A mum has expressed her dismay after her young family’s holiday was ruined before it had even began earlier this week. Katie Chandler, shared a video from the plane as passengers were informed via the tannoy system that their flight to Egypt had been cancelled.
« We’re going to reschedule the flight to tomorrow, apologies, » the announcement said, triggering widespread groans on board. The captain went on to explain that snow had caused a backlog of late departures from London Luton Airport – and with this flight « 11th in a queue » there simply wasn’t enough time left in the day to fit in its flight. « Our holiday got cancelled while we were on the plane, » Katie captioned her video.
« The reason I’m so upset about this is because this was Ryan’s birthday present and seven-year anniversary gift and now it’s been cancelled because of the ‘snowstorm’ when the snow melted after two minutes. »
The announcement continued in her clip, meanwhile: « The whole airport is a mess right now with cancellations from both sides. We need to check if they have infrastructure tuned to everything as they should. So let’s wait a bit, stay here… it’s not the best news but let’s not make this even worse now. »
However, hundreds of TikTok users were quick to point out that Katie’s flight was cancelled for her own safety. « You’d soon be complaining if they had have taken off and something went wrong, » one person said. « You do understand they do it because of safety concerns, right? They don’t just cancel flights to wind the passengers up. »
Another TikTok user agreed, penning: « Your flight got cancelled it’s for you and all the passengers safety. God forbid if something happens while you’re in flight. » A third person added: « Any amount of ice on the wings can cause a crash and it has done in the past, it is extremely dangerous. Even if it wasn’t a ‘heavy’ snowstorm unfortunately. »
While a fourth person commented: « I know this is always upsetting news, but this is for your own safety. If we don’t think it’s safe to fly especially due to uncontrollable weather we won’t risk your safety/lives along with our own. Safe travels. »
These comments prompted Katie to post a follow-up video, meanwhile. In it, she declared: « I 100 per cent understand comments about safety, but when we got told it was cancelled because of the snow conditions, surely every single flight from Luton should have been cancelled… not just ours. »
Katie further expressed her frustration by pointing out that she could see other flights taking off from her seat. « We were with Wizz Air and I could see other Wizz Air flights taking off – so why wasn’t it them as a whole? ».
She also alleged that despite being informed all journeys to Cairo would need rescheduling, a fellow traveller managed to locate another flight departing Luton for the Egyptian capital. « So why did that one go to Cairo when the conditions were awful, but ours didn’t? » Katie queried whilst sharing video footage of her family leaving the aircraft and boarding a bus instead.
« There was no snow… it had melted. » She proceeded to suggest the cancellation was likely due to a « staffing issue » in her view.
« They were saying they would need a new crew on if we were to fly because ours would have gone over their working hours, » Katie explained. « So I think that they couldn’t get a new crew on so they said to us, ‘it’s cancelled because of the weather conditions’. »
Katie added that doing so would mean « they wouldn’t have to pay compensation » as it would be « out of their control ».
On the contrary, however, a Wizz Air spokesperson responded: « We can confirm that flight W95315 from London Luton Airport to Sharm El Sheikh on November 19 was delayed due to weather issues, which are outside of our control. This delay led to the crew reaching their safety regulated operating hours, and the flight was rescheduled to the following morning.
« The safety and security of our customers and crew are our top priority. We understand this disrupted some passenger’s journeys and thank affected customers for their understanding. »
