Passengers who were left "abandoned" at Bristol Airport when their flight to Cardiff was diverted claim they have been refused compensation despite having to fork out hundreds of pounds to pay for a taxi home. Holidaymakers travelling on the Wizz Air flight from Corfu to Cardiff on July 3 saw their plane forced to divert to Bristol after an incident at Cardiff Airport meant they were unable to land there.
The incident, which saw a light aircraft go off the end of the runway, meant the airfield was closed for nearly an hour. Those on the Wizz Air flight - which was due to arrive back in Cardiff just after 1pm - were then forced to wait on the plane on the Bristol Airport runway for several hours, before being told they would not be flying back to Cardiff at all and had to get off the plane.
Some of the "tired and upset" passengers on the flight have claimed they were declined any food or water by Wizz Air staff on-board as they waited on the runway and were given limited information about the flight's status or whether they would be flying to Cardiff as planned. Get the latest news from across Wales sent straight to your inbox by signing up to our newsletters here.
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Passengers were then faced with the challenge of getting back home, with many of them having left their cars at Cardiff Airport before jetting off to Greece. This meant that families were forced to pay hundreds of pounds on taxis to take them back to Wales, having waited in vain for alternative transport to be arranged.
One couple who endured the "nightmare" flight have now claimed that their application to get compensation has been rejected by Wizz Air. Instead, they say the airline told them that the closure of the airfield in Cardiff fell under "extraordinary circumstances" and therefore no money was due to the passengers who were left on the plane for hours before having to make their own way home.
Ian Walters and his wife Kate travelled on the flight with their two young children and have described their experience as "shambolic". The couple, who live in Bridgend, added that it was "one thing after another" on their flight home which gradually turned into a nightmare.
"Obviously there's nothing the airline could do about the circumstances in Cardiff," said Ian. "But following that, it was just an absolute shambles. They weren't allowed to serve us any food or anything when we landed in Bristol, so we had a starving three-year-old and a six-year-old climbing all over us, screaming and crying. It was a nightmare really.
"There was pretty much no information fed back to us and it was just one thing after another the whole time. We were on the plane, on the tarmac, for around two and a half hours in the end. After a while we were told that the airport was open and we had got fuel and were just waiting for paperwork, but then some guy lost the plot I think and he just walked off the plane, and it was after that that they said they were going to have to cancel the flight and we all had to get off."
He added: "If it was just me and my wife, it would have been one of those things, but travelling with children made it all the more stressful. Thankfully, other passengers saw our situation and realised we didn't have any food or anything so people just started sharing food around, which was good to see."
There was no end to the couple's frustrations when they finally got off the plane either. Stuck around an hour and a half drive from Cardiff Airport, they say they waited along with other passengers to see if any alternative transportation would be arranged to help them on their way home, but this never materialised.
"When we got off the plane, there was no-one there," claimed Ian. "No reps, no help, nothing. Everything was just winging it. There were a couple of reps from Jet2 Holidays and fair play to them, they helped us as much as they could but obviously it was nothing to do with them but they did their best with the information they had.
"We were then told to stay put as Wizz Air reps were on their way and they had buses allocated to take us all back to Cardiff. That was meant to be around half an hour after that announcement, but that became an hour, an hour and a half, two hours, two and a half hours and no buses or reps turned up."
With everybody knackered and desperate to get home, Ian and Kate clubbed together with another family to share a taxi back to Cardiff Airport. The 60-mile journey to the airport cost them a whopping £166 as a family of four.
"We just needed to get the kids back home," Ian said. "We asked if any other families wanted to share and another family of four agreed to it. When we arrived at Cardiff Airport, all of the staff and captain were just coming out of the terminal having just flown the plane back home. In the end we were back home at 10pm, when we would have expected to be back at 2pm."
Having been forced to fork out hundreds to get home, the couple hoped to get some money back from the airline, but claim they have had their application dismissed. In a response to their claim, seen by WalesOnline, Wizz Air said: "We confirm that flight W9 5814 CFU-BRS on 03/07/2022 was delayed/ cancelled as a result of airport/ runway limitations.
They added: "The above referenced circumstances, as per the European Regulations 261/2004 fall into the category of Extraordinary Circumstances, therefore we regret to inform you that no compensation is due." In response, Ian has described the airline's lack of action as "absolutely shocking".
He said: "We appreciate the circumstances that we couldn't land, but everything that followed was absolutely shambolic. There was no organisation, no information fed to us and in the end we didn't see anyone from Wizz Air when we got off the flight. We just had to make our own way home after five hours of being in Bristol.
"We gave up hope in the end and to have our compensation application rejected is really disappointing. I'm sure we're not alone in that though."
A spokesperson for Bristol Airport told WalesOnline that responsibility for arranging onward travel for any diverted flight in UK airports lies with the airline. Wizz Air was contacted for comment.
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