A holidaymaker has recalled being stranded for hours at a Croatian airport after their easyJet flight was forced to make an emergency landing. Louise Mapsie, 22, was returning to Manchester from Egypt when the pilot called for medical help due to a crew member falling ill. The flight was rerouted to Zagreb Airport, where a paramedic rushed the staff member to hospital.
Louise said passengers were informed the flight couldn't proceed due to crew duty and they would be provided with temporary accommodation while a replacement flight was arranged. However, passengers were later told no accommodation was available and they would have to wait in the closed airport. EasyJet has since apologised for the inconvenience, Manchester Evening News reports.
"As soon as we got off the plane that was it," Louise said. "The crew stayed on the plane, we got into the airport to realise that it was closed. We were just left in there with nobody, we were getting updates on the easyJet app, which not everybody had. There were elderly people who didn't have it so they had no clue what was going on. An hour later we got a text from easyJet saying they aren't going to give us accommodation and they would let us know when the next available flight is.".
According to Louise, the rest of the cabin crew remained on the plane and were eventually transported to a hotel in the city, while she said passengers remained at the airport for more than 10 hours. "The crew got in their taxi and left, and we just had to sit there," she said.