Fury as thousands stranded in Greece after EasyJet cancels flights

9th October 2016 Newsroom NEWS 0

Adrian Pingstone/Wikimedia Commons

ITV — Thousands of furious passengers have been left stranded in Greece after EasyJet cancelled flights in and out of the country – despite a strike by air traffic control staff being called off.

The company axed 44 flights ahead of the four-day strike, which was due to start on Saturday, but appeared to ignore customer queries as to whether the services would be reinstated when the strike was cancelled.

There was mounting anger on social media as dozens of tweets demanding information went unanswered – despite the company responding to other, non-Greece related queries.

That left those passengers stuck with no hint at when they might be able to return home – and some complaining they had been forced to shell out hundreds of pounds for alternative flights back to the UK unnecessarily.

Among those stranded is Rosie Borman, who was on holiday in Corfu and was due to return home. All she has been offered, she told ITV News, is a flight in a week’s time as the best option.

“It’s been a nightmare,” she said.

“All I was told is the flight was cancelled, the support ended there. We spent 50 minutes on hold to Easyjet and they hung up. I still don’t know how I’m going to get home.”

Another passenger, Sue Kennedy, added: “I’m meant to come home on Tuesday but I’ve had no information whatsoever from EasyJet. Trying to get information from the site has been ridiculous. They don’t do anything.”

In a statement to ITV News, a spokesman for EasyJet said the company had reinstated 24 out of the 44 cancelled services – but warned it would not be possible to reinstate them all.

Any passengers who have already received a refund and have paid out for extra flights or hotels will be refunded the difference, he added.

– EASYJET SPOKESMAN — We are currently looking to reinstate as many of tomorrow’s previously cancelled flights as possible, however due to the short notice we have been given, unfortunately some flights will remain cancelled.Affected customers can change their flight free of charge or receive a refund. We would advise customers to make any amendments to their booking on easyJet.com/manage bookings.

Although this is outside of our control we would like to apologise to all our customers for any inconvenience and would like to assure them that we are doing everything possible to minimise any disruption as a result of the industrial action.

He added: “easyJet will refund the difference of any extra cost of a new flight if they have already received a refund. In addition, we will refund hotel costs and flights with other airlines.”

Many passengers said they had not been kept informed about their options once the strike had been cancelled.

Some voiced anger that they had shelled out for expensive alternative arrangements, including extra nights in hotels, only to be told they could return home as planned after all.