Hen party loses over £1,000 on holiday after sudden EasyJet flight cancellation

A woman has spoken of her ‘awful’ experience in Manchester Airport after her hen party plans were cut short thanks to EasyJet’s mass flight cancelation.

Rachel Webb arrived at the airport on the morning of Friday May 20th for a flight to Palma de Mallorca, where she was set to enjoy her long-awaited hen party with ten friends.

After checking in their luggage and getting through airport security with no issues, the party was left with enough free time to enjoy some shopping, a rarity in today’s current climate.

However, upon checking the departures board for a gate number, Rachel was shocked to find her flight had been cancelled with no word of warning from EasyJet or Manchester Airport.

Anna Zvereva / Wikimedia Commons

Recalling her ordeal to Proper Manchester, Rachel said there was no member of the EasyJet customer service team in sight following the sudden flight cancellation.

She said she was eventually able to flag down an airport staff member, but he seemed ‘nervous’ and ‘unsure’ on how to handle the situation.

She explained: “He was very nervous, and he did try to help. But to be honest, he had no authority and no idea what was going on.”

Another member of staff, who was ‘rude and unhelpful’, then told the women that they needed to organise a new flight via the EasyJet app, which they couldn’t do because of the signal issues in the airport.

Rachel Webb / Facebook

The hen party were then ushered from departures through to arrivals, where they were met with their checked-in luggage.

Rachel says they were forced to sit on the floor in arrivals ‘in the way of arriving passengers’ for over an hour before being put into contact with the EasyJet customer service team.

Read More: Manchester Airport described as ‘hell on earth’ with long queues and waits of up to four hours 

However, they weren’t the bearers of good news. She explained: “Customer services said they could not get us on a flight until Sunday evening, which would give us just one day of our holiday.

“We had already spent over £1,500 on pre-booked activities for the Saturday and Sunday which, would have all been missed on the alternative flight offered.”

Rachel Webb

Rachel claims her party were not offered any type of refreshments or vouchers towards the money they lost on the activities, with customer services being unable to even find her another holiday to any other location.

While the women received a refund from Hays Travel, they lost out on over £1,000 on travel costs and pre-booked events and activities.

The hen party eventually went ahead in Blackpool.

Though Rachel and her hens aren’t the only passengers to lose out on their holidays recently; yesterday, EasyJet cancelled hundreds of flights at the last minute thanks to IT problems.

Flights scheduled to depart between midday and 3pm yesterday, May 26th, were affected, including several departures from Manchester Airport.

EasyJet has been approached for a comment.