A woman with a serious health condition said she has been left stranded and without life-saving medication for days after EasyJet cancelled her flight twice. Sophie Osborne from Neath was due to fly back to the UK after a weekend away to Disneyland Paris with her partner and three-year-old on Monday evening.
However, she said the flight had been postponed until Wednesday morning, before it was cancelled again. The 27-year-old was diagnosed with submassive pulmonary embolism (blood clots) in both lungs in 2021. The condition has left her with chronic blood clots and scarring to her lungs, she said.
Although Sophie should safely be able to travel on a short-haul flight while taking blood thinners, the travel delays mean she has run out of medication and fears a flight may increase her chance of developing a blood clot or stroke. She said she has received no support or guidance from EasyJet to help her fly home safely.
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She said: "I'm having a catheter in my heart next year to find out definitively what is wrong with me and to determine if I'll need major surgery next year. I wanted to have this holiday with my partner and my little boy in case we have bad news then and I am unable to travel again. We had a lovely time, but this has put a dampener on the whole thing and turned it into a nightmare."
Describing her ordeal, Sophie said: "We came to Charles-de-Gaulle Airport on Monday for our flight scheduled at 9.20pm to Bristol. We checked in, got through the terminal and got up to the departure gate. They didn't know what was going on because they didn't have any EasyJet representatives in the airport apparently, but we were told our flight was delayed until 11.30pm."
Next, Sophie said staff at the airport told passengers the flight had been cancelled altogether and they would instead need to board a plane on Wednesday morning from Orly airport, which is around 45 minutes away by car.
Sophie said: "They announced at the gate that the flight is cancelled. We were told to collect our bags and go to check-in where accommodation would be provided. We got in to the check-in desk and there was a massive queue, so we stood in line. When we got to one of the airport's representatives they told us we've run out of accommodation and EasyJet has said they aren't going to provide any more. I explained my personal situation - that I'm severely disabled without medication. They said there was nothing they could do."
Sophie said no support was provided by EasyJet to give the remaining passengers somewhere to stay for the next two nights. There was also no transport arranged to take them to Orly.
"It was minus 3C outside the airport so it was absolutely freezing," Sophie said. "My little boy was in his pyjamas and shivering and crying. Everyone was getting stressed and irate because nobody knew what was going on. My little boy was traumatised because everyone was getting so irate. All the children were crying and upset and there were adults crying because people didn't have the money. Luckily we were in the position where someone could offer us money. There were no food vouchers or water offered to anyone so you had to spend your own money."
Sophie said she was lucky enough to have a family member help them by forking out around £400 for their accommodation at around 12am on Tuesday morning - although many others were not so fortunate. She said with Christmas on the horizon, it is a difficult time of year for people to spend extra money on shelter, food and transport. She said she hopes to be reimbursed in the future, but isn't holding out too much hope following her experience.
Without her medication, Sophie said she is terrified of would could happen when she eventually boards the plane. She said: "There was no guidance from EasyJet as to what you should do if you are stranded in Paris. I've had to re-insure myself now until Wednesday in case something happens. I'm really, really frightened about getting on the flight. It's a short haul flight, but the risks are still there. I'm realy nervous about it but I'm going to have to do it to get home. It's a life or death situation for me, but it's out of my hands."
On Tuesday evening at around 7pm, Sophie said her flight due to leave on Wednesday morning had also been cancelled. She said it made her feel "even worse" as she becomes increasingly more anxious about developing a life-threatening stroke or clot.
An EasyJet spokesperson said: “Due to adverse weather conditions impacting airlines operating to and from the UK, the Osbourne family’s flight from Paris Charles de Gaulle to Bristol yesterday evening was unfortunately unable to operate.
“The safety and wellbeing of our customers is our highest priority and while this was outside of our control we did all possible to minimise the impact of the weather disruption, providing rebooking options and securing hotel accommodation in Paris for passengers and so we are in touch with the family to ensure their wellbeing and understand more about their experience in the airport and why this didn’t happen for them as it should have. We fully understand the difficulty this will have caused them for which we are very sorry.
“Due to the weather conditions in Paris, at the request of the French authorities we are unfortunately no longer able to operate their alternative flight from Orly and so have arranged with the family for them to fly tomorrow to London Gatwick and are providing onward travel to get them home as soon as possible. We will also be reimbursing them for any expenses incurred as a result of the cancellations.”
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