Shocking stories revealed by passengers about flight delays and cancellations

Flight delays and cancellations are extremely common this summer. You probably would not guess the type of dangers that passengers face in this situation: theft, loss of money or lack of accommodation for the night. Here are some passenger nightmare stories.

In recent weeks, hundreds of passengers have been stranded at airports in London, Rome and Paris due to flight delays and cancellations. They complained about having to wait for several hours, not being informed about the reason for the delay/cancellation and even being refused to get a refund after the incident.

As we previously reported, the Hungary-based low-cost airline, Wizz Air left several passengers at the Paris-Orly airport without proper assistance in June. Soon after, the low-cost airline revealed that the reason for the cancellation was the air traffic control labour shortage, due to which their flights suffered delays, and their colleagues could not fly back to Budapest before the airport’s closure. Still, the incident caused many difficulties for several passengers.

Being robbed at the airport

A Hungarian couple recalled that they got back to the airport for the second time because their flight had been cancelled by WizzAir the previous day. Still, they were told late in the evening that their flight would be further delayed. The inconvenient situation turned into a real nightmare after the couple was robbed at Charles de Gaulle Airport. All their documents, bank cards and cash were stolen. Regarding the flight cancellation, the airline informed them in a text message at the Paris airport that they would be reimbursed. However, later on, they were refused to get reimbursement due to „exceptional circumstances.”

No accommodation was provided

However, not only the compensation, but in certain cases the promised service (accommodation due to flight delays or cancellations) fails to go through. Several passengers reported that the French staff at the Paris airport tried to help them, collecting their contact details and promising them accommodation, but nearly two hours later they said they could not provide it. The stranded passengers needed to take care of their own accommodation, otherwise, they would have spent the night under the stars. The passengers did not receive any information on reimbursement or compensation which was later rejected on the grounds of exceptional circumstances.

Passenger could not board due to overbooking

An unusual case was reported by the Hungarian news portal Noizz. The case happened last week on the Budapest-Mallorca Ryanair direct flight when it turned out before departure that there were more passengers than seats. When the last passenger boarded the plane, the cabin crew noticed that someone could not take a seat. As a result of the overbooking, the boarding passes of two passengers showed the same seat. What is quite surprising is that the overbooking had not been noticed before at the check-in desk, only after all the passengers got on board.

The staff then asked the passengers if anyone would like to volunteer to get off. The cabin crew even offered 250 euros for a volunteering passenger who would agree to be transferred to Mallorca the following day. Despite this substantial sum, none of the passengers volunteered, and the flight was already an hour and a half late. Eventually, after a phone call to a supervisor, the crew chose the unlucky person, a young man travelling alone, who was led off the plane. According to witnesses, the situation was very distressing.

Separated family

Another extreme case was revealed by a Hungarian family who wanted to return to Budapest on 22 June on an EasyJet flight from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport but their flight was cancelled. The concerned passengers were navigated by airport staff to the EasyJet desk, where they received a brochure with information about the options. They were told that they could book an EasyJet flight for 24 June, two days later. Still, no information was given as to the reason for the cancellation. By this time, the passengers received several emails from the airline including their apologies and information on their refund policy.

As an alternative, some passengers bought a ticket on the Wizz Air flight from Orly Airport the same evening, which finally took off with a negligible delay. Allegedly, the reason was the lack of air traffic controllers in Austria and Switzerland. Eventually, one-half of the Hungarian family returned home with this flight. However, several passengers – including some members of the separated family – needed to figure out another solution due to the lack of seats on the Wizz Air flight. In the end, the remaining 8 people took a Ryanair flight home from an airport 100 kilometres away from Paris. They still do not understand how it was possible to buy three batches of tickets in one hour, at three different prices – reported by the Hungarian news portal Index.