A young Scots family has been left distraught and out of pocket after a surprise holiday to Disneyland Paris turned into a two-day travel nightmare. Chelsea McMillan, from Clydebank, had booked a trip to the French capital for her six-year-old daughter's birthday.
Chelsea and Aria were due to fly out on December 12 with Chelsea's partner and one-year-old son. But just hours after little Aria was told she would be meeting her beloved princesses, they were notified by easyJet that their flight had been cancelled due to bad weather, according to GlasgowLive.
In a bid to keep their holiday dreams alive, Chelsea accepted the airline's offer to fly them from Bristol the same day - if they were able to make their own way there. After a seven-hour drive, the family were then hit with a three-hour delay at the airport before once again being told that their flight had been axed - this time due to the length of time they had been delayed.
With nowhere to go, the heartbroken family were forced to abandon their plans to fly to Paris and instead fork out money for a hotel as well as travel back to Scotland.
The mum-of-two said: "We had planned the whole trip as a surprise for Aria. On the morning of, we showed her a video from Elsa telling her she was coming to Disneyland to meet all the other princesses. She was so excited.
"Just as we were getting ready to leave, we received a text to say the flight was delayed and then cancelled. I phoned easyJet straight away and they said the only flight they could get us on was from Bristol and we would be reimbursed for our travel.
"They never offered to get us a connecting flight we instead had to drive seven hours with both of the kids. When we arrived the flight - which had come from Glasgow - was delayed three hours and then cancelled because we weren't able to land in Paris.
"We went to speak to an easyJet rep at the airport and they wouldn't help us at all with accommodation. We were essentially just left to sort it out ourselves.
"I was panicking because I'd never been to Bristol, I don't know my way around or where the nearest hotel was. Luckily we were able to get a room at a nearby Hilton.
"I noticed there was a flight to Edinburgh appearing on the app for paying customers so I walked into the airport at 4am and demanded that we were put on that . We were instead told we could only get it if we paid for a fast pass so we didn't miss it.
"We then got into Edinburgh and then had to get a coach and a train to get back home. It was just a horrible experience. Aria was so upset having just been told she was going to Disneyland but not actually getting to go. "
Once she arrived home, Chelsea began trying to claim back money from the cancelled trip including flights, accommodation and expenses for food. However easyJet soon informed her that they wouldn't be paying out on the flight, as it had been cancelled due to bad weather, meaning the family have lost nearly £2,000 in the ordeal.
Chelsea added: "It was basically two full days of travelling for nothing. We've been told that we can't get money back because it was due to weather, but the flight from Bristol to Paris wasn't impacted by the weather. Luckily we've been able to get some of the Paris hotel money back through the company we booked with.
"[But] dealing with [easyJet] customer service has been awful. One person even hung up on me when I tried to explain our situation. We had only flown to Bristol because they told us we could get to Paris from there and now we're expected to pay for it ourselves.
"Luckily I've been buying my Christmas presents ahead of time so we're sorted for that, but as with everyone at this time of year, we're struggling and the fact we've been left out of pocket because of circumstances outwith our control seems really unfair."
An easyJet spokesperson said: "We are very sorry for Ms McMillan’s experience as a result of the severe weather conditions last week, which resulted in disruption to airline flying programmes. While this was outside of control, we did all possible to help impacted customers and provided the option to transfer to an alternative flight for free or receive a refund, as well as providing hotel accommodation and meals for those who required them and advised any customers who booked their own that they would be reimbursed.
“Due to the weather impacting all airlines, we are aware that options on some routes were limited at this time and so Ms McMillian transferred her flight to fly from Bristol, which was also unable to operate as a result of the weather. As there were no seats available on flights from Bristol to Glasgow, they then transferred to a flight from Bristol to Edinburgh.
"The safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew is easyJet’s highest priority and while the weather was outside of our control we fully understand the difficulty this will have caused, for which we are sorry. We take our consumer responsibilities seriously and we have refunded Ms McMillan for her return flight from Paris to Glasgow that she wasn’t able to take and are reimbursing them for their onward travel to Glasgow, as well as their fuel to and hotel accommodation in Bristol.
"As Ms McMillan transferred her cancelled flights for free and then travelled with us from Bristol to Edinburgh, in line with regulations she is not due a refund for her outbound flight.”
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here.
