Brits have been stuck in Majorca Palma airport after flight restrictions were drastically imposed. Airlines have said it is out of their control and are reportedly unable to fully compensate holidaymakers
Hundreds of holidaymakers have been left stranded abroad after they were hit by a series of flight cancellations due to disastrous weather.
Families were set to fly back to the UK from Majorca after jetting off to sunny Spain during the half-term. But dozens of kids have been unable to return to school due to air traffic control restrictions.
Beth Rafferty, 31, and her family have had to stump up more than £1,000 just to return home. She was one of hundreds of travellers who couldn’t fly back to Gatwick on Sunday.
The mum, from Hastings, East Sussex, was due to fly home with her partner, Lewis Chapman, 26, and their children, eight and 10. She says more than 120 flights were delayed and it is understood less than 10 were cancelled.
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They were about to board their 7pm easyJet flight when they were emailed to say it was cancelled due ‘air traffic control (ATC) restrictions.’ However, it has since been confirmed that the ‘restrictions’ are as a result of poor weather across Northern Europe.
The information given to Beth and her family read: “We’re sorry that your flight has been cancelled. This is due to air traffic control restrictions. The disruption to your flight is outside of our control and is considered to be an extraordinary circumstance.”
Beth, an insurance system administrator, said: “We have managed to get a flight to Bournemouth – but not to our original destination. Lots of people have ended up flying to Belfast or Liverpool instead of London, we’ve been fortunate. Apparently there was an air traffic control issue. As far as I’m aware, all the flights cancelled have been easyJet. The only information provided is the air traffic control issue. We’ve been sat watching loads of other flights from other airlines land and take off, so we’re not sure why.”
They paid £1,500 for new flights and another £300 for emergency accommodation, as they were keen to get home so the children didn’t miss any more school than necessary. She said: “We’ve been told by someone at the airport front desk we won’t be compensated for the new flights. But we might get the money back for the accommodation. I rang the childrens’ school to explain it and it doesn’t look like we’ll get a fine.”
An easyJet spokesperson said: “Unfortunately, due to the impact of widespread thunderstorms across Northern Europe yesterday, some flights were unable to operate as planned.
“We did all we could to minimise the impact of the weather disruption on our customers, providing options to rebook or a refund their flights as well as providing hotel accommodation and meals for these who required them. The safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew is easyJet’s highest priority and while this was outside of our control, we are sorry for the inconvenience caused.”
