By Alesia Fiddler and Piriyanga Thirunimalan
19:08 29 June 2024, updated 19:57 29 June 2024
Stranded tourists hit out at the “disgusting” service after Gatwick Airport suspended all flights yesterday afternoon.
Passengers faced massive delays, last-minute diversions to other London airports and missed connections after a British Airways Boeing 777 plane had to make an emergency stop on the runway due to ‘heated brakes’.
This caused chaos for thousands of Britons hoping to kick off their summer holidays as all flights due to take off or land at the airport were temporarily suspended.
One unhappy traveler told MailOnline how she was supposed to enjoy a glass of wine in Corfu but instead had a cup of tea at home after being told the next free flight was on Sunday.
The traveler said: “I should be drinking wine in a taverna in Corfu, instead I’m drinking a cup of tea indoors on the sofa!
“I can’t get another flight until Sunday (much more expensive than the canceled flight) so I’ve lost 2 days of a much longer and needed vacation.”
The cancellation has also led to unexpected costs for passengers who say they are now “massively out of pocket”.
She added: “It’s a knock on effect, we left our car in the car park so we had to pay for a taxi home, we’ll have to pay for a taxi back to the airport on Sunday, we bought bottles of duty. free drinks that we can’t take back through the airport with us sounds very petty, but when you’re on a really tight budget, every penny counts and we’re massively out of pocket for a shortened holiday!
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“The scenes at the airport were terrible, one lady was so upset she fainted, families were crying. Easyjet staff were literally non-existent!”
Someone else told MailOnline of the “terrible and extremely poor service” their elderly parents experienced after being stranded on Santorini.
Their parents were supposed to fly home from the Greek island at 1:30 p.m., but it ended up being canceled at 8:00 p.m.
They added: “They were staying overnight in a base hotel and were forced to arrive at the airport at 10.15am this morning despite their flight not leaving until 9pm local time and not being available on an earlier flight meaning they spent almost 2 days at the airport.
“The flight they are supposed to be on has been further delayed to 11pm with no confirmation that it will take off.”
They claimed: ‘Absolutely disgusting and appalling customer service with extremely poor communication and minimal information, yesterday they were told it was a technical fault with the plane and this morning it was still the same even though they had plenty of time to resolve this and other flights departing before them.
“They don’t have any cash on them so they rely on the minimal vouchers provided by easyJet.”
Others had special occasions affected by the flight cancellation.
Holiday couple Trish and Oliver McShane had their son’s 40th birthday party flight canceled just 15 minutes in advance.
They said: “Today 28th June 2424 our flight from Belfast to London Gatwick was canceled 15 minutes in advance, we were going to celebrate our son’s 40th birthday, there are no alternative flights available except to fly to either Southampton or Manchester, my husband is 82 and has a special assist, a sad weekend for the family.’
A spokesman for London Gatwick said: “The main runway was closed for 50 minutes yesterday (June 28) due to a departing aircraft with hot brakes. Safety is our highest priority and London Gatwick Airport Fire Service was quick to support the aircraft. The runway is now open and operating as usual.
“Yesterday, 16 flights were diverted and 23 flights were canceled and there were a number of delays due to the crash.
“Today we continue to work with our airlines and other airport partners to minimize disruption to operations. There have been several cancellations due to European weather and the impact of yesterday’s runway closure. Passengers should contact their airlines directly for the latest flight information.”
An easyJet spokesman said: “Like all airlines operating in European airspace, easyJet’s flight schedule experienced some disruption yesterday, June 28, due to weather and ATC delays.
“Due to the closure of the runway at Gatwick Airport, some flights were affected with six flights having to be diverted to other London airports. While the runway has since reopened, flow restrictions have been put in place, which unfortunately led to the cancellation of the program to and from Gatwick yesterday afternoon.
“We have done everything we can to minimize the impact on our customers whose flights have been affected and have provided hotel accommodation and meals, as well as refunds or transfer to an alternative flight, and have informed customers that they will be expenses reimbursed where self-arranged.
“The safety and well-being of our customers is our highest priority and although this was beyond our control, we apologize for any inconvenience caused.”
A British Airways spokesman said: “The safety of our customers and crew is always our priority and we apologize for the inconvenience caused by the aborted take-off at Gatwick Airport.”
They previously said: “Our pilots took a precautionary decision to cancel take-off due to a technical issue.
“Safety is always our top priority and we apologize for any inconvenience caused to customers.”
MailOnline has contacted Easyjet for comment.
That means another hiccup this week for families trying to get away for the summer.
Families flying out of Birmingham Airport faced long queues at security, with one passenger describing it as a “health and safety disaster”.
Passengers using the airport have had to wait up to several hours to get through the terminal in recent weeks after the £60m security hall opened.
The new area will eventually allow passengers to leave liquids up to two liters and large electrical items in cabin baggage while going through security, but new government restrictions mean passengers are still limited to only 100ml bottles.
One video taken earlier this week showed a long line of cars waiting to get into the exit area today. Witness Olly Carruthers said it was “chaos” with the zone “completely broken and backed up”.
Another traveler said he waited more than an hour at 5.30am this morning and still hadn’t got to the lifts to go through security – with 1,000 people queuing.
The airport, which also denied the figure of 1,000 people in the queue, said that between 3.30am and 7.00am staff removed 0.8 tonnes of liquids, pastes and gels in containers that exceeded the 100ml carry-on limit.