crew.”
Speaking about Nathan and Rachel’s experience, an easyJet spokesperson told us: “EasyJet can confirm that flight EZY6544 from Tivat to London Gatwick was rescheduled overnight on 27 June to 28 June due to a bird strike, meaning the original aircraft was unable to operate.
“We operate our fleet strictly in accordance with regulations and have procedures in place to ensure any issues are identified. We have done everything we can to minimise the impact of the delay, providing hotel accommodation and meals to those who required them and we would like to apologise to customers for any inconvenience caused. The safety of our passengers and crew is easyJet’s highest priority.”
Further flights to and from Britain were cancelled, although the budget airline said this was due to “traffic control restrictions” across Europe.
It said: “Due to the impact of the air traffic control restrictions in place across Europe yesterday, like all airlines operating in European airspace, some of our flights were unable to operate, with some knock-on impact on today’s operation.
“We are doing everything we can to minimize the impact for our customers. We are offering hotel accommodation and meals, as well as a refund or a transfer to an alternative flight. In addition, we inform customers that they will be reimbursed for the costs incurred, if they had to make their own arrangements.”