IT was the end of a holiday in paradise – which descended into hell as we tried to travel home.
After a week in holiday hotspot Majorca – our first foreign trip since before Covid – my family and I were among British victims of flight chaos which has left tens of thousands stranded.
The Sun’s Michael Hamilton was caught up in the UK air traffic control nightmare
And today/yesterday we still had no idea when – and how – we would be coming home.
Our ordeal began soon after arrival at Palma de Majorca airport just before 4pm on Monday afternoon.
There had been no sign of the trouble to come as we boarded a TUI transfer coach from our hotel near Can Picafort, eastern Majorca for the 90-minute journey to the airport.
But at the terminal it was soon clear there were serious problems – which were being very badly handled.
We received an app update ‘informing’ us our easyJet flight – EJU7621 – to Southend was delayed from 18.25 to 19.06.
A minor problem, it seemed.
But at the boarding gates, easyJet staff were telling travellers to Southend they could not even queue for their flight.
And then we heard a flight to Belfast was cancelled, followed by Luton.
When we were finally allowed to drop off our bags, I asked when – and if – our plane would actually take off.
“We have no information,” the attendant who checked us in cheerily announced.
With a sense of foreboding, my family – myself, wife Stacey, 40 and sons Henry, nine, and six-year-old Oliver – worked our way through security, a packed terminal and were directed to gate A-17.
When we got there, at 18.15, the gate was showing a flight for Bournemouth – due to have taken off at 17.40 – was boarding.
Not a great sign.
A scrum of passengers, with problems on other flights, surrounded a Spanish worker.
And then came the news – delivered by a fellow traveller standing next to us who checked his easyJet app – came.
It took time to sink in: why had we had our bags taken and been sent to the gate, if the flight wasn’t leaving?
Surely they must have known?
There was a complete information vacuum at the chaos-hit airport.
No staff on hand, and hundreds of angry passengers – many, like us – with upset and incredulous kids.
After half an hour looking for staff, a harassed Spanish airport worker told us to leave the departure area, go back through passport control, collect our bags – and speak to an easyJet rep.
As we trudged through, Oliver asked why we weren’t going home and where we were going next – and I had nothing to tell him.
We had seen news reports from Sun Online about the UK-wide air traffic control failure.
Palma Airport was described as “shambolic” – yet that was an understatement.
It was criminally under-staffed and those workers on duty were utterly ineffective.
Then when we got back to the baggage carousels, our flight did not show on screens.
Another 30 minutes passed before we worked out which belt we needed and got our bags – and then we finally found some easyJet staff.
Surrounded by angry and stranded travellers, I initially felt sorry for them.
But we were then very clearly – and unapologetically – told easyJet could not put us on any flights or offer us any hotels.
‘You’re on your own: fend for yourselves’ was the very clear message.
One female British worker was captured on video telling passengers the Southend flight had not left the UK.
“Of course not, nothing’s come out from England,” she said.
When pressed about the flight, alternative routes home and hotels, she hot-footed it away to an office.
Would we be compensated.
‘Of course’ a different worker told us unconvincingly.
Another told us to go on the easyJet app – only for holidaymakers to show her it was not offering any options.
As passengers shouted and children wept, it was clear there was no point talking to the reps on duty.
Unable to face the prospect of making my wife and children sleep on an airport floor, I went onto Booking.com.
Their app provided more information than the easyJet staff.
While others argued and asked in vain for information, I booked an apartment for two nights – paying on credit card and hoping for the best.
I showed a couple how to make a Booking.com reservation and their teenage daughter was in floods of tears as I spoke to them.
It had been eight hours since we left our hotel and we appeared to be the first would-be Southend passengers to escape the airport.
As we left, others were consoling weeping youngsters and planning to stay until easyJet helped them. ‘Good luck with that’, I thought.
A couple from Manchester told us they had sat on a flight for six hours before being turfed off.
A woman in her sixties was telling staff she had no money or way to find accommodation.
One stranded passenger was nurse due on duty on Tuesday.
In our taxi across Palma we saw an update from easyJet saying they were “proactively” contacting affected travellers.
Not in our case they weren’t.
The only message we received told us to go onto their non-functioning app.
While the glitch was not their fault, the response was woeful.
We had flown from our local airport, Southend, to take the stress out of travelling.
But the chaos and disruption has now tarnished memories of golden sands, lounging by the pool and £3 pints of Estrella on our first foreign holiday since 2019.
And to add insult to injury, when we arrived at our apartments, we found it was behind Bierkonig in Palma – the Capital of Majorca we had never before visited.
The vast German beer hall pumped out loud techno music into the early hours, and was thronged by drunken revellers – giving us little chance of a much-needed restful night.
An easyJet spokesperson said: “Due to the Air Traffic Control systems failure affecting UK airspace, some flights were unfortunately unable to operate.
“We have been doing everything we can to minimise the impact of the disruption, providing customers with information on their options to transfer their flight for free or receive a refund, securing hotel accommodation where possible and advising any customers who make their own accommodation or alternative travel arrangements that they will be reimbursed.
“While this is outside of our control, we apologise for the difficulty this has caused and remain focused on doing all possible to assist and repatriate our customers as soon as possible at this very busy time of year.
“Following the UK ATC systems issue on Monday, easyJet is now operating normally.
“EasyJet will be operating five repatriation flights to London Gatwick over the coming days from Palma and Faro on 30 August, and Tenerife and Enfidha on Thursday 31 August and from Rhodes on Friday 1 September.
“We are also operating larger aircraft on key routes including Faro, Ibiza, Dalaman and Tenerife to provide some additional 700 seats this week.”