easyJet passengers claim they were "abandoned" in Cardiff after their flight to Bristol Airport was diverted there due to a minor delay. Two people on board the flight from Alicante reported that they were only running "60 seconds late", although the airport said the delay was closer to an hour and they couldn't keep the runway open to receive them.
The airline said earlier delays caused by air traffic control restrictions meant the plane would not have landed in Bristol before the airport’s night curfew, which was in place due to pre-planned maintenance works on the runway, WalesOnline reports. Passengers were instead diverted to Cardiff Airport, with some forking out for costly taxis home after they landed at about 3am on yesterday morning (Thursday, March 30).
Several passengers took to Twitter to complain. @AFCBdave wrote: "@BristolAirport All you had to do was stay open for another 60 secs but you selfish b€#%$*s chose to close early. Even the pilot described you as a Mickey Mouse airport.
Read more: Bristol Airport chaos as passengers stuck in '90-minute security queues'
"Cabin crew have had stressful day due to French ATC and now have to bus 180 of us back to BRS. And thanks @easyJet for abandoning us at Cardiff Airport at 3am and leaving us to find our way back to Bristol after promising to make arrangements."
@julielordcfp tweeted: "Thanks to the duty manager at @bristolairport who decided to divert our plane to Cardiff at 2.30 am because we were 60 seconds late! The pilot was furious and obviously a lot of passengers were inconvenienced."
Alison Britton, from Pembrokeshire, told WalesOnline: "There was an issue with the door which was resolved but delayed the aircraft by only minutes. We had to divert and land in Cardiff leaving hundreds stranded.
"There were vulnerable individuals in wheelchairs and elderly people left to their own devices at 3am in the morning. It is absolutely disgusting. The pilot and crew were fantastic and communication was brilliant they too were also just left at Cardiff Airport.
"We had the massive inconvenience and additional expense of hiring a taxi. I had to pay for a taxi to get me to Bristol Airport for me to collect my car and then I had to drive home to Pembrokeshire. The taxi fare cost £150."
A Bristol Airport spokesperson told WalesOnline that one flight was affected by pre-planned maintenance of the runway. She added: "Bristol Airport completed planned routine maintenance of the runway overnight 29 and 30 March 2023. After liaison with the contractor the commencement of the work was delayed to accept the arrival of flights arriving off schedule due to French Air Traffic Control industrial action earlier in the day.
"The fight arriving from Alicante experienced a delay of over one hour (scheduled time of arrival @01.15h, estimated time of arrival @02.20h). As the maintenance work could not be delayed any further, after liaison with the airline the decision was made to divert the aircraft to an alternative airport, so the work could continue. This was the only flight impacted throughout the day.
“Bristol Airport remains operating as normal and safety will always be our top priority for our customers, airline partners and colleagues. We apologise to any customers who have experienced inconvenience and thank them for the patience and understanding.”
An easyJet spokesperson said: "easyJet can confirm that flight EZY2726 from Alicante to Bristol on 29 March was required to divert to Cardiff due to earlier delays caused by air traffic control restrictions, which meant the aircraft would not have been able to reach Bristol before the airport’s night curfew.
“We did all possible to minimise the impact of the disruption for our customers providing hotel accommodation where required and as unfortunately there was limited coach availability in Bristol we advised customers that they will be reimbursed for alternative onward transport arrangements. We would like to apologise to customers for the inconvenience caused.”
This morning, outbound Bristol passengers have complained about queues at security, claiming they faced a wait of up to 90 minutes. The airport issued a statement just before 9am stating: "We apologise to any passengers for the delay in processing through our Security Search Area early this morning; the average queue time was just under 40 mins. Our current security queue time is 8 minutes."
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