A bride-to-be’s EasyJet flight to Italy for her wedding was cancelled at the last minute after she was one of thousands caught in the chaos at air traffic control.
Sarah Machete, 41, from Dundee, was excited as she planned to travel from Edinburgh Airport to Naples at 6am yesterday morning for her big day.
But just as she was about to leave for the airport, she was told by EasyJet that the flight had been cancelled. Her only option was another flight two days later, on Saturday.
It came as easyJet canceled a raft of flights at short notice, throwing families’ holiday plans into disarray. Passengers reported being sent home when flights were halted, throwing their travel plans into turmoil, while others were stranded abroad.
Holidaymakers complained about the lack of available information, while others reported spending hours on planes that didn’t even leave the ground. The airline said ATC restrictions due to bad weather had led to disruption to its network.
Ms Machete claimed that easyJet’s customer service team gave ‘zero s***s’ about her situation, but she eventually reorganised her travel to fly to London Luton last night, stayed in a hotel and was then given a new 6.15am flight from Luton to London-Naples today.
She also said that easyJet had confirmed a booking for a hotel in Luton last night, but the airline then sent her an email saying that this booking had also been cancelled.
Her new flight left at just before 7am this morning, but Ms Machete complained that she lost 24 hours of her trip, a night in a villa she had booked and ‘a lot of stress at a time when we didn’t need it at all, because easyJet’s incompetence’.
Sarah Machete, 41, was excited as she planned to travel from Edinburgh Airport to Naples for her wedding at 6am yesterday morning. But it was canceled at the last minute
Ms Machete’s flight from Edinburgh to Naples was one of 18 easyJet flights cancelled at the airport yesterday, with a further three cancelled at Glasgow Airport.
Other flights cancelled from Edinburgh yesterday included those to Kefalonia, Dubrovnik and Amsterdam, as well as domestic routes to London Stansted, Gatwick and Birmingham.
Incoming flights from all these destinations and Naples were also canceled in Edinburgh, as were flights from Bodrum and Heraklion.
The three flights affected in Glasgow were an arrival and departure flight to Enfidha-Hamamet and a service to Malaga.
In a series of tweets, just after midnight yesterday, Ms Machete said: ‘I’m waiting to go to the airport for my 6am flight to Italy! It’s wedding time!’
But at 8.30am she wrote: ‘So…was about to leave for the airport for our flight to Naples for our wedding and got a message from easyJet saying our flight has been cancelled. Response from easyJet…. Your only option is the Saturday flight! No s*** from their customer service.’
And at 9am she added: ‘Now I have to catch a flight to Luton tonight and catch the 6am flight to Naples tomorrow morning.
‘A whole 24 hours of my trip wasted, a whole night wasted in the villa and a lot of stress at a time when we didn’t need it because of easyJet’s incompetence. No confidence that it won’t happen again!’
Then at 10.30pm Miss Machete wrote: ‘And despite easyJet confirming a booking for the hotel in Luton tonight, they have now emailed to say it has been cancelled! easyJet please explain this!’
Another man who had been on the same flight as Miss Machete from Edinburgh to Naples said two days of his holiday had been cancelled because of the last-minute cancellation.
The passenger, named Ian, tweeted yesterday morning: ‘EasyJet have cancelled our flight from Edinburgh to Naples and rebooked us, losing almost two days of our holiday. Why aren’t we booked on another airline to take us to Naples today?’
And Guy Houston arrived at Glasgow Airport at 5am with his family for a package holiday to Tunisia. Only 65 minutes before departure were they told that their flight would not depart.
EasyJet passengers were left stranded at Lanzarote airport last night due to disruptions
He told the Daily Record the family had been informed the flight had been cancelled due to storms and there were no easyJet staff to assist.
Elsewhere, a passenger named Kate complained about being stuck at Bristol Airport for seven hours, ruining her Turkish holiday. She had had to exchange the sun in Dalaman for a drive to Cornwall.
She told MailOnline that passengers boarded the plane and waited on the tarmac for an hour before being told their flight had been cancelled.
“Apparently three flights to Dalaman have been canceled this week,” she said. ‘There were rumors that it was a personnel problem, but they must have known hours in advance. The flight was already delayed.
“The crew had boarded at 4:00 PM and they waited until 5:10 PM to cancel. The systems are broken.’
Instead of enjoying the sun in Dalaman, Kate is now driving to Cornwall for her holiday.
EasyJet said it had done “everything possible” to minimise the impact of the disruption on passengers
She added: ‘I am sure that all the Turkish lira we bought will increase in value. It is a scam. All you really want is honesty, clear communication and human interaction.’
At Liverpool Airport, John Done and his partner had been in the terminal for five hours when they were told at the gate that their flight to Cyprus had been cancelled. The couple lost three nights of their all-inclusive holiday.
He said: ‘Myself and my partner were at Liverpool Airport for five hours today only to be told at the gate that the flight had been canceled without notice or explanation. I had to book with Jet2 for Sunday and reschedule the rental car we were going to pick up. It’s disgusting.’
At Manchester Airport, Bev and Wayne Holland were told their flight to Malaga was delayed by five hours, but were then told the flight had been cancelled and they would only receive £3 in meal vouchers.
They said, ‘Our flight was supposed to leave at 5pm and this morning we got a message that the flight was delayed by an hour, which quickly turned into 5 hours. Yet we were clearly instructed to just check in.’
Flights from Glasgow and Edinburgh airports were canceled by the airline at short notice
‘Once in the lounge we had to deal with a significant delay, the flight was scheduled for 10 p.m. Around 4:30 PM we saw the flight showing on the screen as canceled.
‘EasyJet says this was beyond their control. The fact that they knew this morning that the flight was delayed, how could that be beyond their control.”
The chaos has also left people stranded abroad, because return flights have been removed from the timetable.
Tracey Thomas told MailOnline that her daughter’s birthday trip to Rhodes had ended in disaster after she and her friends were told their flight back to Luton had been canceled three hours after departure.
She said they were stuck at Rhodes airport at 1am because the crew was late.
Emma Ford and her partner Paul said their holiday in Lanzarote was ‘tainted’ after they and Paul’s mother were stranded on the Canary Island for five days.
Their original flight home on Sunday was canceled after a power outage at Manchester Airport.
They were offered an alternative flight to Liverpool on Wednesday evening after spending money on accommodation, but the airline was also forced to cancel the replacement flight. They are still waiting for the airline to rebook them on another flight.
Ms Ford told MailOnline: ‘We feel like we are in Groundhog Day. We go to the airport and the same thing keeps happening. Tonight they didn’t give us any information on the phone. All we hear, it’s like it’s their catchphrase, is ‘wait for an email.’
EasyJet said it has done ‘everything possible’ to minimize the impact of the disruption on passengers. The company said the disruption was due to air traffic control restrictions.
A spokesman said: ‘We regret that the impact of the ATC restrictions on the network yesterday, caused by bad weather, meant that some aircraft were not in position this morning and as a result some flights to and from Edinburgh and Glasgow could not operate.
“We have done everything we can to minimize the impact for our customers and have offered customers whose flights were canceled the opportunity to rebook their flights or receive a refund. We have also arranged hotel accommodation and meals if required.
‘The safety and wellbeing of customers and crew is easyJet’s highest priority and we would like to apologise to customers for any inconvenience caused as a result of the weather.’
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