A Welsh man who recently had open-heart surgery and his friends are stranded in Spain after easyJet cancelled his flight home to the UK "last minute". Kevin Roberts, from Neath, and four of his pals had booked a mini-break to Benidorm as "a little treat" after a challenging few months - but he said their short trip had turned into a "nightmare".
The group had booked flights from Bristol airport to Alicante - and suffered a four-hour flight delay on the way out - before enjoying five days together in the Spanish sunshine. After a relaxing holiday, they left their hotel and got a taxi to Alicante airport on Monday evening, ahead of their 11.45pm flight back to Bristol - only to receive a text message while en-route to tell them their flight had been cancelled.
Kevin claimed he had received little information from easyJet and that he was not informed why his group's flight had been cancelled - or offered a replacement flight or somewhere to stay. Whilst he and his friends have managed to book themselves on the next available easyJet flight back to Bristol, this isn't until tomorrow evening (Wednesday, June 8) - almost 48 hours after the group were due to fly home. For more easyJet stories, go here.
As a result, the friends have had to fork out hundreds of pounds to stay in Spain for an extra two nights - and Kevin has had to spend nearly €300 on medication. Whilst the 65-year-old brought enough medication to last his holiday, the delay has meant he's had to buy more from a pharmacy in Spain. Whilst he hopes he will be able to claim this back through his insurance provider, Kevin and his group are angry that they feel they've been offered little information and support from easyJet and been placed in a difficult position. You can get the latest Neath Port Talbot news stories straight to your inbox with our free newsletter. Sign up here
Speaking from Spain, Kevin explained: "We want to go home! It's been a nightmare, we've even had to extend the travel insurance. I am just recovering from open-heart surgery, this was a treat for me [but] we've been treated so badly by easyJet!
"We were meant to fly from Alicante to Bristol at 11.45pm on Monday, five of us. We got to the airport and saw that we'd been told on the way [by text message] that our flight had been cancelled. The easyJet staff didn't know what was happening. We couldn't stay in the hotel we'd been staying in so had to book an apartment. That's cost €550!
"And we'd already spent €100 in the taxi to get to the airport! We've booked a flight home tomorrow [Wednesday] but we're worried that one will be cancelled as well. And I had to buy medication, for about €290. I had enough for five and a half days [but need more as the flight was cancelled]." This is how to check if easyJet has cancelled your flight and what to do next.
A spokesperson for easyJet said: "We are very sorry for the cancellation of these customers’ flight from Alicante to Bristol. We notified customers directly of their options to rebook or receive a refund and are providing hotel accommodation and meals where required.
"Our customer service hours and hotel accommodation sourcing have been extended to support impacted customers and help get them to their destination as soon as possible. Nonetheless, we fully understand the disruption this will have caused to their plans and we are very sorry for this. Our team are reaching out to them to talk through their options and reimburse them for any reasonable expenses." You can read more stories about Neath here.
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