A six-year-old boy was heartbroken after airport staff "mocked" him after he found out his dream trip to Disney was cancelled.
The boy's parents claimed that airport staff laughed in his face as son Oliver burst into tears at Bristol Airport. Their easyJet flight to Paris was called off after being delayed for over two hours.
Dad Mike said that the family had spent two years saving up for the trip. He and his wife Anna, 42, had forked out around £1,200 for Disney passes and to stay at the resort's Explorers Hotel for four days - all of which they understand is non-refundable, reported The Mirror.
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Passengers were finally called to the departure gate around 8.30pm on Sunday night to find a sign telling them they could not board, the dad claims. Mike, 50, said around 100 would-be holidaymakers were then escorted by police out of the airport.
He told the Mirror: “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'."
Oliver had never been abroad before and he and his sister Polly, 15, had created their own holiday calendar to count down the days. Mike said the passengers were dismayed but compliant, though one staff member - either for the airport or the airline - was particularly "nasty" as she ushered them away.
He said: "There was just a complete hostility and a blank of helpfulness, a brick wall." Mike admits he confronted her with tearful Oliver and said the handling of the situation was "disgusting" and he would be complaining. "She looked down at Oliver crying and laughed and looked at me and said 'you’re disgusting', then walked off," he claims.
Mike said the staff member told the 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." When someone began filming her, she called for assistance. Mike explained: "The police came over, behind us and in front of us as a group, to escort us out of the airport."
The family, from Bristol, arrived at check-in five hours prior to their original flight 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 explained: "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 said: "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. He added: "That’s what we’re pinning our hopes on, just some form of humanity."
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.”
The Mirror has contacted easyJet and Disneyland Paris for comment.
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