(posted 7209 days ago)Telegraph : Travel
Smoke alarm delays Ibiza passengers
By Jeremy Skidmore (Filed: 31/07/2004)Ninety British passengers were delayed for more than 21 hours at Ibiza airport after an EasyJet flight to Stansted was forced to return when smoke was detected in the cabin.
The problem was caused by burning plastic from a microwaved food container and the Boeing 737, which originally left at 8pm, did not get clearance to fly again until 5pm the following day.
Passengers were initially kept at the airport while the problem was investigated. Some 40 were allowed, on a "first come, first served" basis, to switch to EasyJet's Ibiza-Gatwick flight which departed before midnight on Saturday, July 17.
The remaining passengers were told the flight had been rescheduled for midday on Sunday and they should book into a hotel, claim their expenses back from the airline and return to the airport the following day.
EasyJet guarantees to pay the overnight costs of passengers when it is forced to cancel a flight after 8pm - but it is not obliged to do so. Other no-frills airlines, such as Ryanair, make no such pledges.
The next morning, the 90 passengers suffered further delays before eventually leaving Ibiza but they received food and drinks vouchers. They have since been offered a free EasyJet flight.
Simon O'Donnell, 33, from Kennington, south London, said: "I know things can go wrong, but they should have had another aircraft instead of making us wait so long." He added that passengers did not know what was going on.
"EasyJet offered to pay our overnight accommodation," said Mr O'Donnell, "but there were families with children sleeping on the floor, which is unacceptable. I've been given credit towards another EasyJet flight, but I'll never travel with them again."
A spokeswoman for EasyJet said its policy of paying for overnight accommodation ensured it had many repeat passengers.
"When there is an incident involving smoke we have to check the aircraft thoroughly from top to bottom," she said. "We try to get passengers home as quickly as possible but at the height of summer we couldn't have flown another aircraft over until 7 o'clock the following night."
In peak season, few rooms were available in Ibiza and the airline could not make a block booking for the stranded passengers.
"We thought the most sensible approach was for people to find their own accommodation and we would reimburse the cost," the spokeswoman added.
EasyJet, which normally pays £50 a night in compensation, will consider larger claims in extreme circumstances such as these, provided passengers are being reasonable and can provide receipts.
"We gave people food and drinks vouchers on Sunday and the captain gave people several updates," the spokeswoman said. "A delay of that length is unfortunate, but we did all we could."