Lowri Gallagher said her family were forced to sleep on the floor of Palma airport after their easyJet flight was cancelled two days in a row – and then received a ‘gesture of goodwill’ from the airline which she described as ‘laughable’
A family left to kip on the airport carpet for two nights have blasted easyJet’s “laughable” and “inadequate” compensation offer after their jolly was ruined.
A family faced a nightmare end to their getaway when two replacement flights fizzled out at the final hour, forcing them to fork out for alternative airfare back to Leeds, miles from home in Ferndale.
August troubles hit Lowri Gallagher, 30, from sunny Ferndale, Rhondda Cynon Taf in Wales, as she enjoyed Mallorca’s shores with her beau Shane Stevenson and their young tots aged two and one. The fam had flown the easyJet skies on an all-inclusive trip and were set to head back at 11.20pm on Wednesday, August 14.
They rocked up to the airport around 7pm, but come 8pm, while trying to drop their bags off, the app pinged with the grim news their flight was scrubbed. They asked for help in the airport but no-one from easyJet was there. Told to hang tight by airport staff, they waited only to receive another email at 8.30pm promising a new flight the next day at 2.30pm. As fellow flyers got updates about later departures, the only advice they were given was to book accommodation themselves, reports Wales Online.
Lowri said that the cheapest hotel was over £1,500 per night and the airline had no staff present at the airport, leaving them uncertain about refunds. They were forced to pay exorbitant prices for food and drinks and even had to borrow nappies for their son.
The next day, after being informed of a nearly five-hour delay for their second flight, they discovered it too had been cancelled, with no easyJet representatives in sight. They finally managed to catch a flight to Leeds, which cost just shy of £600, and Shane’s mum came to the rescue, having borrowed car seats to pick them up. After spending the night with Shane’s family, they borrowed his sister’s car to drive back to Bristol to retrieve their own vehicle and head home to South Wales.
EasyJet later attributed the flight disruptions to adverse weather and air traffic control issues at Palma airport. On August 19, they assured that the family would receive an apology, reimbursement for their expenses, and a “gesture of goodwill.”
The family only received their reimbursement after six weeks, and that was once WalesOnline had reached out to the airline. The “goodwill gesture” from the airline initially consisted of a £200 easyJet voucher, which after some back and forth, was increased to £240 — something Lowri found insulting.
Lowri shared her frustration: “Our original £200 holiday voucher offer from easyJet, which we laughed at, has now been superseded by a £240 holiday voucher applied directly into our easyJet account without asking if we accept. The voucher is worth absolutely nothing as I’ll never fly with easyJet again and £240 comes nowhere near the anguish of me and my partner seeing our babies sleep on a cold concrete floor with no-one at all from easyJet being present in the airport to advise or help despite their claims that staff were present.
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“They were not. It goes nowhere near the fact that we had to fly with a different company and land 300 miles from home because alternative flights weren’t arranged for us and it goes nowhere near the fact that six weeks later we’d still had no reimbursement of expenses, which were close to £1,000.
“If we would have follow their substandard advice and booked hotels of our own accord we would probably be upwards of £5,000 out of pocket, with easyJet owing us that money, and they believe sending a £240 holiday voucher is adequate recompense? No thanks.”
An easyJet representative confirmed that the company had apologised directly to the family. They added: “A member of our team will reach out to the family on Monday and offer them the gesture of goodwill as cash rather than credit.”
