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Family stranded in airport for 15 hours after being refused boarding on Jet2 flight
Megan Patrick, from Newcastle, had been on a four day break to Majorca with her two children, a friend and her son when they were stopped from boarding their flight
A mother found herself stuck at an airport for nearly 15 hours alongside her two young children after alleging that airline personnel prevented her from boarding her return flight to Newcastle.
Megan Patrick was making her way back from a four-day break in Santa Ponsa, Majorca, accompanied by her children Theo, nine, Saffia, four, and a friend with her nine year old son. The getaway had been arranged as a surprise for the youngsters when they finished school for the summer holidays.
However, their wonderful break turned into a nightmare when they reached Palma Airport to find numerous flights were running late, including their 12.10pm Jet2 service to Newcastle. When they finally attempted to board the aircraft, they were informed they had missed their opportunity.
This occurred despite Megan's assertion that the plane remained on the tarmac for an additional 30 minutes before taking off. Jet2 has confirmed the airline is now looking into the incident.
Megan revealed: "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.", reports Chronicle Live.
"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 from Boldon recounted arriving at Palma Airport a good two-and-a-half hours before her flight was due to take off, only to find out it had been delayed by an hour and 45 minutes. She alleges that airport staff warned her of potential further delays and advised her to keep tabs on the departure board. So, she and her family positioned themselves in front of a board to monitor their flight status.
The beauty salon proprietor described the scene: "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."
However, around 12:30pm, Megan says the departure board switched from 'delayed' to 'boarding at Gate A20', prompting them to head straight to the gate, a journey that took them 11 minutes. But, Megan alleges that after handing over her children's boarding passes, she was informed that she was no longer permitted to board the flight.
Megan claimed that the plane remained on the tarmac for another 30 minutes after she was denied boarding. This led to an agonising eight-and-a-half-hour wait for another flight, which set her back £390 in total and was also delayed by several hours.
The proprietor of Brow Wow, located in Low Fell, recounted: "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 continued: "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'.
"I was saying by the time you take the bags off we could be sat on that plane, it would take us about 30 seconds. I even considered just running on because she'd already scanned my boarding pass and I thought if I could just see the staff on the plane they would let us on."
Megan expressed uncertainty about how other passengers managed to reach the gate in time for the flight, speculating that they might have been following updates on the Jet2 app. She also mentioned her lack of knowledge that UK flights depart from Gate A and suggested that other passengers might have been aware of this before the gate was confirmed on the departure boards.
She stated that a crew member informed her that no announcement could be made about boarding as there is no intercom system in the Palma departure lounge. She also claimed that staff said they had tried to ring her mobile but she had no missed calls on her phone.
She further noted that the flight was then left on the tarmac for over 30 minutes after she was denied boarding.
Megan ultimately succeeded in rebooking her family onto the 9.35pm Jet2 flight which took off 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."
Daily Star Sunday
Megan Patrick, from Newcastle, had been on a four day break to Majorca with her two children, a friend and her son when they were stopped from boarding their flight
A mother found herself stuck at an airport for nearly 15 hours alongside her two young children after alleging that airline personnel prevented her from boarding her return flight to Newcastle.
Megan Patrick was making her way back from a four-day break in Santa Ponsa, Majorca, accompanied by her children Theo, nine, Saffia, four, and a friend with her nine year old son. The getaway had been arranged as a surprise for the youngsters when they finished school for the summer holidays.
However, their wonderful break turned into a nightmare when they reached Palma Airport to find numerous flights were running late, including their 12.10pm Jet2 service to Newcastle. When they finally attempted to board the aircraft, they were informed they had missed their opportunity.
This occurred despite Megan's assertion that the plane remained on the tarmac for an additional 30 minutes before taking off. Jet2 has confirmed the airline is now looking into the incident.
Megan revealed: "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.", reports Chronicle Live.
"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 from Boldon recounted arriving at Palma Airport a good two-and-a-half hours before her flight was due to take off, only to find out it had been delayed by an hour and 45 minutes. She alleges that airport staff warned her of potential further delays and advised her to keep tabs on the departure board. So, she and her family positioned themselves in front of a board to monitor their flight status.
The beauty salon proprietor described the scene: "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."
However, around 12:30pm, Megan says the departure board switched from 'delayed' to 'boarding at Gate A20', prompting them to head straight to the gate, a journey that took them 11 minutes. But, Megan alleges that after handing over her children's boarding passes, she was informed that she was no longer permitted to board the flight.
Megan claimed that the plane remained on the tarmac for another 30 minutes after she was denied boarding. This led to an agonising eight-and-a-half-hour wait for another flight, which set her back £390 in total and was also delayed by several hours.
The proprietor of Brow Wow, located in Low Fell, recounted: "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 continued: "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'.
"I was saying by the time you take the bags off we could be sat on that plane, it would take us about 30 seconds. I even considered just running on because she'd already scanned my boarding pass and I thought if I could just see the staff on the plane they would let us on."
Megan expressed uncertainty about how other passengers managed to reach the gate in time for the flight, speculating that they might have been following updates on the Jet2 app. She also mentioned her lack of knowledge that UK flights depart from Gate A and suggested that other passengers might have been aware of this before the gate was confirmed on the departure boards.
She stated that a crew member informed her that no announcement could be made about boarding as there is no intercom system in the Palma departure lounge. She also claimed that staff said they had tried to ring her mobile but she had no missed calls on her phone.
She further noted that the flight was then left on the tarmac for over 30 minutes after she was denied boarding.
Megan ultimately succeeded in rebooking her family onto the 9.35pm Jet2 flight which took off 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."
Daily Star Sunday