An angry passenger has stated that he will never fly with Easyjet again after having flights cancelled two days in a row. Bobby Bessant’s flight from Manchester to Aberdeen was cancelled on Thursday, June 30 and July 1 following ‘problems with staffing’ and ‘air traffic control issue’, Easyjet claimed.
The 33-year-old, who is hoping to catch a flight back on Monday, said that this has “ruined what was a good break”. Bobby was aware of the issues with the airports at the moment but was shocked by the customer service from the airline - which he described as ‘diabolical’.
“They left people stranded in the airport,” Bobby said, speaking about his Friday night in Manchester.
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“It is absolutely diabolical. We were all stuck in the terminal because the flight had been delayed, you couldn’t get anything to eat or drink because everything was shut by then.”
Bobby had been on hold to the customer service team for hours and was hung up on a number of occasions, he claims. He believes that this treatment is unacceptable for something that has happened two days on the trot.
His flight was scheduled to go out on Thursday at 7.05pm but that got delayed for almost three hours until it was cancelled. The same thing happened to Bobby again the next day - he just wanted to get home to his family.
Bobby was almost expecting the flight to be cancelled after his experience on Thursday night. He believes that Easyjet have taken no accountability for their actions and was angry to see the staff vacate the terminal on Friday shortly before the tannoy announced the cancellation - to the disappointment of the 60-plus people waiting.
“From the word go I knew the flight was going to be cancelled,” he explained. “Being trapped in the terminal has really impacted on my mental health as I was on the verge of a panic attack.
“The staff couldn't care less. I just think Easyjet are a bunch of liars.
“They knew that the flight was going to be cancelled but they never gave us the answers to our questions. We had to wait with nothing.
“You don’t expect this to happen to you twice in the space of two days though. There should have been at least one member of staff to tell us what was going on.”
The Birmingham-born man suffers from a mild form of cerebral palsy which means he struggles to stand on his feet for too long. He is currently awaiting an operation which means the long queues and waiting around left him in agony during this period.
“I was in agony,” he said. “I now think I should have asked for a wheelchair.”
The one saving grace for Bobby was his friends Victoria and Michael Thorneycroft, who he had met on holiday in Kos, Greece a few years prior - after flying Easyjet. They have collectively done six trips from Sheffield to Manchester Airport to help Bobby out.
After initially going to visit as a holiday, Bobby now feels he is a burden on them for having to stay for an extended period of time. But they told him “that's what friends are for”.
“They are life savers,” Bobby said. “If it wasn’t for them I would probably be in hospital with stress.
“They are the best people I have ever met in my life. Not everyone would do what they have done for me.”
Bobby said that despite having many good trips using Easyjet, he will now no longer be using them for future flights. The airline stated that they would be in contact with him to apologise and reimburse him for the flights.
A spokesperson for Easyjet said: “We are very sorry for Mr Bessant’s experience on his flights with us from Manchester to Aberdeen. His original flight from Manchester to Aberdeen was unfortunately cancelled due to air traffic control restrictions which meant the crew due to operate the flight reached their maximum legal operating hours.
“While this was outside of our control, we did all possible to minimise the impact of this and gave customers the option of transferring their flight free of charge or receiving a refund as well as providing hotel accommodation and meals where required. We rescheduled the flight for the following day, however, it was cancelled due to the crew unable to operate the flight without exceeding their legally permitted flying hours after assisting a passenger with a medical issue.
“Unfortunately no replacement crew were available to operate the flight. While we notify customers directly and provide options to rebook or receive a refund as well as hotel accommodation and meals, we fully understand the difficulty this disruption will have caused and are very sorry for this.
“Our team is contacting Mr Bessant to apologise for his experience and to reimburse him for any expenses. Once again we are very sorry for any inconvenience caused.”
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