A woman says she was left stranded in Turkey after easyJet cancelled her flight at the gate before sending more than 150 passengers to a hotel that allegedly did not have enough rooms.
Macy Neve Flye, 22, was due to fly from Dalaman to Bristol when her flight was delayed and eventually cancelled because of a technical problem.
The teaching assistant, from Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, claims passengers only discovered the flight had been axed after being told to check their emails while waiting at the gate.
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Macy was travelling with her boyfriend and three members of his family, including a five-year-old.
Some members of the group have coeliac disease, diabetes and ADHD.
The family have since been split between two replacement flights departing on Thursday (27 August) and Friday (28 August).
It means some of the group will have spent almost a week waiting to get home following the cancellation in the early hours of Saturday (22 August).
“Being stranded has been nothing but stress, anger and confusion,” Macy told What’s The Jam.
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“We’ve honestly felt clueless about what we were meant to do.
“It’s been the worst experience we’ve ever had.”
The flight had originally been due to take off at around 11:25pm.
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But Macy said the family were still waiting at the gate at around 12:30am as staff awaited clearance from the captain.
Passengers were then reportedly instructed to check their emails, where they discovered the flight had been cancelled.
Macy said: “The communication was so poor.
“We found out through our emails that it was cancelled before anyone actually told us.
“Then they said it was because of a technical issue.”
Macy claimed the easyJet app was initially inaccessible and passengers were repeatedly told to try again after half an hour.
While some travellers managed to secure flights for the following day, she said her family was left without a clear route home.
She said: “We felt so stressed, alone and overwhelmed because we didn’t know what to do.
“We were left with no information at all.”
Passengers were eventually put on a coach and taken to a hotel.
Macy said the driver told everyone to get off because it was where they had been booked to stay.
But she claims the hotel did not have enough rooms to accommodate the group of more than 150 stranded passengers.
She said: “Thankfully, the hotel manager helped us and arranged another transfer, and we were eventually given somewhere to stay.”
The family are now staying in Dalyan while waiting for their replacement flights.
Macy said: “As you can imagine, it has just been awful and stressful.
“We had budgeted for a two-week holiday.
“We obviously didn’t think we would need enough money for practically another week.
“EasyJet’s communication has been nothing but disgraceful.
“No one checked in with us and we kept having the phone put down on us.
“This experience has made us not want to fly with them again.”
The family have been advised to keep receipts so they can claim back additional expenses incurred during the disruption.
EasyJet confirmed the flight was cancelled after the aircraft experienced a technical problem.
The airline said it arranged hotel accommodation and meals and would reimburse the family for expenses.
It said alternative flights with other airlines and indirect routes were extremely limited because of the busy summer travel period.
Some members of the family were therefore given seats on a flight on 27 August, with the remainder booked to travel the following day.
An easyJet spokesperson said: “We are very sorry that Ms Flye and her family’s flight from Dalaman to Bristol was unable to operate due to the aircraft experiencing a technical issue.
“The safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew is our highest priority and we have been doing all we can to support the family, including providing hotel accommodation and meals.
“Alternative flight options including with other airlines are very limited at this busy time of year and so while we have transferred the family onto the next available flights this week, we are sorry for the difficulty caused by the delay returning home.
“We are in touch with the family to apologise for their experience and reimburse them for any expenses incurred.”
