A “raging” man has vowed never to fly with easyJet again after an “absolute nightmare” left him hundreds of pounds out of pocket.
Michael Doran, 21, and his partner Jess Anderson claim they were stranded in Paris from January 5 to January 7 after their initial flight back to the UK, heading from Paris Charles Gaulle Airport to Liverpool John Lennon Airport, was cancelled due to heavy snowfall.
The weather conditions led the temporary closure of the airport in Speke and Michael slammed the low-budget airline for only paying for one night of accommodation, Liverpool Echo reported. He claims they were left £250 out of pocket after they had to pay for two extra nights accomodation.
The couple and some other affected passengers did book a flight on January 6 heading to Manchester Airport. However, passengers were told at the airport that the flight was being diverted to London Gatwick.
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easyJet has apologised to the couple
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Image:
AFP via Getty Images)
That flight was then cancelled and Michael said the reason given by the airline was that the passengers refused to get on. However, he said passengers were not given a choice, adding that he and his partner would have taken this flight back to the UK.
It is understood that, due to air traffic control restrictions in Manchester because of the weather, the rebooked flight had to be re-routed. The operating crew would have been unable to fly as far as Manchester as to do so would have meant they would be outside of their regulated flying hours. After being contacted by the ECHO, easyJet has said it will reimburse the couple for these costs.
Michael, who said he is going to write a formal letter of complaint, said: “All together we had to spend £252.69. We’d spent three days on our anniversary. It’s a good job that we had a bit of money together between us. Otherwise we’d have been stranded.
“For the first three days we had the best time ever [in Paris]. Afterwards – I’ve never suffered from anxiety before but I was raging. We weren’t getting any answers from easyJet.
“I’m very annoyed. I’m out of pocket by over £200 and it’s not even the middle of the month. This complaint process and the refund won’t happen overnight. My partner’s lost money because she couldn’t go to work and it’s been classed as unauthorised leave. It’s not ideal.”
Michael claims passengers were not given a choice on whether to get on the rescheduled flight on Tuesday January 7 before it was then cancelled. He says he and his partner would have taken this flight.
Michael said: “I think easyJet has massively messed up by sending that plane away empty. Plenty of us were happy to go to Gatwick but we were given no choice. It was cancelled. It was an absolute nightmare.
Their initial flight back to the UK, heading from Paris Charles Gaulle Airport to Liverpool John Lennon Airport, was cancelled due to heavy snowfall
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Andrew Teebay/Liverpool Echo)
“I don’t think I’m ever going to use easyJet again. I’ve got another holiday booked in May with an easyJet flight. I’m looking to change the flights for that.”
In response to Michael’s claims, an easyJet spokesperson said: “We are very sorry that Mr Doran and his partner’s flights from Paris to Liverpool on 5th January and to Manchester on 7th January were unable to operate due to adverse weather, resulting in the closure of both Liverpool and Manchester Airports.
“We informed customers prior to departure their flight from Paris to Manchester on January 7 was required to divert to London Gatwick and that onward travel arrangements to Manchester would be provided.
“Initially customers chose not to travel and by the time they agreed, the aircraft needed to depart to protect further flights planned. We did all possible to minimise the disruption and contacted customers to offer an alternative flight to Manchester.
“We also provided hotel accommodation and meals for the first night and because the couple also arranged their own accommodation for the remainder of their stay we will reimburse this and any other expenses they incurred. The safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew is easyJet’s highest priority and while this was outside of our control, we are sorry for the inconvenience caused.”