STRANDED holidaymakers fear they will have to sleep in an airport for up to 12 days before they can get home.
Pensioner Ken Blanks, 71, said he and his wife had to refuse Las Palmas’ offer of a £50pp per night hotel until the next flight in just under two weeks because they cannot afford it.
Ken BlanksKen Banks and his wife Lisa may be stranded for 12 days before they can get home[/caption]
NCJ MediaElsewhere, passengers at Palma Airport slept on the floor[/caption]
Dan CharityTravellers at a packed Stagnated Airport today[/caption]
Other young families are also stuck in the airport in Gran Canaria with children without anywhere they can afford to stay in.
Ken, from Bristol, blasted easyJet for not offering them anywhere to stay and not communicating with them.
He said: “It’s absolutely disgusting.”
He also suffers heart problems and is terrified because his medication will not last over the next 12 days.
He told The Sun: “I’ve finished my holiday in Gran Canaria but there’s nobody from easyJet talking to us. They don’t care a damn about us.
“The next flight is in 12 days so we are stuck here.
“The airport offered some families with kids hotels but they have to keep getting taxis there and back. It’s 200 euros from the airport to the hotel. No one has the money for it.
“I can’t afford a hotel. And there’s nobody here to tell us anything.”
Ken said: “It’s midday and we still can’t contact easyJet even in the airport no one knows what is happening.
“There’s an easyJet flight arriving about 2pm but that flight is for the people due to leave today.
“This is shocking, it leaves three flights cancelled yesterday we are still in limbo and we have not been offered drinks or food.”
He continued: “Some were offered an hotel for the night taxi fare plus hotel cost paid for themselves while others like me cannot afford this offer and we still don’t know what is happening tonight.
“I am now at my wits end and just don’t know what to do.”
Meanwhile, Matthew Page said easyJet put them up in a hotel for one night in Tunisia but have been told to fend for themselves until a flight becomes available, which may not be until next week.
He said: “easyJet have been no help at all. They have put us up for one night and then we have to fend for ourselves.
“We have three children with us and apparently the next flight home is in over a week.”
EasyJet have been contacted for comment.
It comes after summer holidays ended in misery for thousands when a technical fault brought down the UK’s air traffic control system.
Thousands of holidaymakers were hit by bank holiday travel delays, which started yesterday when a “technical issue” grounded flights heading to and from the UK.
Despite the issue being said to have been fixed by yesterday afternoon, knock-on disruption has massively affected tourists.
Passengers due to fly to Newcastle were seen bunking down on the floor of Palma airport overnight, with their flight already facing huge delays following severe weather problems.
And some holidaymakers were even sleeping in trolleys, with one passenger even using a towel to make a tent-like canopy between barriers.
Dozens more cancellations across Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton Airports were announced on Tuesday morning as airlines struggle to recover from the four-hour failure.
The backlog is expected to take days to clear.
Peter JordanExhausted passengers sleeping at Gatwick Airport[/caption]