A West Lothian family say they were left to fend for themselves after Ryanair cancelled their flight 'with just a day's notice'.
Maros Turas, 34, from Armadale was enjoying a holiday with his family in Barcelona when he claims their flight home was suddenly cancelled the day before they were due to fly to Edinburgh Airport. Maros had travelled with his mother and partner and had met up with his sister and her family in the Catalonian city.
They were due to fly home on Friday, September 16 but claim they were notified by Ryanair that their flight had to be cancelled due to strike action. Maros said he has received no other correspondence and rushed online to try to sort the situation out.
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He alleges that Ryanair did not offer to put them up for the night and that they were forced to book a couple of night's stay in a hotel. Maros says he was unable to spend money on the accommodation as there was no guarantee that his insurance or Ryanair would cover the cost.
After being told to fill out a claim form, he asked if the company could get them on a new flight home. He claims his partner was offered a flight to Glasgow Prestwick on Saturday 17 and he would follow with his mother on Tuesday 20 to the same airport.
Panicking, he accepted the offer but later discovered that seats on a flight from Barcelona to Edinburgh were available for Monday 19. He claims that Ryanair refused to change the booking to allow his family to travel together on that date as he had already accepted the flights to Prestwick.
He laments that the whole ordeal has left them out of pocket and that it ruined their holiday.
He said: “Our flight was cancelled on Friday from Barcelona to Edinburgh. We only got a message from Ryanair on Thursday and that is all the correspondence that we received.
“We didn't get an offer of accommodation from their side and when I checked on their online chat the operator didn't help us and just told us to fill in a claim form. Now we are in the cheapest hotel we could find at the last minute.
“We had to do this as we do not know if Ryanair or our insurance will cover anything. They have put a dark stain on our holiday memories and the great feelings we enjoyed while away.
“I have had to take a day extra holiday from my work which means I will lose out on money. When I asked to be booked onto any flight to Scotland -Edinburgh, Glasgow, Glasgow Prestwick - they offered us one space to Glasgow Prestwick on the 17th and two spaces to Glasgow Prestwick on Tuesday 20.
“I agreed because they said there were no other spaces available. I also asked if they had anything available to London or any UK airport and they said that since it was a different country they could only offer Scottish airports.
“Our flights were rebooked later after I found out there was a flight to Edinburgh on Monday 19th that was still on sale. Why did they not offer us this option and why have I had to pay for it out of my own pocket.
“I chatted with them again and they said if I already agreed with the change then they can't change it again. My questions are who will cover extra costs that occur for us?
“We have spent money on a hotel, food, a transfer to the airport and I have lost a days wage.”
Luckily Maros' friends were able to collect his car from Edinburgh airport and to look after his dogs whilst they were delayed in returning.
He added: “Thank god we had enough money in our account to cover the additional costs. A lot of people could have spent everything they had on their holiday and would have been unable to pay for the disruption.”
Ryanair were contacted for comment.
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