Passengers were left stranded at Tenerife airport ‘without accommodation’ after their easyJet flight was delayed by 22 hours.
Southport residents Derek and Meryl Hesketh were scheduled to fly back to Manchester Airport from the Spanish island on Saturday evening at 8.30pm. However, an afternoon email from easyJet informed them that their flight had been ‘delayed overnight’ and they would instead depart at 6.30pm on Sunday.
This delay was due to air traffic control restrictions implemented because of heavy fog causing disruptions at airports across the UK, including Manchester. Derek, 59, and Meryl, 56, who is disabled, claimed they were told in the email from easyJet that ‘we would like to offer you a hotel room for the night if you need one’ and to ‘speak to our ground crew who will be happy to help you.’
It advised passengers against booking their own accommodation as they wouldn’t be able to recoup the cost. However after checking out of their rental villa and handing back the keys to their hire car, the couple claimed they were told by easyJet staff that there was ‘nothing they could do’ for them.
EasyJet has apologised for the inconvenience to passengers who were booked on the flight and said it had to be delayed due to ‘adverse weather’ in the UK.
The flight was delayed due to the impact of fog across the UK
Derek told the M.E.N at the time: “When we eventually found some easyJet staff, which wasn’t easy, they said there was nothing they could do. They said they couldn’t book us any hotels. But we got there early and I don’t even think they had started trying.
“They are claiming everywhere is fully booked. It is busy on the island but I looked online and there were rooms, but they were very expensive, about £1,000 a night. I just don’t think they were willing to pay that for everyone. We certainly can’t afford that.
“We’re just waiting around to see what happens. But the staff have disappeared now. We’ve not been given any food or drinks vouchers as we were told we would be.
“There’s not even anywhere to sit, we’re just stood around. There’s loads of us here in the same boat. Elderly people, young kids, disabled people like my wife. I’m just hoping the airport don’t throw us out into the cold later as they’ve said they might.”
The easyJet flight was delayed by 22 hours
“I feel trapped and frustrated” Derek said. “The fog is fair enough, obviously they can’t do anything about that. But it’s the way we have been treated. We did what we were told, we came here and they’ve just left us in the lurch, it’s not on.”
An easyJet spokesperson said: “Due to the knock-on impact of adverse weather across the UK yesterday, flight EZY2008 from Tenerife to Manchester has been delayed overnight and rescheduled to operate tomorrow. The safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew is easyJet’s highest priority and while this is outside of our control, we are very sorry for the inconvenience this will have caused and our team in the airport are doing all they can to assist customers with their options for this evening.”
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