UK family's airport ordeal: EasyJet cancellation chaos
3:58 PM EDT, October 15, 2024
A family from the United Kingdom, whose return flight from vacation was suddenly canceled, spent two nights on the airport floor. Additional issues and a lack of assistance from the airline turned their journey home into a nightmare.
Lowri Gallagher, her partner, and two young children—a one-year-old and a two-year-old—were returning from a vacation in Majorca. Their flight, operated by easyJet, was canceled just a few hours before departure due to bad weather conditions and issues at Palma de Mallorca airport.
Flight canceled, what next?
The family arrived at the airport at 2:00 PM EDT, and their plane was scheduled to take off at 7:20 PM EDT. However, the easyJet app notified them of the flight cancellation just an hour later. On-site, they received no specific instructions, which caused them concern. The carrier only informed them to wait for more information.
It was mid-August, so hotel prices exceeded $1,800 per night, and they decided to spend the night at the airport. The younger child slept in a stroller, and they stayed on the floor with the older one. Gallagher recalls being forced to borrow diapers for her son and spending a significant amount of money on food and drinks at airport outlets.
The airline eventually offered them a flight the next day at 9:30 AM EDT. Unfortunately, they were informed of another delay, and ultimately their second flight was also canceled. The lack of any assistance from easyJet forced the family to look for alternatives on their own.
Eventually, the family found another flight to the United Kingdom, but to a different destination airport. The cost of the new ticket was almost $730. The family also paid for local transportation afterward, as they landed almost 310 miles from home.
Upon returning home, Gallagher contacted easyJet, trying to obtain reimbursement for additional costs, which she emphasized amounted to nearly $1,220. After six weeks of struggling with the airline, they received only $290 in the form of a voucher. "I will never fly easyJet again, and the voucher is worth nothing," she admitted in a conversation with British media.
A representative from easyJet told the Daily Star that the carrier apologized to the family and offered a cash refund instead of the initially offered voucher.
