A stag do party left stranded at Edinburgh Airport after a cancelled flight were told they would have to wait two days for the next departure home.
Matt Jopling, 36, spent the weekend in the capital with eight pals, enjoying paintballing and a ghost tour.
The group had suffered a string of travel disasters which had already delayed their arrival into Edinburgh for the trip.
And arriving at the city’s airport to leave, they found their return flight was initially delayed then cancelled.
Unanble to wait two days for due to work commitments, the friends were forced to fork out £160 each for a train home to Bristol instead.
Matt, from Swansea, told how they arrived at Edinburgh Airport to discover their 9.30pm flight on Sunday, June 6 was initially delayed until 11.30pm.
The bar manager said it was delayed again until 12.10am before being cancelled.
EasyJet put the lads in a hotel overnight but informed them there would be no flights out until Tuesday so they should organise another route home.
After a night in the hotel and eager to get back to Bristol, the group reluctantly decided to catch a train back.
Speaking to Edinburgh Live, Matt said: “Myself and eight other friends planned to fly from Bristol to Edinburgh on Thursday, then fly back Sunday.
“We were delayed for ten hours on the Thursday, flying from Bristol, after the 11.30am flight was cancelled, while we were sitting in the departures lounge.
“With it being jubilee weekend, as you can imagine, the airport was jam packed with holidaymakers but after a long wait, we finally made our way to Glasgow.
“I will add that the captain of that flight, apologised for the delay, due to ‘no staff on the ground’. We were told that no flights to Edinburgh were available and that if we flew into Glasgow, easyJet staff would arrange, transport to Edinburgh.
“We made our way into Glasgow, and headed straight to the easyJet desk, only to discover, that no staff were in the building.
“The manager of the airport informed us, that no staff would be available, just to catch a taxi and claim it back through easyJet’s website.”
When the group eventually made it to the capital they had a fantastic weekend visiting Edinburgh Castle and other sights before getting ready to travel home on the Sunday.
Although their original flight was delayed they still headed to the airport expecting to travel home that evening.
Matt explained: “After a great weekend in Edinburgh, we had updates on the app, informing us, our 9.30pm flight was delayed until 11.30pm on the Sunday night.
“Hesitantly we made our way to Edinburgh Airport, checked in and waited for our flight.
“We were then updated, the flight would be delayed until 00:10am, so we waited and waited, just before 11pm we were told the flight was cancelled.
“We were told to head to the easyJet desk, where a member of staff would sort us out.
“The staff there looked exhausted and frustrated, with one staff member yelling, ‘I want to go home, you want to go home, let sort this out in a civilised fashion’ next to two armed police officers.”
He added: “We were told that all flights on the Monday, were cancelled, but we could get one on the Tuesday, and if we wished to get home another way, easyJet would compensate us. That was a lie.
“We were put in a hotel back in Edinburgh and reluctantly as a group, we decided to catch a train home, at 6am on the Monday.”
Eventually the holidaymakers made it back to Bristol but have been left disappointed with the stressful experience.
Matt said: “EasyJet has to be one, of the worst providers for customer services, we are given advice by one staff member, and then receive emails from other staff members, saying flights were available the following day, which they weren’t.”
A spokesperson for easyJet said: “We are very sorry that flight EZY432 from Edinburgh to Bristol on June 5 was cancelled.
“We notified customers directly of their options to rebook or receive a refund and provided hotel accommodation and meals where required.
“Nonetheless we fully understand the disruption this will have caused to their plans and we are very sorry for this.
“Our team will be reaching out...to apologise for their experience and process any expenses due."
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