A COUPLE with a young child had to pay £1,720 to return to the UK after their Easyjet flight was canceled and were left without food for eight hours.
Askir Ali, 36, his wife Sabrina Begum, 30, and their six-year-old daughter Sophia, who has life-threatening allergies, were left at Hurghada airport in Egypt for more than eight hours with nothing to eat.
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They arrived at the airport at 5:30 p.m. for their 10:05 p.m. flight last Wednesday, but were only allowed to go to their gate at 12:45 a.m. the next morning after buying new tickets and flying to 1h45.
Askir, from Hyde, Greater Manchester, said they arrived at Hurghada airport to find their flight had been canceled with no explanation or alternative.
He said he tried to call EasyJet but kept ‘running in circles’, unable to speak to the service concerned and he put his phone bill at £250 until it is blocked.
He said: “I made about 20 calls. I went from pillar to post. I spoke to about four people.”
After hours of waiting and with a starving, crying child and no prospect of another flight being offered, he paid £1,720 for new plane tickets to Manchester.
The flight was not direct and the family had to change in Istanbul and wait for a four hour layover.
Askir said: “At Istanbul airport I had free WIFI for thirty minutes and accessed an email from Easyjet saying they would put us on a flight from Egypt but asking us to stay there for another two days.”
Since the family was in Istanbul at that time, it was too late. Askir said he and his wife had work to do and his daughter had to go to school.
He said he couldn’t understand why they hadn’t taken another flight to Manchester that day.
The father-of-one said: ‘There were alternative flights but they didn’t offer them.
The family finally landed at Manchester Airport at 1pm on Thursday June 9, ten hours later than planned.
Since returning, Askir said he had received no explanation and was asked to fill out a compensation form – with no guarantee that he could get back the money spent on the new plane ticket. .
He said: “The theft was a no-show on their behalf, not my name. I paid for a flight and they had an obligation to get us home.”
An Easyjet spokesperson said: “We are truly sorry that the Ali family’s holiday has been affected by the flight disruption.
“In a situation as evolving as this, our priority is always to ensure that our customers book new flights as soon as possible.
“We have contacted these customers to let them know the details of their new flight and the hotel accommodation we have booked for them until their new departure date.
“We have contacted the family to apologize and let them know how they can claim disbursements and compensation.”
