Michael Tall and his wife were supposed to depart Poznan Airport for London Luton on Monday at 4pm. But their Wizz Air flight was then cancelled on the runway – leaving them stranded
A couple were left stranded in Poland for 24 hours after their flight was cancelled – and say they were offered just €4 each in food vouchers.
Michael Tall and his wife were supposed to depart Poznan Airport for London Luton on Monday at 4pm. But their Wizz Air flight was then cancelled on the runway – leaving them stranded. The couple decided to plan their own way back and finally arrived in London Heathrow at 10pm last night (Tuesday).
Wizz Air apologised and said the flight had been rescheduled. Michael, 43, said: “I couldn’t care less about the plane being broken flights get delayed and cancelled, these things happen. But the way we’ve been treated the lack of communication, the lack of information, being left stranded with no help, no food, no drinks… It’s been scandalous. I’ve never known customer service like it.”
Michael and his wife, who does not want to be named, were on the tarmac when their flight was halted. He said: “We were speeding down the runway and suddenly the pilot slammed on the brakes before we got in the air. We were told that there was a technical fault with the plane and that engineers were on their way to fix things.
“We waited on the plane for two hours were told everything was good to go and started to take off again. But when we got halfway down the runway, the brakes were slammed on again.” Michael says that passengers waited onboard the plane for another hour before they were moved back into the gate at the airport terminal.
Here, he claims they were left for nearly seven hours with no information, no help, and a measly €4 voucher for refreshments. “We were trapped in the gate for nearly seven hours with absolutely no information on when we would be leaving,” Michael said. “There were no representatives from Wizz Air and no one at the airport wanted to help either I suppose because it’s not their airline.
“We were then given a ridiculous four-euro voucher each for food but even if you wanted to pay for more the cafe at the gate had run out of nearly everything. So all we could get was a horrible long-life croissant and a chocolate bar.” After an agonising wait, passengers were told the flight had been cancelled and were taken back through security.
“But then we were abandoned with no help,” Michael said. “Again, there was no representative from Wizz Air, and the airport weren’t interested either so all the passengers were talking to each other, communicating in English and Polish trying to help one another.” Michael and his wife managed to book a hotel and made it there at 1am, but others were forced to sleep in the airport.
“We finally managed to get a hotel through the airport but we saw others today who had slept here because they couldn’t get the help,” Michael explained. “So we were lucky in that but it still was a nightmare. They told us they would send buses to take us there and back, but none arrived so we arranged our own transport.”
Michael and the other passengers returned to Poznan Airport the next morning after Wizz Air told them a flight had been rescheduled for 10am. But after this failed to materialise, Michael decided to fork out £500 to get back to London saying he had no choice as he is self-employed and therefore “losing money by the minute”.
“We booked a flight with Lot Polish Airlines that first goes to Warsaw, and then goes onto London Heathrow,” Michael said. “It cost £500 but we had to do it as I’m a self-employed catering manager, so if I’m not working, I’m not getting paid. And then, for the next three days, I’ll be doing three 16-hour shifts starting at 6am,” Michael added.
The couple landed at Heathrow last night and then had to travel to their home in Staines-upon-Thames, Surrey to pick up one of their cars before driving to London Luton to collect the car they left there. Wizz Air said: “Due to a technical issue, unfortunately this flight faced several delays and has been rescheduled.
“We apologise for the disruption this may have caused passengers. All affected passengers were offered accommodation and were given meal vouchers. Passengers are always able to book their own accommodation and will be reimbursed for expenses up to a reasonable amount.
“All passengers have been notified of their compensation options and will be updated via email or SMS. The flight has now been scheduled for 17:00 UTC today. We advice passengers to book directly with us, either through the app or on the website in order to receive the most up-to-date travel information.
“When passengers book through third-party providers, we may not be able to contact customers directly via phone or email.”
