'Traumatised' family stranded at Palma Airport after being told they can't board Jet2 flight
A mum says she's been put off going on holiday for life after she was told she couldn't board her Jet2 flight home - leaving her family stranded at the airport for hours.
Megan Patrick was returning home to Newcastle after four days in Majorca, with her children Theo, nine, Saffia, four, and a friend and her nine-year-old son. The trip had been a surprise for the children when they broke up from school for the summer but she says the airport experience left her 'traumatised'.
Their holiday was wrecked when they arrived at Palma Airport to discover that many of the flights were delayed, including their 12.10pm Jet2 flight to the UK. When they eventually came to board the plane they were told they were too late - despite the plane being sat on the tarmac for a further 30 minutes. It comes after Brit abroad slams all-inclusive hotel food asking 'what on earth is this?'
Jet2 is now investigating what happened. Megan told ChronicleLive: "Normally when I get back from holiday I'm dying to book something else, I always want to have something to look forward to and we travel quite a lot. But I feel like [the experience] has traumatised me. I don't want to go on holiday, which is not me.
"And I can't see myself doing it again, especially not on my own with the kids. That's probably what is most upsetting because we love to travel and I feel like that's completely destroyed now because I'll always have a fear that something like that is going to happen and there's no one there to help you, it's an awful situation."
The 35-year-old said she arrived at Palma Airport two-and-a-half hours ahead of the scheduled flight time to discover her return was delayed by one hour and 45 minutes. She claims staff told her the flight could be delayed further and advised her to keep an eye on the departure board. So the family found a place in front of a board to keep an eye on the status of their flight.
The beauty salon owner said: "The airport was like a cattle market. Almost every flight was showing as delayed and there were people in the departure lounge lying on the floor who looked like they had been there for hours. I thought it looks like we're going to be in for a bit of a wait here."
But at around 12:30pm Megan claims the departure board changed from 'delayed' to 'boarding at Gate A20' and they immediately walked to the gate, which took them 11 minutes. However, Megan claims that once she handed over her children's boarding passes she was told that she was no longer allowed to board the flight.
The plane was sat on the tarmac for a further 30 minutes after being refused boarding, Megan claimed. This resulted in an eight-and-a-half hour wait for another flight, which cost her £390 in total and was also delayed by several hours.
The owner of Brow Wow, in Low Fell, said: "When we got to the gate the lady scanned my boarding pass, looked at my passport and made a comment about us being lucky to be getting on because there's a queue to board the plane otherwise I wouldn't have been getting on. I found that really confusing considering the boards had just changed.
"When I went to give her the kids' passports she said 'No, actually you can't get on'. I was thinking this can't happen. It still said 'Newcastle boarding' on the gate."
Megan added: "I just went into sheer panic thinking what am I going to do? The kids were so upset. My four-year-old was hysterical and the whole place was looking at us. I thought they'll have to let us on. The plane was there and the door was open, I could see it.
"It was so frustrating that the plane was there, it was still showing as boarding, and the door was open. I was literally pleading with them saying that the door is open but they were saying 'no, your bag is getting taken off'."
Megan said she's unsure how other passengers managed to reach the gate in time for the flight and thought it may be because they were following updates on the Jet2 app. She also said that she was unaware that UK flights depart from Gate A and that other passengers may have been aware of this prior to the gate being confirmed on the departure boards.
She said she was told by a crew member that no announcement could be made about boarding as there is no intercom system in the Palma departure lounge. And she claims that staff said they had tried to call her mobile but she had no missed calls on her phone.
Megan eventually managed to rebook her family onto the 9.35pm Jet2 flight which departed at 12.06am.
A spokesperson for Jet2.com and Jet2holidays said: "We are sorry to hear about Ms Patrick's experience. Any flight delays are always communicated very clearly, and we always advise customers to check departure boards regularly if they are in the airport terminal. We are investigating this matter further, however we can confirm that all other customers boarded the aircraft. We will be discussing the matter directly with Ms Patrick."
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