“My celebrations are shattered”: birthday trip ends in disaster after Manchester Airport chaos

A Manchester woman who planned a family reunion for her 60th in Barcelona has seen her holiday plans left in tatters following chaos at Manchester Airport.

Susan Atkinson, from Cheadle, had planned to meet up with her brother and his family on Saturday 29th - but the night before got the dreaded text that her EasyJet flight had been cancelled.

Her trip operator LastMinute.Com then offered her another route, this time with a stopover in Vienna. But after paying £20 for an Uber to the airport, Susan found the flight to Vienna was fully booked - and her name wasn’t on the list.

READ MORE: Every delayed and cancelled flight from Manchester Airport on Tuesday, July 2

“What LastMinute said to me was a load of rubbish”, she said. “They never got back to me about the Vienna flight, they didn’t even apologise for not letting me know.

“My brother and his family live in Australia - to know I was just a couple of hours away from them, they were all there except me and meeting up for my birthday - it was just devastating.”

“It just shattered all my early celebrations with my family.”

The 59-year-old said she believed weather disruption, and the backlog caused by the power cut at Manchester Airport the weekend prior, to be behind her cancelled flight and the chaos that ensued.

It comes at what is just the start of the busiest period of summer travel, with the summer holidays soon to begin.

Susan spent £200 on beauty treatments to prepare for her trip. “Nails, hair, lashes - I don’t go out much these days, I thought I’d make the effort!”

In total she spent £670 on flights and 3 nights accommodation - and when she spoke to the Manchester Evening News, hadn’t yet heard whether she would get a refund.

“I didn’t want to spend the money, but I thought, I’ll pay that little bit extra to spend some time with my family”, she said.

“I just pray I’ll get it back - but I’ve lost all faith. I hope I haven’t got a fight on my hands.

“It’s nobody’s fault really - but it’s just been very disheartening and upsetting. To me, they didn’t really try. But it is what it is, what can you do?”

A representative for LastMinute.Com said: "We are sorry that the customer had to face the cancellation of their flight to Barcelona by the airline. Our teams have proposed several alternatives and we do understand the eagerness and anticipation the customer felt to start as early as possible their holiday.

"Unfortunately the time change for the flight at 1.15pm never got confirmed and the customer was not able to take this flight. The customer requested a full refund for which our team is currently processing."

When contacted for comment, a representative for EasyJet said: "We are sorry to hear that Ms Atkinson’s travel agent didn’t rebook her on an alternative flight. If a flight is booked through a third party travel agent, we ask the agent to ensure that any important information regarding their flight is shared directly with their customer.

"This includes information on how to rebook or request a refund which we will provide to the original method of payment and if this is issued to the travel agent, it is their responsibility to pass on the refund owed to their customer."