180 passengers sat on a plane for six hours after poor weather conditions meant it couldn’t depart from John Lennon Airport
22:59, 08 Jan 2025Updated 23:03, 08 Jan 2025
Matthew Morrison and his partner, Claire(Image: Submitted)
Snow and ice plunged Liverpool John Lennon Airport into chaos yesterday causing hours of delays. One holidaymaker claimed to have experienced the “flight from hell” after he was delayed for more than six hours.
Matthew Morrison was travelling from Liverpool John Lennon Airport to Malta with his partner, Claire, for a one-week holiday he had “worked all year” to pay for. The flight had been scheduled to depart at 11.45am, but it was not airborne until more than six hours later at 6.40pm yesterday evening, January 7.
Matthew, from Thornton, told the ECHO that easyJet had warned passengers about disruptions due to ice and snow, but had not responded to messages on Facebook or online. He said: “We had no idea what was going on, we got told nothing. Even customer service at John Lennon Airport hadn’t replied.
“The captain told us our plane was supposed to be defrosted at 1pm, but noone came. Five other planes got defrosted and we just sat at the terminal watching everyone else take off. There was only one defrost truck in operation. The captain said ‘easyJet let you down’, his words.”
Matthew added that all 180 passengers on the plane “lacked basic human rights” while they were stuck onboard the easyJet aircraft for over six hours. The 53-year-old said it was “stifling” on the plane due to safety rules preventing aircraft doors being opened.
Matthew who is a hospitality teacher in a prison, said: “Hospitality and basic human rights were lacking [yesterday]. We got one twirl and one cup of coffee the whole time we were sat on the flight. Kids were starving, everybody was very hungry and anxious.”
After around five hours had passed, the original crew had to be replaced by a new crew, which delayed the flight even further. Matthew added: “You work all year for a cheap holiday. It’s ruined at least one full day.”
According to easyJet, as the cause of the delay was due to poor weather conditions, in line with regulations compensation is not due. A spokesperson for easyJet said: “Due to the closure of Liverpool Airport yesterday due to snow on the runway, fight EZY3439 from Liverpool to Malta was delayed awaiting de-icing which meant the aircraft was unable to be de-iced sufficiently to depart safely. Once the aircraft was de-iced, the aircraft departed safely to Malta.
“While this was outside of our control, we did all possible to minimise the impact of the delay and provided a complementary service onboard. We are very sorry to customers for the inconvenience caused as a result of the weather and thank them for their patience and understanding. The safety and wellbeing of customers and crew is always easyJet’s highest priority.”
A spokesperson for Liverpool John Lennon Airport said: “The airport isn’t responsible for the de-icing of aircraft, this operation is undertaken by handling agents on behalf of the airlines, however we are aware of long de-icing delays yesterday and our airlines are addressing this directly with their handling agents.
“Yesterday was challenging with heavy snow early in the morning followed by short bursts of sleet, snow and hail throughout the day making conditions for de-icing difficult. The airport itself opened its runway and taxiways for operational use just after 10am after a concerted effort to reopen after the weather overnight.
“Safety is our number one priority and the airport and will only ever re-open when it is absolutely certain that all necessary surfaces are in an appropriate condition for operations to recommence.”