Passengers have told of their ‘traumatic’ and heartbreaking experiences as thousands of people were delayed by around an inch of snow at Bristol Airport on Wednesday (March 8).
Many passengers have shared similar experiences of a lack of care, facilities, communication and information as the airport ground to a halt for hours, leaving thousands of passengers stuck in an overcrowded departure lounge, on planes that never took off, or on flights that were diverted to a different country.
One plane full of families heading to Disneyland Paris were brought on board and prepared to take off, only to endure a four hour wait on the tarmac before being told the flight had been cancelled. Bristol Airport blamed the airlines for many of the customer care complaints, while one of the main airlines, easyJet, apologised for the inconvenience but said the disruption was ‘out of its control’
Read next: Bristol Airport 'disarray' as departure lounge packed with thousands of delayed passengers
Snow fell on Bristol Airport from around 3am on the morning of Wednesday, March 8, and the first flights due to take off at around 6am were postponed initially to 8am, then 11am. Bristol Airport announced it had cleared the runway and flights could resume, but the reality was that planes needed to be ‘de-iced’ and the airport initially had three de-icing machines, but passengers on planes waiting to be ‘de-iced’ were told two had stopped working, and pilots were left in a queue for hours for their planes to be made safe.
In the departures lounge, passengers tweeted public requests for younger people to give up their seats so that more elderly passengers could sit down and not have to sit on the floor, passengers told Bristol Live there were overcrowded scenes inside.
Bristol Live has put together three different examples of passenger experiences on Wednesday.
The de-icing problem
Curtis Peterson and his partner arrived at the airport at 5am for a 7.05am flight to Barcelona. Like thousands of other passengers, he waited as the information boards said flights were delayed until 8am, then 10am then 11am.
At 1pm, the passengers for the Barcelona flight were told to board a bus to their plane, which drove 100 yards to the aircraft, but didn’t open the doors. “The bus then did a lap around and came back to the same stop,” he said. “When we eventually got on to the plane, they informed us that there could be a delay in departing. We had to wait for the plane to be de-iced and to get clearance from ATC as the French were on strike. We were told this could be an hour and a half,” he added. “We weren’t allowed to buy any food or drinks, but were offered a small cup of water each.”
Then, the delays in de-icing the plane meant the crew on board had run out of the legal time they were allowed to work. “The captain announced that the flight could no longer depart as the staff would be over their working hours, in the air. The flight was then cancelled and we were off the plane. We received zero communication from easyJet on how to reschedule or claim for a refund. There was nobody in the terminal to help anyone - an absolute disaster of a day overall, we had 12 hours and hundreds of pounds down the drain,” he added.
The Disneyland trauma
Ryan Walker and his partner Naomi Wale had planned a huge trip to Disneyland Paris to celebrate their son Reuben’s third birthday on Tuesday. “Friends and family didn’t give him presents, but instead gave him Euros to have as spending money,” said Ryan, from Birmingham. “We saved up for months for the trip, it was Reuben’s first time on a plane and he was so excited about it.
“He loves the Marvel stuff and they’ve got a Marvel thing over there at Disney, so he was ready in his tracksuit for the flight,” he said. The family left Birmingham at 1am, arrived at Bristol Airport at 5am for a 7am flight to Paris. They had booked tickets for two days at the theme park, and two nights in a hotel, ready to return home on Friday. Like so many other passengers, their morning was spent in the crowded departure lounge, but they eventually got onto the plane at just after 2pm.
“There were a lot of children on board, loads of kids with the Disney ears on. Reuben was so excited. They locked the doors, the stewards did the safety briefing, but we didn’t move. The captain came on the tannoy and said they were waiting to be de-iced and there were six planes in the queue ahead of them, there were three de-icing machines, and each de-icing operation took about 20 minutes, so he hoped we’d be waiting no more than an hour,” said Ryan.
“After an hour he said there was a problem, and the three de-icing trucks had reduced to just one, and he didn’t know when our plane would be done. They were handing out water, but that was it. Then they announced that the toilet had blocked. At 5.30pm they started talking about getting us off the plane, because of the toilet situation, but then at 6pm - four hours after we got on board - they said that because the crew were now over their hours, the flight was cancelled.
“We got off the plane asking the easyJet staff what to do, and all they could say was ‘you have to go on the app’. Back at the baggage carousel it was heartbreaking. There were kids in tears. There were no reps from Bristol Airport anywhere, there’s no information desk, no one knew what was going on. We hoped they might say they would put us up in a hotel and get us on the first flight in the morning, but no, there was no information at all,” said Ryan.
“So I had to go back and get the car out of the car park, which took another hour because obviously they’d moved it off site by then. We made it back to Birmingham late last night. Reuben’s first trip on a plane and he got to sit in one, but it didn’t move. It was absolutely crazy the lack of information and support, I didn’t believe it. It was actually a bit traumatic, with all these families there, everyone was just left stranded,” he said.
The flights that did make it out
Not all the flights were cancelled because of a failure to de-ice them, or because the crew were out of hours. But it didn’t mean everyone managed to get to their destination smoothly.
Dominic Sharp, from Frome in Somerset, took his 14-year-old daughter on a snowboarding trip with a flight to Geneva. His wife Kate Cooke told Bristol Live they had a similar experience with delays, but did manage to get off the ground.
The 10.35am flight eventually took off from Bristol Airport at 8.05pm, but 20 minutes from landing in the Swiss city, the pilot informed the passengers that Geneva Airport had told them they couldn’t land as it would breach their late night curfew.
So instead the plane landed not in Switzerland but in France, just under 100 miles away in Lyon. “The passengers were kicking off, some were saying they would rather just go back to Bristol,” said Kate. “Dom said that the situation brought on a medical incident for one passenger behind him, so even when they did land, they had to stay in their seats for half an hour to wait for a doctor to come on board.
“They got out into Lyon Airport, and there was no one there to sort them out. The staff at the airport said it was closing too, and just ushered them out the door. So they waited for an hour outside in the cold and then this coach came.
“It was a real bunfight, there was no order about getting on. My two were the last to get on and he said to the driver ‘what about all the other people left on the side of the road?’ and they just said ‘oh there’ll be another coach in about half an hour’. They eventually arrived in Geneva at 2.30am,” she added. “I know a lot of it is out of their control with the weather, but things could be far better managed. You wouldn’t treat animals like this,” she said.
What Bristol Airport says
A spokesperson for Bristol Airport said: “During delay situations it is the airline’s responsibility to arrange refreshments, onward transport and manage customer welfare. It is a complex situation during flight disruption and all Bristol Airport, airlines and other business partners teams worked extremely hard to ensure flights continued to operate, whilst trying to manage the aircraft slots across the European airspace network.
“During disruption, airlines will continue to process customers so that as soon as possible, customers can board their flight and depart. Full contingency plans were in place yesterday during the short time Bristol Airport was temporarily closed due to snow clearance, extra colleagues were called in for duty; boarding gates opened early to provide additional toilet and seating facilities; and customers were provided updated information as it became available from their airlines.
“We appreciate and understand the frustration customers experienced during the delay situation, although all colleagues continued to work exceptionally hard to ensure customers were able to continue with their travel plans, where possible,” he added.
What easyJet says
The airline appeared to offer refunds for all passengers whose flights were cancelled on Wednesday, something the passengers themselves were not told personally - merely to fill in a form online to apply.
A spokesperson said: “Due to the closure of the runway at Bristol airport yesterday morning as a result of snow, airlines experienced some disruption to their flying programmes which unfortunately meant that flights were unable to operate as planned.
“We did everything possible to minimise the weather disruption for our customers and provided hotel rooms and meals where required for those customers affected by the cancellation along with the option of transferring to an alternative flight for free or a refund. We will also reimburse passengers for any reasonable expenses they incurred.
“We arranged for passengers on the diverted flight to continue their journey to Geneva by road. The safety of our passengers and crew is easyJet’s highest priority. Whilst this is outside of our control, we would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused as a result of the weather,” he added.
Read next:
- Full list of school closures as snow falls in Bristol
- Man sentenced after being drunk on flight from Dublin to Bristol
- Snow forces Bristol Airport to ground flights
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