A family has claimed that staff at an airport laughed in the face of their six-year-old son after their flight to Disneyland was cancelled while they were in the departure lounge.
Mike Cole said that his son Oliver started sobbing uncontrollably when the announcement was made meaning his dream trip was called off.
The family were meant to fly to Paris on an EasyJet flight and their plane had already been delayed for more than two hours. The Coles, who had spent two years saving up for the trip, were finally called to the departure gate alongside fellow passengers at around 8:30pm on Sunday night.
Mike, 50, from Bristol, claims they found a sign telling them they could not board the plane and said that around 100 people were then escorted by police out of the airport.
He told Mirror Online : “No notice, no announcement, no warning. The displays in the airport showed the flight was still going, albeit delayed, and about 20 minutes before we were due to be taking off, the gate number came up, there was a massive queue, but no reps, just a sign saying ‘flight cancelled’.”
Mike and his wife Anna, 42, had spent around £1,200 for Disney passes and a stay at the resort’s Explorers Hotel for four days - all of which they understand is non-refundable.
Their son Oliver had never been abroad before and he and his sister Polly, 15, had created their own holiday calendar to count down the days for their trip, report Bristol Live.
Mike said that passengers had been dismayed but were compliant, however he said one staff member - either for Bristol Airport or Easyjet - had been particularly “nasty” as she ushered them away.
He said: “There was just a complete hostility and a blank of helpfulness, a brick wall.”
Mike also admitted that he confronted the worker with his tearful son and said the handling of the situation was “disgusting”, adding that he would be complaining.
He said: “She looked down at Oliver crying and laughed and looked at me and said ‘you’re disgusting’, then walked off.”
According to Mike, the staff member told passengers: “If you want to rebook, do it by the app, or do it on the phone tomorrow, but leave the airport because we are not helping you tonight.”
Then, when someone began to film her, she called for assistance.
Mike added: “The police came over, behind us and in front of us as a group, to escort us out of the airport.” He and his family had arrived at check-in five hours prior to their original time of 7:25pm - and it was then delayed by 10 minutes and eventually to 8:43pm.
Mike said he understood the difficulties the airport is currently experiencing, but within that time if they’d been told it was likely to be called off passengers could have made other arrangements.
He said: “Our holiday - the hotel and the passes - is separate from the flight.
“Even if we’d had to go to Cardiff or Heathrow at that point and got a flight through the night, we could have. By the time they told us, the next available flight out of Bristol was Wednesday and the next available flight from Heathrow was Monday lunchtime. It’s completely unacceptable.”
Mike has since contacted easyJet and been told the £650 flights, plus the £120 extra for the baggage can be refunded but only once they know why the flight was cancelled. He added: “They have given us no explanation, no reason why the flight was cancelled and we can’t claim anything until we know why.
“Oliver’s devastated because he’s lost his holiday that we saved for for two years in amongst the bills, covid and the rising cost of living. I don’t want to sound dramatic or over the top - there are people in far worse situations than us.
“But the kids had drawn their own poster on the wall like a calendar, ticking off the days for the last month and bang out of the blue we’re back in the car and going home instead of going on holiday.”
Mike said he hopes Disney can change its policy and allow them to take the holiday during the next school break as he and Anna both work in education.
“That’s what we’re pinning our hopes on, just some form of humanity,” he went on to say.
A Bristol Airport spokesman said: “We appreciate that having a flight cancelled can be a very stressful experience. Any customer that feels a member of the team or a business partner colleague has acted inappropriately is encouraged to make a complaint so this can be investigated and verified using CCTV footage.”
EasyJet and Disneyland Paris have been contacted for comment.
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