On Christmas Eve last year, 11,000 passengers were stranded at the Gatwick airport, after there as a power failure at the airport. The basement in the north terminal flooded and main electrical systems failed leading to the cancelling of 100 flights 83 among them from easy jet.
Michalis Sialaros was among those caught up in the mayhem. He says that all their luggage was dumped in one large half lit room where anyone could have taken anything. Easy jet the airline on which he was to travel on said that they didn’t have an available flight for the next three days. Thishe says led him to book a flight on another airline forcing him to spend €1000 more on his flight.
Easy jet says that its operations during that difficult period was above board and procedural. The airline says Sialaros rejected a free alterative flight provided by the airline and was therefore reimbursed all airfares not used and expenses incurred while stranded at the airport including food.
Gatwick airport as compensation issued shopping vouchers worth £100 for every passenger stranded. An amount Claire rosette, whose flight to Grenoble was cancelled said that could merely cover the amount she used during the delay. To add salt to injury the compensation came three to four months after the incident.
Gatwick, however, says that the airport is now better equipped to handle extreme weather and avoid a spectacle like this ever happening again. Gatwick airport is promising its passengers a lovely experience which they are better known for.
Easy jet cabin crew, are on strike on 25th and 26th December. This has forced easy jet to cancel all flights on 26th December in advance to allow passengers to reorganise their travel plans.