A holidaymaker on a diverted easyJet flight has spoken out about the “shambolic” situation which has left her family without their luggage and her young children without hot food and water. Kate Schwarz, 43, was on board flight EZY34AQ, bound for Bastia in Corsica, which was diverted back to Gatwick Airport after a hydraulic failure on Saturday (July 26).
The plane, an Airbus A321-251NX, left Gatwick at 2.10pm but returned less than two hours later due to the technical problem. The passengers were put on another flight but didn’t arrive in Bastia until around 10.20pm on Saturday. Kate, who was travelling with her husband, Danny, 60, and two children, eight-year-old Noah and Ivy, 6, did not get through passport control until around 11pm.
The family, from Muswell Hill in London, remain without their luggage today. EasyJet said they were unable to remove luggage from the original aircraft and has apologised for any inconvenience caused.
Mrs Schwarz, 43, told the Express: “It should have just been a short delay and simple. But it was an absolute shambles.”
She explained that the original flight, which was scheduled to leave Gatwick at 1.10pm, was delayed by an hour. Shortly after taking off, the attendants looked “panicked” and started to pace up and down the plane.
“Moments later it’s announced that, due to a technical fault, we will be turning around and going from north Paris to Gatwick,” Mrs Schwarz explains. “There was a lot of fear and panic throughout the plane.”
After returning to Gatwick, the passengers were bussed to a new terminal ahead of their flight to Bastia. However, Mrs Schwarz claimed they were not offered food or drink, and were unable to leave the designated area, which only had three vending machines, unless they needed the toilet.
The passengers eventually boarded the new plane before Mrs Schwarz heard an easyJet employee say their luggage was still on the previous flight. “So I asked the luggage attendant on our way in directly – is our luggage on the flight? She answered yes,” she said.
Mrs Schwarz added: “We were about to take off when an announcement went over the tannoy to say that our hold luggage was still stuck on the original plane wouldn’t be coming off as they couldn’t open the doors.
“They said it might come on Monday on the next easyJet flight and that if anyone wanted to get off, they had five minutes to decide.”
Most of the passengers opted to remain on the flight and it soon took off for the second time. However, the passengers were still without food and got told by staff that “no hot food was being served.”
One of the staff handed Mrs Schwarz’s children a tub of Pringles and two bottles of water. The mother-of-two explained: “There was no leadership, no empathy, no understanding, no clue. There was a plane full of tired, hungry, scared passengers who still had onward journeys to make with no luggage.”
EasyJet said that as the second flight used the same catering service as the cancelled flight, there was a limited range of options for the passengers. However, there were drinks and snacks available.
After arriving in Bastia, the Schwarz family eventually made it through passport control by 11pm. They were reportedly told that their luggage was not far behind but received a message from easyJet at 12.33am which apologised for the delay.
As of 4pm on Sunday afternoon, the family and other passengers remain without their luggage. “We have no idea whether it’s still on the original plane, whether it’s been damaged beyond repair, when it’s coming or how it’s coming.”
An easyJet spokesperson said: “Due to the technical issue, we were unable to remove and transfer our customer’s hold baggage to the replacement aircraft before departure. However, we will rush the bags to our customers on the next available flights and we are sorry for the inconvenience.”
They added: “To ensure there was minimal delay for our customers on the replacement flight we used the catering service from the cancelled flight which unfortunately meant there was not the usual extensive range of options for customers. However, our crew did their best to ensure that all customers received their drinks and snack orders.”