Stranded family sleep on airport floor after easyJet chaos
A family from the United Kingdom, whose return flight from their holiday was suddenly cancelled, spent two nights on the airport floor. Further complications and lack of assistance from the airline turned their journey home into a nightmare.
Lowri Gallagher, along with her partner and two young children—a one-year-old and a two-year-old—were returning from a holiday in Mallorca. Their flight, operated by easyJet, was cancelled just a few hours before departure due to bad weather and issues at Palma de Mallorca airport.
Flight cancelled - what next?
The family arrived at the airport at 19:00, and their plane was scheduled to depart at 23:20. However, just an hour later, the easyJet app notified them of the flight cancellation. They received no specific instructions on-site, which left them anxious. The airline only informed them to wait for more information.
It was mid-August, so hotel prices exceeded £1,500 per night, prompting them to stay at the airport. The younger child slept in a buggy, and they, along with the older child, slept on the floor. Gallagher recalls being forced to borrow nappies for her son and spending a fortune on food and drinks at the airport outlets.
The airline eventually offered them a flight for the next day at 14:30. Unfortunately, they were informed of another delay, and ultimately their second flight was also cancelled. The lack of any help from easyJet forced the family to seek alternatives on their own.
Eventually, the family found another flight to the UK, but it was to a different destination airport. The cost of the new tickets was nearly £600. The family also had to pay for local transport afterwards, as they landed nearly 300 miles from home.
Upon returning to the UK, Gallagher contacted easyJet, seeking a refund for the additional costs, which - she emphasised - amounted to nearly £1,000. After six weeks of correspondence with the airline, they only received £240 in the form of a voucher. "I will never fly with easyJet again, and the voucher is worthless," she admitted in an interview with the British media.
An easyJet representative, speaking to the Daily Star, stated that the airline apologised to the family and offered a cash refund instead of the initially provided voucher.
