Justine Williams, Debbie Davies and Steve Wilson from Swansea say they were left “stranded” in Turkey after their easyJet flight was cancelled due to an engineering issue, leaving the trio with no money
A group of mates were left “stranded” in Turkey after their return flight was mysteriously unable to operate. Justine Williams, Debbie Davies and Steve Wilson had been enjoying a holiday in Marmaris, and were ready to fly back to Bristol Airport from Dalaman Airport on Saturday, August 22.
The trio, hailing from Swansea, had started their holiday the previous week on Saturday, August 15. They reached the boarding gate and could see their easyJet plane through the windows. However, the departure time came and went, with Miss Williams revealing that scant information was provided about the escalating delays.
The group, who had booked their flights and hotel separately rather than as a package deal, claim they were herded onto buses and taken to a hotel which “puts up people when they are stranded”.
They say it was without any explanation as to why their flight had been cancelled. EasyJet later stated it was due to an issue with the aircraft that necessitated an engineering inspection.
The friends were among others from Wales who found themselves stuck abroad, including another family from Merthyr Tydfil.
Speaking to WalesOnline from Turkey before heading home yesterday, Miss Williams and Miss Davies said they had completely run out of money following their holiday, and were given little information on when a rescheduled flight would take place.
Miss Williams recounted her ordeal: “Our holiday had finished, and we’d gone to the airport, and everything was fine until we got to the gate. The time our flight was due came (11.30pm), and we were looking at the plane, and they were saying ‘another five minutes, another five minutes’, but it didn’t say delayed or anything on the screen.
“Everybody was getting worked up and it was a bit of a nightmare really because nobody knew what was going on. After a while they said ‘everybody follow us to passport control’. We asked ‘what’s happening?’ but nobody knew.
“We were asked to get our bags and were asked to follow to the car park. It was pitch black in the middle of the night, in the early hours of the morning. Everybody was put on different mini buses and nobody knew where they were going, and nobody had anything explained to them as nobody spoke Turkish.
“We were put into hotels, arriving at around 4.30am at that point, and it could have been up a mountain for all I knew, it was pitch black. It was a total nightmare.”
The group was provided with breakfast and evening meals at the hotel, but having spent all their money during the holiday, they found themselves borrowing basic necessities from other guests.
Miss Williams added: “We haven’t had any money at all on us as we spent it all on the holiday. We’ve had no money to buy things like deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrushes, because we left it all before we went to the airport.
“People at the hotel have been lending us everything. I’ve never shared a roll-on deodorant in my life, but I had to.
“We asked at the hotel we were taken to if we could speak to easyJet, but the reception wasn’t able to help.”
The group claim they were informed via an automated service on the easyJet website that they needed to arrange their own alternative flights. Mr Wilson flew back home alone to Manchester yesterday (August 26), leaving his car still parked at Bristol Airport.
Miss Williams and Miss Davies are flew out on Wednesday evening, also heading for Manchester Airport. They landed land in the northern city at 1.05am, with no onward travel arranged.
They said the app indicated that the only other option, aside from accepting the flight to Manchester, was another flight not scheduled to depart until September 7.
“We’re on our way to the airport, but we’re not hopeful we’ll get on it because flights have been cancelled again since,” Miss Williams stated.
“If we do manage to get on the flight, we have no way of getting back from Manchester. We’re two ladies, arriving into Manchester at 1.05am, and we haven’t got a penny on us. Not being home on time has meant I’ve lost work, and it has been really, really inconvenient.
“Everyone has all been left in a mess. We’d like easyJet to apologise. I’d never ever use them again. They don’t even know if we’ve got home or not – nobody has come to talk to us. We sat there crying thinking we were never going to get home, stuck in a foreign country with no money.”
An easyJet representative apologised: “We are sorry that EZY2852 from Dalaman to Bristol on August 22 was unable to operate due to an issue with the aircraft which required an engineering inspection.
“The safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew is our highest priority and we have been doing all we can to support our customers, including providing hotel accommodation and meals and reimbursing them for expenses they may have incurred.
“Alternative flight options including with other airlines are very limited at this busy time of year and so while we have transferred customers onto the next available flights this week, we fully understand the difficulty caused by the delay returning home and are sorry for the inconvenience caused.”
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