Two friends from Swansea were left stranded in Turkey for days with no money after easyJet cancelled their flight home to Bristol Airport. Justine Williams and Debbie Davies, along with Steve Wilson, had been on holiday in Marmaris and were due to fly back on Saturday, August 22, but the flight did not operate.
Flight cancelled without explanation
The trio, who started their holiday on Saturday, August 15, reached the boarding gate and could see their plane through the windows. However, the departure time came and went with little information given. They were later ushered onto buses and taken to a hotel that "puts up people when they are stranded," without any explanation. EasyJet later said the cancellation was due to an issue with the aircraft that required an engineering inspection.
No money and little information
Speaking to WalesOnline from Turkey on Wednesday night, four days after they were meant to return, Miss Williams and Miss Davies said they had completely run out of money. They had spent all their funds during the holiday and had to borrow basic products like deodorant and toothpaste from other hotel guests. They were told via an automated service on the easyJet website that they were responsible for booking their own alternative flights.
Mr Wilson travelled back home alone on a flight to Manchester, with his car still parked at Bristol Airport. Miss Williams and Miss Davies hoped to travel home on Wednesday evening, also bound for Manchester, but were not confident the flight would operate as other flights had been cancelled since.
EasyJet apologises
An easyJet spokeswoman said: "We are sorry that EZY2852 from Dalaman to Bristol on August 22 was unable to operate due to an issue with the aircraft which required an engineering inspection. The safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew is our highest priority and we have been doing all we can to support our customers, including providing hotel accommodation and meals and reimbursing them for expenses they may have incurred. Alternative flight options including with other airlines are very limited at this busy time of year and so while we have transferred customers onto the next available flights this week, we fully understand the difficulty caused by the delay returning home and are sorry for the inconvenience caused."
