Hull hen party stranded in Portugal after last minute flight cancellation

A hen party were left stranded in a Portuguese airport after their airline cancelled their flight home as they waited to board the plane.

Hull police officer Alex Settle, 27, was with 14 friends at the end of a four-day trip when Easy Jet scrapped their flight back to Manchester.

The group had already been through security and were waiting at the departure gate when they were told.

Miss Settle: "It’s tainted the hen do for us and has made us all nervous about future holidays. We definitely won’t be booking with Easy Jet again."

The group of friends had flown out on Thursday, 2 June.

Miss Settle said: "We were due to return Sunday, so we arrived at the airport and checked in with no issues. Our gate said 'boarding' so we went to the gate, which is when we were told flight was cancelled.

"The staff who told us weren’t from Easy Jet and had no idea what was going on, but were giving out leaflets with information. We phoned Easy Jet customer services and were on hold for an hour before they told us they'd sort out accommodation and flights and get back to us."

She said they were offered a flight back to Luton two days later but were told they would need to book extra accommodation and claim their money back.

Instead they booked with another airline to fly to Leeds Bradford on Wednesday.

"So far we’ve spent £3,000 on accommodation and around £2,000 for new flights," she said.

"The lack of communication from Easy Jet has been unacceptable. We have had to fend for ourselves and although we are able to do that, there are many stuck at the airport who do not have extra money to spend."

Easy Jet apologised and said it understood the disruption cancellations caused.

The airline added: "We are providing options to rebook or receive a refund as well as hotel accommodation and meals where required, along with information on how to arrange this quickly online or via the app.

"Our customer service hours and hotel accommodation sourcing have been extended to support impacted customers and help get them to their destination as soon as possible."

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