Pontypridd hen party 'shocked' at flight cancellation

The hen party paid thousands of pounds to get to Spain after their Easyjet flight was cancelled

A hen party whose flight was cancelled at the last minute said they were escorted out of the airport by police.

The Bristol to Malaga flight had to be abandoned after what EasyJet referred to as a "crew welfare" issue.

The party of 20 women were told there was not an EasyJet flight for another week, so they paid £6,000 for new flights with another airline.

EasyJet said it did everything possible to minimise disruption.

Avon and Somerset Police say they were there to ensure passenger and staff safety.

Abi Parker from Newport was one of the hen party. She said they first heard the flight was off while they were sitting in the departure lounge.

"It was quite shocking. The flight was originally delayed for 40 minutes, but then it came over the Tannoy that it had been cancelled."

"We were told it was because staff had worked too long already and so couldn't fly the plane."

The party were already in the departure lounge when they were told their flight was off

The women were heading to Marbella at the end of May, ahead of the wedding of their friend Rhianydd Edwards.

When the flight was cancelled they were told to remove their luggage and leave the airport.

Ms Parker says she was shocked with the way they were treated.

'Totally devastated'

"There was no compassion and no apology. EasyJet advised us that we couldn't get a flight for another week, which meant we would have totally missed our holiday.

"The bride was totally devastated thinking that the whole thing was going to be cancelled.

"The police were chaperoning, standing next to the staff when they were asking us to leave."

Ms Parker added: "If they had treated us differently, we might have understood. If there had been an apology, it would have been different."

The hen party's travel agent found replacement flights for the group from Birmingham and Stansted airports and they eventually arrived for their holiday.

EasyJet said it did everything possible to minimise disruption and contacted passengers via email with advice on how to receive a refund.

It said compensation would be paid to the group and has apologised for the inconvenience.

Avon and Somerset Police said "We will position ourselves in key areas during times of demand to ensure the safety of passengers and airport/airline staff. On this occasion, our officers assisted EasyJet in helping their passengers following a flight cancellation."