Aer Lingus apologises as cancelled flight to Cork leaves 150 passengers stranded in Palma

One passenger said the flight was due to leave Palma at 11pm but it was 3am before they got email confirmation from the airline that the flight had been cancelled

The cancellation of that Palma to Cork flight had a knock-on effect on Aer Lingus’s schedule out of Cork Airport today, with a flight to Amsterdam and its return leg both cancelled. File picture

Aer Lingus has apologised to more than 100 holidaymakers passengers who were left stranded in Palma overnight after their flight home was cancelled.

About 150 passengers who were due to fly into Cork Airport early this morning have been left stranded in Palma de Mallorca after Aer Lingus cancelled their flight for “technical reasons”.

Angry passengers have been calling local radio stations this morning describing scenes of chaos in the airport on the Spanish island and criticising the airline for the lack of information and communication.

One caller, Damien, told The Opinion Line on Cork’s 96FM that the stranded passengers had no access to hotel accommodation and had to spend the night in the airport without access to food or enough water.

He said the flight was due to leave Palma at 11pm but it was 3am before they got email confirmation from the airline that the flight had been cancelled.

He said passengers were told the airline could not source hotel accommodation and advised them to find their own accommodation, saying they would be reimbursed. He said people are very angry at how the situation has been handled.

“There are people with young children, and older people who need care and nobody who could give us any information at the airport,” he said. “We didn’t want to leave the airport and walk the streets of Palma at that hour of the morning.

How can you leave people without the information? It’s a disgrace. Shame on Aer Lingus.

In a statement this lunchtime, Aer Lingus which is facing industrial action next week, said last night’s cancellation of the Cork to Palma flight, was unavoidable. And it confirmed a replacement flight has been arranged for Thursday night.

“Due to weather conditions on arrival in Palma yesterday (Wednesday), two aircraft required inspections and were unavoidably grounded at the airport,” a spokesman said.

“This led to passengers having to remain in Palma for the night.

“Passengers were offered hotel accommodation and/or reimbursement for hotel accommodation while they awaited their return flight which is re-scheduled for later today.

“This subsequently led to the disruption of our Cork to Amsterdam service this morning due to the unavailability of aircraft.

“All Cork customers have been rebooked on to flights at a later time or date and/or offered refunds. Aer Lingus apologises for this disruption.”

Some passengers have no spare cash to pay for hotels or flights home while others are now frantically trying to secure seats on flights with other airlines, with some people booking flights to Barcelona, and then on to Dublin. But it could be tomorrow before some can leave the island.

The cancellation of that Palma to Cork flight had a knock-on effect on Aer Lingus’s schedule out of Cork Airport today, with a flight to Amsterdam and its return leg both cancelled.

In a statement, Cork Airport confirmed that Aer Lingus EI861 from Palma de Mallorca to Cork, which was due to arrive at 1.05am on Thursday, was cancelled due to “technical reasons”.

“As a result, Aer Lingus EI840 Cork to Amsterdam Schiphol and EI841 Amsterdam Schiphol to Cork, which were both due to operate this morning, have been cancelled due to operational reasons.”