Edinburgh Dad fuming after Easyjet flight 'nightmare' on family holiday to celebrate tot's birthday

A Dad has hit out at budget airline Easyjet after a flight ‘nightmare’ saw his family stuck in Edinburgh airport with their toddler for more than seven hours.

Scott Lynas booked a short family holiday to Paris departing on Saturday 2 December for three nights to celebrate the birthday of his wife Catherine and son Julian, who was due to turn two on the holiday.

But after online check-in problems and long delays their flight was cancelled and the family nearly missed most of their dream family holiday to Disneyland.

Due to a ‘technical issue’ their outbound flight from Edinburgh to Paris de Gaulle was delayed and after boarding the delayed flight around 7pm they waited on the plane for another hour and a half – before being told that the flight was cancelled.

They claim no passengers were offered any food or water. Forced to go home following the ordeal they were offered another flight the following day – which was also delayed and arrived 20 hours after the family were due to arrive in Paris. Worried they were going to miss one of just two days at Disneyland they booked with another airline.

Mr Lynas said: “We were looking forward to a special family holiday to celebrate my wife and son’s birthdays. This experience with easyjet was a total nightmare. Our flight was delayed due to a technical issue but eventually boarded at 7pm. They taxied us out to the runway only for the plane to stop and be told that the flight had been cancelled as a passenger had smelt something funny coming from the air con. We had already arrived at the airport early to check in because my son turned 2 on the return flight so we were told their online system could not book us in.

“The plane sat out on the runway for an hour and a half before a bus arrived to take us back to the terminal. At no point were we offered any food or water. When we finally made it back to the terminal we were well over an hour at the baggage carousel waiting for our luggage and buggy. Then we had to wait a while for the bus back to airport parking.”

“We were then told that we had been booked onto a flight to Paris at 1.20pm hours the next day which would have got us in at about four o'clock local time Sunday. So we would have missed a whole day of Disney, half of only two days at the park. We’d already paid the tickets which cost £370 for the Sunday and Monday.

“It was so frustrating and such a stressful day of more than 7 hours in the airport with our son. When we finally got home at nearly 11.30pm that night we were shattered. We decided to book an Aer France flight at 6am on Sunday morning. We had just three hours of sleep before we had to get up. Sunday we were on edge after the travel farce but we got there and tried to just make the most of it.”

The 32-year-old said the family are now out of pocket after having to fork out £550 on alternative flights to make sure they didn’t miss their Disneyland trip. He complained and asked for a full refund. But he claims the budget airline said they will only refund the cost of the outbound flight.

He added: “The customer service provided by easyJet was a disgrace and continues to be so. They are refusing to pay us fair compensation and so far have only refunded 79 pounds for the initial flight. I am very angry with them and don't think they should be able to get away with this. In more than 18 years of flying this is the undoubtedly the worst experience I’ve ever had.”

A spokesperson for Easyjet said: “We are sorry that the Lynas family’s flight from Edinburgh to Paris was delayed overnight due to a technical issue and for the disappointment this caused.

“The safety of our customers and crew is our highest priority and we did all possible to minimise the impact of the delay, offering hotel accommodation and meals and we refunded the family for their flight as they requested.

“We are very sorry for the delay in processing the family’s compensation following an isolated manual error, which is now being provided along with the expenses they are due.”