A couple from Co Down have been forced to book flights home from Turkey with a different airline after easyJet cancelled their return.
Brian Redpath and Andrea McMinn from Millisle arrived in Dalaman on May 3 and were set to return home on May 28 after enjoying a holiday and attending a wedding.
However, their plans abruptly changed after easyJet cancelled their flight home with little notice and left them in the lurch when they spent four hours trying to speak to someone through customer services.
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Through the airline's website they were told to go onto the 'manage my booking' section and rebook their flights, however the next available return trip was on June 7.
Andrea has a physiotherapy appointment this week she has been waiting on for two months after breaking her leg, and Brian is hoping to avoid missing work, so the couple booked flights home with Jet2 for June 2 instead.
They told Belfast Live they feel as if easyJet just "wiped their hands of" them and left them to fend for themselves.
"We still haven't heard anything from easyJet, they haven't contacted us at all," Andrea said.
"We got a message asking us to go on the 'manage my booking' section of the website where it said they would pay for a night's accommodation and to rebook our flight with them, but the closest flight home was June 7.
"There was no way of it even saying how to book a night's accommodation with them.
"I was on the phone yesterday for four hours to try and get through to talk to anyone. I just gave up and booked our flights home with Jet2 instead."
In the meantime, the pair have been lucky as the accommodation they're currently at, Paradise Club Villas, have allowed them to stay in a villa at a discounted rate until they travel home next week.
However, Andrea expressed concern for any vulnerable people who may be at the receiving end of a cancelled flight message.
She said: "I'm over here with a broken leg. It wasn't healing and the doctor said I was fine to go on holiday, that a bit of vitamin D would be good for it. I have hospital appointments and physio appointments next week and can't get a flight on time.
"They knew I had special assistance and they essentially just wiped their hands of us. I just feel sorry for older people who don't have a smart phone, they would have no way of sorting themselves or booking anything. easyJet have just been no help.
"If you were out here at the end of your holiday with no money left, you would just be absolutely snookered, you'd have no money left. You'd have to go and rebook the easyJet for June 7 if you had no money left, you'd have no other option.
"I have limited funds because I'm not working at the moment. This was all booked and paid for before I had my accident, and I have limited funds here. You're just having to rely on credit cards and hope that they [easyJet] will reimburse you.
"We're lucky we're somewhere we love. If you were away somewhere you hated and this happened, it would just be a nightmare."
The couple said the experience has put them off flying with the airline in the future.
"We will never use easyJet again," Andrea added.
"We're supposed to come out again in August with them but we're cancelling our flights, you don't want to risk this happening again."
A spokesperson for easyJet said: "We are very sorry Mr Redpath and Mrs McMinn’s flight EZY6786 from Dalaman to Belfast on 28 May was cancelled. We provided customers with options to rebook or receive a full refund as well as hotel accommodation, along with information on how to arrange this online or via the app.
"We nonetheless fully understand the disruption this will have caused to their plans and we are very sorry for this. Our team are reaching out to the customers to provide further assistance and reimburse them for their alternative flights and any other reasonable expenses."
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