Budget airline easyJet has apologised to a couple who unexpectedly ended up in Edinburgh after flight chaos spoiled a romantic weekend away for their wedding anniversary.
Chris and Trisha Daines celebrated 33 years of marriage with a trip to Amsterdam. However, flight cancellations and a stop off in the Scottish capital meant they arrived home more than 24 hours than they expected.
The couple were also left £150 out of pocket, as they used their own cash to keep themselves going while they tried to get home to Essex.
The pair arrived Schiphol with no issues, but then their hearts sank when they received an alert to say the return flight to London Stansted had been cancelled.
Chris said they were then unable to reach easyJet staff for an explanation as to why the flight would not be going as planned, reports Edinburgh Live.
Flights to other nearby destinations were booked up very quickly, the couple said, leaving them with the next-best option of flying to Edinburgh the following day, to reach a connecting flight to London.
Chris said easyJet offered accommodation to passengers who had been left without a way home on Sunday night,but said there were no available hotels via easyJet.
Travellers were instead told to pick a hotel at a “reasonable” price which would be refunded. The pair were unconvinced, however, and stayed overnight in the airport instead.
Chris, 61, told Edinburgh Live: “It was a lovely weekend away for our anniversary that now feels like it’s been spoiled. It’s left a real sore taste. Whenever we look back on this trip, we’ll always have those memories of the pain of flying back.
“We arrived with loads of time just because we’re like that. We were meant to fly home at 6:55 when, out of nowhere, I get an alert on my phone saying the flight had been cancelled. We looked around for some staff, but we couldn’t find anyone connected our flight. There were no answers.
“There were 180 people all scrambling for seats back to the south of England, so we couldn’t get a flight back easily. We eventually found one that came via Edinburgh, and just booked onto it so we could get home.
“Next it was trying to get accommodation, but whenever I clicked on the link from easyJet it said they had no accommodation available. It said we could buy our own at a reasonable price, but what does that mean? We decided it’d be better to stay in the airport, but we didn’t get much sleep at all."
The couple boarded their flight out of Amsterdam the next day - but were then hit with an overnight stay in Edinburgh.
Chris added: “Edinburgh was actually one of the places we considered for our anniversary, we love the city. I’d rather have visited it properly instead of just being there for a few hours. It’s a shame, and I doubt we would have had all the travel bother there.
"Getting food in Edinburgh and Amsterdam, travelling around, it all cost us more than £150."
A spokesman for easyJet said: “We are sorry that flight EJU7845 from Amsterdam to London Stansted on June 18 was unfortunately unable to operate due to air traffic control restrictions caused by thunderstorms, which meant the flight was unable to operate before the imposed curfew at the airport.
“The safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew is easyJet’s highest priority and while this was outside of our control we did all possible to minimise the impact of the disruption for our customers and provided them with their options which included a free transfer to an alternative flight or a refund. Customers also have the option to book with another carrier if suitable easyJet flights are not available.
“We also provided them with information about the reason for the cancellation and provided hotel accommodation however as this was in short supply we advised that should passengers have secured their own or any other expenses we will reimburse them.
"Whilst this was outside of our control we are sorry for the inconvenience this will have caused.”
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