A nurse who shelled out £52 to use Liverpool John Lennon Airport's popular Aspire Lounge has been left disappointed after the experience was cancelled with no refund offered.
Angela, a nurse from Speke, and her husband Keith, booked the airport lounge as a treat ahead of their flight to Tenerife. But when a private jet skidded off the runway on December 11, flights were grounded and the couple were diverted to Manchester instead.
This left the couple unable to access the Aspire Lounge but when they tried to pursue a refund, they were refused and told to claim through their insurance instead.
But their insurance had an excess of £125 - the amount the claimant is expected to contribute to the cost. This would have been more than the original treat, as Angela benefited from an NHS discount.
The Aspire Lounge offers bookers "a relaxing space" and a range of luxuries including champagne, spirits, hot food and treats.
Angela, 43, told the ECHO : "Nobody told us anything, we were just told to go on the coach to Manchester and we didn't know what was going on."
She added: "I've contacted customer services at the airport and they've said we can't get a refund - we need to claim through our insurance."
But according to Angela, the insurer told her the excess to claim would be £125 so it would not be worth pursuing.
She said: "I appreciate it was beyond their [the airport's] control what happened but surely they can provide some sort of compensation as they fully know that me paying insurance excess costs will not be worth the costs to enable a refund.
"Unlike all the cancelled flights which were likely to have been rearranged or refunded, all those additional holiday extras people have paid out for leaves us customers out of pocket.
"We travel quite a lot, we use our local airport and we always book the departure lounge - you're trying to support your local airport but then it puts you off booking anything in the future because if something goes wrong, you can't do anything about it."
Angela said she wanted to make a stand about the principle, not just the money.
She said: "I am astounded that we have been denied a refund, but it's not just the money, it's the principle of these big companies.
"Nobody tells you about the extras - there'll be hundreds going through similar situations where the excess is too much to bother claiming back for things like parking or lounges. It really concerns me.
"We had to go to Manchester and had to pay out again for food and drink while we waited a few hours for our new flight - we'd paid £52 for the lounge but never got in and then we had to get on a coach to Manchester where we had to pay out for food - it's cost us a lot of money.
"I'd like to warn others because it could happen to them and ideally, I'd like a refund for the lounge or a voucher to use there in the future - we always use our local airport.
"We wanted to raise awareness to others to be cautious as insurance companies' high excess fees can prevent you from making a claim.
"It might not sound like a lot to a big company but hard working people save all year round for a holiday."
A customer service representative for Liverpool John Lennon Airport responded to Angela and confirmed she would have to claim any refunds through her insurance, as the closure was an emergency incident beyond their control.
In an email, they told her: "It is very much regretted that your flight plans were altered as a result of the incident in question.
"However, a copy of this response can be produced to your travel insurer if required to support any claim that you may wish to present for expenses or costs incurred as a result of your flight being delayed or cancelled, and we hope that this is of assistance to you.
"Please note that Liverpool Airport Limited are not responsible for any costs or expenses incurred by passengers as a result of events on 11 December 2019.
"However, we sympathise fully with your concerns."
The ECHO has approached Liverpool John Lennon Airport for comment.
