'Utter chaos' as EasyJet flight cancelled 'leaving passengers stranded for days'
A woman claims her family has been stranded in Spain for five days after EasyJet cancelled a flight at the last minute "causing utter chaos" with one mum even left without milk to feed her baby.
Sandra Niemczyk and her family were about to board their flight back to Manchester from Alicante, on April 13, when they were told it was cancelled as it allegedly had trouble with disruptive passengers on the incoming journey.
She said that she was told by EasyJet staff that police had met the aircraft on its arrival at Alicante following an incident, reported StokeonTrentLive.
While they frantically tried to find alternative flights, the earliest they could get with space for the party of seven was on April 18 - five days later than originally planned.
Sandra said her family was able to stay at her brother's accommodation in the Spanish resort but other passengers have been forced to sleep on the airport floor.
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Their flight home from Alicante was cancelled (stokesentinel)Retired Sandra, 57, continued: "Initially the flight kept saying delayed. There were lots of people queuing to board but then it was cancelled.
"Due to the issues on the way out, we were told staff needed a 10-hour break and that we could come back in the morning. But then they cancelled the flight altogether. In the end they just flew the plane back to Manchester empty.
"We were told to go back through passport control to the EasyJet desk and we would get another flight and a hotel. But we discovered they would only put you up if you had booked a package holiday with them. We were told we'd have to sort out accommodation ourselves.
"When I spoke to the EasyJet representative she just shrugged her shoulders when I asked what she was going to do to help.
"We are one of the lucky ones as my brother has a place out here so we had somewhere to go. There was a young girl in her mid 20s who only had £1 left in her bank account who couldn't afford to pay for a hotel.
"Another woman was in tears because she needed to get back to her kids. One passenger was supposed to be going to a wedding the next day and a man was supposed to be having a job interview.
"There was a family with a baby and a three-year-old and the mum had run out of milk. It was utter chaos.
"We tried to get another flight straight away but they had all gone. We're stuck here for five days. I've missed my son's birthday and my daughter was supposed to be starting a new job on Monday so she's had to ring them.
"We were left with little option. If we didn't go with EasyJet we'd have had to go via Amsterdam or London which would have made it a lot longer flight.
"This would have been at our own cost and we would have had to put in a claim. EasyJet basically just abandoned everyone."
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Sandra and her family had to pay for a seven-seater taxi back to her brother's accommodation and pay for their own living expenses for the five days, she claimed.
She refuses to accept EasyJet's explanation that the 'circumstances were beyond their control'.
Sandra added: "EasyJet has brought this on themselves as they allow stag dos on when they're already drunk and even sell alcohol on board. Apparently this group had taken their own alcohol on the plane and some were smoking and vaping. Nine police officers met them at Alicante after staff were threatened.
"EasyJet are trying to get out of it by saying it's exceptional circumstances but it's of their own making. The seats are sold cheap and then they allow these drunken groups to fly on Thursdays and Fridays, it's no wonder they become riotous.
"They will just say it's out of their control but EasyJet have created a rod for their own backs. We are just really unhappy with how EasyJet have handled it."
EasyJet said the cancellation was 'out of their control', but maintained that customers' costs would be reimbursed, and that travellers were offered the option of a transfer to an alternative flight free of charge, or a refund, as well as hotel accommodation and meals.
An EasyJet spokesperson told the Manchester Evening News: "EasyJet can confirm that flight EZY2015 from Manchester to Alicante on 13 April was met by police on arrival due to a group of passengers behaving disruptively onboard and as a result the return flight to Manchester was unable to operate.
"The safety and wellbeing of our passengers and crew is always EasyJet's priority. We take incidents of disruptive behaviour very seriously and do not tolerate abusive or threatening behaviour onboard and our cabin crew are trained to assess all situations and to act quickly and appropriately, to ensure that the safety of the flight and other passengers is not compromised at any time.
"While this was outside of our control, we are very sorry for the inconvenience this will have caused those due to travel on the return flight to Manchester. We provided customers with the option of a transfer to an alternative flight free of charge, or a refund, as well as hotel accommodation and meals for those customers who required them.
"Should customers have sourced their own flights, including with alternative airlines, accommodation and meals, or incurred other expenses, we will reimburse them."
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