A family has described how a “mutiny” erupted onboard a delayed easyJet flight on Monday, after passengers were forced to sit on the aircraft for over four hours in heatwave temperatures.
Passenger Dominey Jenner accused the airline of only giving customers “one glass of water” and no food during the delay, which lasted from around 4pm until 8.30pm - amid temperatures of 30 to 32C.
She said the unrest onboard became so bad that passengers began phoning Gatwick police, who came to escort them off the flight when it was ultimately cancelled.
Ms Jenner’s flight, EZY6427, had been due to depart at 1.40pm on Monday, but after getting through security, passengers were alerted to a delay to the service.
“At about 1.20pm we were told that there was a technical difficulty with the plane and that engineers need to look at it. We were asked to return to the main lounge,” she told The Independent.
“I asked one of the ground staff if the plane was actually even at Gatwick. He said ‘Yes’, and I asked him to confirm this because I didn’t believe him. He said, ‘That’s the information we’ve been given’ and that it needed a maintenance check.”
Ms Jenner says she predicted at this point the flight would likely be delayed and eventually cancelled, saying the ground staff member “just laughed”.
Passengers for the Dubrovnik flight were eventually boarded at around 4pm.
However, she says the plane then sat on the tarmac until 8.30pm - nearly seven hours after its original departure time.
“We were on the stand until about 4.30pm, having been told we were waiting for a slot. We moved towards the runway and then stopped,” she says.
“We were informed that the ground crew had noticed some abnormalities and that there needed to be another maintenance check.”
Outside, temperatures were climbing to above 30 degrees Celsius, with London and the southeast hitting a peak of 32 on Monday.
“We were given very few updates, none of which were meaningful. After a couple of hours the crew brought us each a glass of water. There was food onboard but apparently they weren’t allowed to open the trolleys.”
Shortly before 8pm, Ms Jenner posted a video of restless passengers to Twitter, tagging easyJet to try to alert management to the situation. She says the customers onboard were hot, dehydrated and furious.
“Various passengers, including myself, told the crew that a decision needed to be made,” she continues.
“Was the flight being cancelled or not? We needed time to rebook flights and overnight accommodation. They just said they knew nothing.”
“One couple had given notice to the crew that they were simply going to walk off the plane in half an hour (the stairs had been down and open the whole time). A few passengers called the police and I heard later that Gatwick police were about to come and escort us off.
“At about 8.30pm the staff finally acceded to giving us some food but just as they were doing so the buses arrived to take us back to the terminal. We then had about an hour to get through passport control (strangely, since we’d not gone anywhere).”
To make matters worse, she says, “our luggage did not arrive until about midnight”.
Giving up on receiving an alternative flight from easyJet, Ms Jenner, her husband and two daughters travelled to Heathrow the following day and were able to catch a flight to Dubrovnik with British Airways.
They arrived at their holiday destination on Tuesday evening, 24 hours after they’d been scheduled to.
“EasyJet needs to take responsibility when things go wrong,” she told The Independent. “To abandon their passengers is completely unacceptable.
“For many families, this will be their first holiday in over two years and easyJet’s failure to plan and fully prepare will have caused a lot of upset and disruption. We won’t be travelling with easyJet again.”
An easyJet spokesperson said: “We are very sorry for the delay and subsequent cancellation of flight EZY6427 from London Gatwick to Dubrovnik, due to a technical issue with the aircraft operating the flight.
“Due to coaching delays as a result of staff sickness at Gatwick airport, customers were delayed in disembarking and while our crew did all possible to minimise the impact of the delay providing refreshments onboard, we fully understand and are very sorry for the difficulty this will have caused.
“We notified customers directly of their options to rebook or receive a full refund, along with information on how to arrange this online or via the app. Unfortunately there was limited hotel accommodation available in London Gatwick and so we advised customers who were required to source their own that they will be reimbursed.
“We would like to apologise to customers once again for the inconvenience caused by the delay and cancellation.”
