A passenger felt “dehydrated and ill” while others were left in tears after spending 17 HOURS in Manchester Airport following a day of travel chaos.
Many had their journeys cancelled or delayed after the airport had to close both of its runways due to snowfall on Saturday morning (December 10).
Bosses said health and safety was the 'top priority' as they apologised for the delays. They added the runways were cleared on Friday but more work was needed to remove further slush and snow from the ground.
But the disruption caused misery for many travellers jetting in or out of Manchester – whether they were waiting hours for luggage or left stranded without accommodation.
Gary Ord and his 10-year-old son Jack, from Cheadle Hulme, were among those caught up in the chaos. They were due to fly to Malta for Jack’s first holiday on Saturday (December 10), a trip the family had spent years saving up for.
The Ryanair flight was scheduled to take off at 9.30am. It was delayed until 11.30am, then 12.30pm, then 7.30pm before finally taking off past midnight.
The family claim there was not a “single member” of Ryanair staff at the airport throughout the 17 hours they were stuck at the airport. They claim they were also never offered refreshment vouchers, meaning Gary, 45, was forced to fork out £100 on food and drinks.
Gary’s wife Nikki has been left furious from the ordeal. “From home, I tried contacting Ryanair by phone, email, live chat, Facebook, twitter and Instagram and no one would talk to me or respond to my questions,” she told the Manchester Evening News.
“The one time I got through to their live chat the agent laughed at me and said an airport wouldn’t be open without staff (I told him I am aware of that, the airport had staff, but they did not and so there was no one to help Ryanair customers specifically).
“My husband was told by someone from service air that the disruption to their flight was not down to the weather, as the majority of flights departed either on time or with a slight delay, it was because Ryanair were insufficiently staffed.”
By the time Gary and Jack were called to their gate at 9.30pm, Nikki says the pair were “emotionally and physically drained”, with little Jack in tears.
The family sat at the gate for a further two hours because there were allegedly no staff around to board passengers onto the plane.
“Most of the passengers for this flight at this point were close to giving up and going home because it felt like nothing was ever going to happen,” Nikki added.
“Eventually they got on to the plane, which then sat on the runway until midnight. Once on the plane they were informed that no food or drink or duty free would be served on the plane as they didn’t have anything, and this is a three-and-a-half-hour flight. They didn’t arrive in Malta until 4am local time, so they lost a day and night of their four-day holiday.
“I still have not heard back from any member of staff from Ryanair, not even a whisper of an apology for the delay or lack of communication. I’m completely baffled and disappointed in this company and feel something needs to be published somewhere for them to actually address their customers.”
John Nolan, who is currently on holiday in Florida, says his daughter was supposed to fly out to join him on Saturday. He says she boarded the flight at Manchester Airport bound for Orlando at 9.30am, with the plane due to set off at 10.10am.
Once boarded, he claims passengers were informed of a delay until midday while they waited for the plane to be de-iced and that the runway had been closed for snow clearing.
He alleges passengers remained on the runway for three-and-a-half hours until a de-icing truck arrived at 1.10pm, spraying the left-hand side of the plane.
He claims passengers were then told the machine had run out of de-icer and it left and never returned.
“There was no food or drink offered until about six hours in when they were given the afternoon meal of a cheese sandwich and scone and a small plastic cup of water,” he told the M.E.N. “Our daughter is allergic to cheese, so she only ate the scone.”
At around 4.40pm, John claims passengers were told the flight had been cancelled and they were taken to the baggage hall. “There were no Virgin or airport staff present until one lone Virgin Atlantic lady arrived and told them there were no hotels and they had to make their own way home with a text with a re-booking date,” he said. “Some passengers were as far away as Glasgow.
“She waited in the baggage hall for three hours and at 7.45pm a few baggage handlers appeared. Our daughter called her brother who is in Stockport who came to get her at 8.15pm. She arrived home with him some 13+ hours after getting to the airport having one two small cups of water and a scone. She is dehydrated and ill – surely this is inhumane and a dereliction of their required care.
“We phoned and got her re-booked for Sunday. However, when she left the airport, most of the passengers were stressed and in tears.”
Lisa Robinson was also among those stranded on the tarmac. She claims she sat on a plane for more than four hours waiting for it to be de-iced before eventually being told the flight was cancelled.
“I was sat on a plane at Manchester Airport or more than four hours,” she said. “We were waiting for the plane to be defrosted and then we were told the flight was cancelled. Half an hour later, we were still sat on the plane.
“We were sat in the reception of our second hotel for an hour. There was no room at the first hotel and no rooms at this hotel. No drinks or food provided. No sleep and we had to be back at the airport at 9am this morning – no change of clothes or toiletries. Shattered!”
Jamie Walker had been at a work conference in Istanbul before the travel chaos unfolded. The 28-year-old was going through security at Istanbul Airport when he received a news notification on his phone revealing the disruption back in Manchester.
His flight back to Manchester Airport was delayed by three hours. By the time he eventually arrived at 6.30pm, there was no luggage in sight.
“None of the carousels were going round,” he said. “We were all watching the England match on our phones and we were told we would need to wait longer and longer.
“As more flights got there, the baggage claim was just filled with people and none of the bags were coming out.”
Jamie, from Bury, ended up waiting three hours and 45 minutes before his luggage finally arrived at 10.15pm. “Eventually we got to a point where it was just us,” he added. “There was no one around to ask, no customer service or anything. A lot of people had to get hotels; there were people from Yorkshire who were stranded in Manchester because all the trains were cancelled.
“It was more stressful for people with children or people who had a connecting flight. The prams were the last things to come out.
“At least for me, I live in Greater Manchester, it wasn’t as bad. But some people had kids sleeping on their knees. It was chaotic and there was a lack of empathy from the airport. There was no one going around speaking to someone, they just kept saying they were short staffed. There was no café in there, just a vending machine. It’s not like you could go for food or a coffee or charge our phones, we were just stuck.”
Rick Ward claims passengers are still being affected by yesterday’s snow. He claims his plane to Cancun currently has a 26-hour delay and he’s receiving no help from airline TUI.
“We’re still being affected by the snow yesterday at Manchester Airport,” he said. “We are on a flight to Cancun that currently has a 26-hour delay and we are in the airport basically being blanked by TUI and getting pretty much zero info off them.”
A spokesman for Manchester Airport said: “Due to heavy snow fall, we temporarily had to close airfield operations yesterday from 07.45 to 11.30 whilst clearing could take place to return to safe levels.
“Health and safety is our top priority and when snow on the airfield reaches a particular depth, it must be cleared before operations can continue.
“Due to the closure there were some cancellations and delays to flights.
“Throughout the day, we worked hard with our airline partners and their ground handlers to minimise disruption, but we are aware that the challenging conditions meant that, at times, some of the services they provide - such as baggage processing and reclaim - were impacted.
“We are sorry if any of our passengers had an experience that was not as smooth as we would like it to be in the circumstances and thank them for their patience.
“We would also like to thank all our teams for their hard work and dedication in maintaining a safe operation throughout the day.”
A spokesman for TUI said: “Due to the impact of the extended snow closure at Manchester Airport, a small number of TUI flights have been delayed or diverted as a result. All customers affected have received communication directly where we’ve shared new departure times, offered welfare vouchers where needed and given pro-rata refunds for those impacted with extended delays. Our teams are working extremely hard to get customers away on their holidays as planned and we apologise to those affected.”
A spokesman for Ryanair said: “Due to ongoing icy weather conditions, we are experiencing a small number of delays/cancellations to flights from some UK airports today (11 Dec), including Manchester.
“While our teams are working hard to minimise disruption to customers, Ryanair advises all customers flying from the UK today (11 Dec) to check the Ryanair website/app for flight status updates before travelling to the airport.
“We sincerely apologise for these weather-related disruptions which are entirely beyond our control.”
A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said: “Due to adverse weather conditions at Manchester Airport and delays impacting crew hours on 10th December, the VS75 was regrettably cancelled. All customers were rebooked onto flights that have departed today (11th December).
“The safety and security of our people and customers is always our top priority. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused.”
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