EasyJet chaos sees Brits in airport 'cage' with no water for hours as passengers collapse

A family with a three-year-old child claimed they were kept in a “cage” without food or water during a 17-hour delay on an easyJet flight from Cyprus.

Chris Lewis told The Mirror that the plane should have left at 10pm on Wednesday from Paphos but didn’t take off until 3.15pm. It comes during summer holiday chaos for many travellers as easyJet cancelled a spate of flights at short notice.

“We have a three-year-old and (this is) one of the worst experiences I have ever had travelling,” said Chris. “We arrived at the airport to be told that there was a two-hour delay. We were then told at 9.45 we were boarding and we were rushed through the airport and put into what can only be described as a cage.”

He continued: “We were left in this cage for nearly two hours with no water and no facilities. There was a lady who collapsed and lots of people really struggling and stressed. We watched as all the people with special assistance were loaded onto the plane only to be taken off 10 minutes later.”

Chris went on to claim that they were then told by the pilot at 11.40pm that thunderstorms had caused delays and now the crew were “over hours” so the flight was cancelled. “We were then released from our cage and had to go through passport control and collect our luggage,” said Chris. “We were travelling with our three-year-old so you can imagine how this was going.”

There was a 17-hour delay it is claimed

Chris alleged that there were no easyJet representatives to help them once they were back in the airport. “We were left in the car park waiting for coaches with no one there to guide or advise," he said. "At this point, at 1.30am, my daughter had become increasingly stressed and was really upset. I took a taxi to the accommodation which can only be described as a cesspit; the place was stinking and filthy. We arrived at 2am and then received a note that we were being flown home at 2.30pm and sorry for the delay - it was due to air traffic control restrictions.”

The following day Chris claimed there was a further delay before they eventually took off at 3.15pm, while the family will not be entitled to compensation as the delay was out of easyJet's control.

"Now on the plane, as you can imagine by this time everyone was really stressed and had had enough. There was no fresh food available, no ice and all the drinks were warm. This was due to the fact the plane had sat overnight on the tarmac in Paphos," said Chris. "We were then instructed that we wouldn't be entitled to compensation as the reason we were all delayed was out of easyJet's control. We then collected our car from the airport car park and were hit with a £60 charge for overstaying.

"All in all this experience ruined what was a great holiday and there are lots of questions need answering. Why have no other airlines had to cancel flights? Or faced the delays easyJet passengers have had to endure?"

Following previous flight delays and cancellations this week a spokesperson said: "Due to the impact of air traffic control restrictions in place across Europe for much of yesterday, like all airlines operating across European airspace, some of our flights were unable to operate with some knock on impact on today’s operation

“We have been doing everything possible to minimise the impact for our customers, providing hotel accommodation and meals as well as a refund or a transfer to an alternative flight and are advising customers they will be reimbursed for expenses should they need to make their own arrangements. The safety and wellbeing of our customers is our highest priority and while this is outside of our control, we are very sorry for the inconvenience caused.”