The couple from Southport said ‘we did what we were told and they’ve just left us in the lurch, it’s not on.”
Passengers have been stranded at Tenerife airport ‘with no accommodation’ after their easyJet flight was delayed by 22 hours. Derek and Meryl Hesketh, from Southport, were due to fly to Manchester Airport from the Spanish island on at 8.30pm on Saturday evening with the airline.
However, they received an email from easyJet in the afternoon telling them their flight had been ‘delayed overnight’ and would now be departing at 6.30pm on Sunday – Manchester Evening News reports.
It comes as air traffic control restrictions were implemented due to the heavy fog caused disruption at airports across the UK, including in Manchester.
Derek, 59, and Meryl, 56, who is disabled, claim 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 Merseyside couple, claim 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. They added that they are doing all they can to assist customers with their options.
Derek said: “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 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.”
Restrictions at Manchester Airport were lifted on Saturday evening, and weren’t expected to return tomorrow, the airport confirmed to the Manchester Evening News earlier.
However the National Air Traffic Services (NATS), UK’s main air traffic control provider, has said temporary air restrictions would remain in place until Sunday in areas with low visibility with further fog forecast.
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.”