The Raynair flight departed a day late between London Stansted Airport and Santiago de Compostela. The only explanation provided by the company, the accumulated snow. With a mostly Galician passage, Mercedes Cores and her husband, Alfredo, are part of the group of people from Vigo affected. They arrived at the terminal on Sunday at 5pm and just 26 hours later, having boarded for the second time, they set off on their journey. “They said they were closing the runway because the snow needed to be cleared, then they had to clear it off the wings, when they were done, the runway was covered,” Cores says, indignant, given that they had to spend nearly six hours on the plane before that they permanently canceled the flight
“The final reason they gave us was that the crew had already exceeded the legal 14-hour shift and would not be flying until the next day.” Finally, at 1 in the morning, they were told that the plane would take off in the morning, at 11. “They didn’t provide us with a room, no food; We wanted to book ourselves, but the hotels were full, with the storm there weren’t even taxis available”. With the accumulated tiredness, they witnessed a new delay. “A group of us went to the Raynair counter to get a solution, the ground staff don’t know anything, they were waiting for what they were told over the phone”.
Mercedes and Alfredo stayed for three days in the London capital for family reasons. The weekend trip was the majority among the passengers, as many took advantage of the fare low price go see the Christmas lights in London. In addition to having to spend a night in the terminal, the loss of a working day or the increase in the parking fee is added, so it is clear that they will file a complaint with Consumer and a lawyer. “Similar situations have happened to us before with Raynair, they say they will refund your money, but they don’t do anything”.
Once the inclement weather passed, they still had to wait another hour and a half inside the plane, because there were leftover suitcases in checked baggage.