– People are desperate to get home. It is incredibly hot here and there is no place to lie down or relax.
This is what passenger Dawid Lubek told Dagbladet on Thursday. He is one of many Norwegians who were to take a Flyr plane home from Palma on Tuesday afternoon. After several cancellations and delays, he is still at the airport in Spain.
– I have never been involved in something so bad, he adds.
PALMA: Dawid Lubek (right) and his girlfriend have been waiting for a plane for two days. Photo: Private
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Canceled several times
The flight to Lubek was originally scheduled to take off at 16.10 from Palma on Tuesday afternoon. At 16.49, they received information that they had to be notified of the same flight the next day as a result of a technical error.
– Then we had to wait at the airport for six hours until 22.30 before we got a place in a hotel. It was a “party hotel” in Magaluf with mold in the shower and lots of noise, says Lubek.
Furthermore, the passengers showed up the next day to travel with a new plane. At 10 o’clock they received a counter-notification that they had to wait until 20:00 before departure.
FLYR: These are some of the messages Lubek has received from Flyr. The messages show large delays. Photo: Dawid Lubek
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– Later we received a message that the plane was delayed again. New departure was at 22.30 on Wednesday night. At 23.00 they canceled the flight, says Lubek.
On Thursday morning, the plane that was supposed to leave at 11.00 is postponed until 14.00, and desperate travelers are now despairing over the situation.
– We are sitting here and receiving no information. It’s completely silly! Says Lubek to Dagbladet.
These flights have been canceled
Out of medicine
Another passenger who was to travel on the same plane is Kjell Foss. He is struggling with his heart and ran out of medication due to the delays.
– I did not have heart medication for more than a week because I thought we should be home again now, he says.
Foss had to get a doctor who could prescribe new medicine when he says that he started getting both high blood pressure and high blood sugar.
He is now dissatisfied with how the passengers have been met by the airline Flyr.
– There has been so much clutter and very bad information. People are tired and bored now, he says.
– I will never fly with Flyr again, Foss continues.
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Promises fast refund
Flyr’s communications director, Anita Svanes, confirms to Dagbladet that there was a cancellation for FS1271 on Tuesday due to a crack in a side window in the cockpit. Because the correct part was not on the island, as well as delays in the actual repair, it has taken time to get the plane in the air.
– This is a situation we should of course have been without for our guests, and we are working hard to get the plane ready to depart today, Svanes says.
ANSWER: communications director Anita Svanes in Flyr. Photo: Flying
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– It is through our customer center that customers get access to information from Flyr, and we take the feedback and will do what we can to inform our guests even better. Of course, we cover the extra costs incurred in Palma, and we also create a separate email address for the affected guests where we will inform and ensure a quick refund of extra costs that have been incurred, she adds.
Regarding the hotel the passengers were checked in on the first night, Svanes replies that they booked hotel rooms that were available at short notice, but regrets that the guests experienced noise.
Hours at the airport
Like Foss and Lubek, Kaia Egeland and her group of friends are waiting to get home to Norway after the holiday trip.
The only message the group of friends should have received from the airline is that the delays are due to technical problems.
CRITICAL: Kaia Egeland reacts to the communication from Flyr. Photo: Private.
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– It is great that the airline takes safety seriously, and of course does not fly if there are problems with a window, or other technical problems. What we react to is the lack of information from Flyr, says Egeland.
She says that there has been little common information, and that some have received a response to customer service before a common text message has been sent to all passengers.
She and several of those she travels with should now be back at work, but after two days they are still at the airport in Spain.
When Dagbladet spoke to Egeland on Thursday morning, they had been told that the plane would leave at 11.00.
– I do not really believe in it until we sit on that plane, Egeland said then.
In a new text message from Egeland at 10.25 on Thursday morning, they have again been informed that the flight has been delayed. Only at 10.52 did they receive an official message from Flyr, with a new estimated departure time at 14.00.
– We are very happy it happened at the end of the trip and not on the way to. But it’s just weird. It is a “waste of time” to sit at a crowded airport to “cook”, the southerner concludes.
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