A family from Suffolk has expressed disbelief after their Wizz Air flights to Cyprus were cancelled twice, leaving them out of pocket and without a holiday. Rachel Hunt, from Beccles, and her family were due to fly to Larnaca with friends, but their first flight was cancelled after they arrived at Gatwick Airport on 1 June.
Mrs Hunt said they received a text message at 08:30 GMT cancelling the flight, with no airline staff present to assist. She managed to rebook for two days later, but as they were about to board, another cancellation message arrived. 'I was just in disbelief, I thought once is unlucky, but twice is just ridiculous. I was in tears,' she said.
The family had paid £800 for flights but estimate they are £1,000 out of pocket after additional expenses. Mr Hunt criticised the airline for not cancelling flights earlier, noting that border control staff were aware of the scale of cancellations. 'The flights have been sold, they've not been delivered. Clearly there's compensation that we will be due at some point, it seems like a strange business model,' he said.
Another passenger, Gillian Mansbridge from Norfolk, was stranded in Cyprus with her family after their return flight was cancelled. They had to arrange four extra nights in a hotel, and ran out of nappies, baby milk, and medication. She said she would never fly with Wizz Air again.
Wizz Air apologised to customers, citing widespread staff shortages across the aviation industry, including in air traffic control, ground operations, and baggage handling.
