EasyJet flight chaos leaves pals stuck 1,300 miles away from home making them miss graduation party
TWO friends caught up in the easyJet flight chaos were forced to miss their graduation party after being marooned 1,300 miles away from home.
Paige Smith and her housemate Zach claim they were stranded in Majorca after their original flight to Manchester was cancelled on the morning they were due to fly.
The pair awoke to the bad news at the end of a short mini break to the popular Spanish island.
They were told by the airline that their only option would be to catch the next available flight the following day as they were given a hotel room for the night.
But the cancellation meant the two pals were forced to miss their long-awaited graduation party with friends.
Paige also claims she had her work shifts “messed around” with as she was set to meet with important clients.
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She told : “Our initial flight back was on the Friday, and we were supposed to get back to Manchester Airport at 1.30pm, and were planning to go to our friends' graduation party as all the people we live with are students.
“When I woke up, I checked my emails and saw there was a message from easyJet at around 4am telling us the flight was cancelled.
"We had rushed around that morning and were about to leave to go the airport when luckily, I checked my emails. Off the bat, we didn't know what to do, and I was meant to be at the work on Saturday too."
Disappointed about missing their party, the pair were told by easyJet that their next flight would depart on Saturday at 9.15pm.
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However, the next day, Paige claims the airline's mobile app kept predicting different departure times due to various delays.
The plane, which had been completing other journeys to and from Manchester Airport that day, was delayed after arriving at the airport later than planned due to "air traffic control restrictions".
The pair did not land back in Manchester until the early hours of Sunday morning - two days later than planned.
Paige said: "At this point we just wanted to get home. easyJet had been really good to be fair and their app was really simple to use for them to book us into another hotel, I just couldn't help but think that delays at Manchester Airport could have also had something to do with it.
"When we woke up on the Saturday morning, the app kept giving me different times and it kept being pushed back. But, it still told us to check in at 7.15pm at Palma airport, so we had to do that to be sure.
“The plane was late arriving at Palma from Manchester, and we didn't leave until almost 12 am that night.
"Thank goodness we only took hand luggage. “
TRAVEL CHAOS
A spokesman for easyJet said: “We’re sorry that Ms Smith’s flight from Palma to Manchester on 1 April was cancelled, due to unusually high levels of crew sickness.
“We did all possible to minimise the impact of the disruption for customers and provided the option of a free transfer to an alternative flight, or a voucher or a refund, as well as arranging hotel accommodation and meals for customers where required.
"While Ms Smith was able to rebook herself onto an alternative flight the following day, unfortunately the flight was delayed as a result of Air Traffic Control restrictions on a previous flight the aircraft was operating, which resulted in the flight arriving in Manchester later than scheduled.
“While this was outside of our control we’re very sorry for the inconvenience caused by the subsequent delay.”
It comes as the popular budget airline was today forced to cancel more flights due to staff shortages caused by Covid.
Travel experts believe the chaos is expected to continue this weekend with cops set to be drafted in to control frustrated passengers at airports.
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Police are to be drafted in to Manchester Airport to help solve the crisis after the boss quit after days of travel chaos and warnings passengers will face delays for months to come.
This weekend is expected to be the busiest travel weekend of the year so far with thousands of Brits planning on jetting off for the Easter holidays.
