easyJet tourists stranded in Cyprus
By Annie Charalambous
Scores of British tourists may be stranded here until next month after their easyJet flight to Manchester returned to Paphos following technical problems.
"They were very angry. A lot of them said they would take legal action after easyJet officially announced they could not offer an alternative flight before September 3," passenger-handling officer at Paphos Airport, Yianna Kyriakou, told The Cyprus Weekly yesterday.
«EasyJet asked them to make their own arrangements using the Internet, and then submit receipts for reimbursement. The airline also made clear they will cover hotel expenses for one evening only and meals for 12 hours, something that a number of them considered unacceptable," she added.
There were 161 passengers on board the Airbus A320 that made a forced landing early yesterday, an hour after take-off from Paphos because of violent shaking on the plane. A few hours earlier, a Spanair airliner had crashed in Madrid killing over 150 passengers.
Some of the easyJet passengers said they had no money to book alternative flights themselves, and others argued the no-frills airline had an obligation to get them back to their destination one way or another, under EU regulations.
According to the EU’s Air Transport Portal inconvenienced passengers have the choice between reimbursement of their ticket and an alternative flight, and meals, refreshments and hotel accommodation.
An air transport source said easyJet was bending the rules.
The Weekly yesterday tried unsuccessfully to contact easyJet for their response. The airliner has no representative office in Cyprus.
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