I HAD TO PAY £200 FOR A BUNK BED AFTER MY WIZZAIR FLIGHT WAS CANCELLED
British travellers lured to the Arctic tranquility of Tromsø in northern Norway got rather more than they bargained for this week after the cancellation of a WizzAir flight left scores of people stranded at the airport without food, lodging or an alternative way home.
The chaotic scenes at Tromsø airport as tired and increasingly disgruntled passengers sought clarification about if and when they might be able to make the journey home were captured on camera by MailOnline video journalist Stella Radeva.
Travellers on WizzAir flight W95422, which was scheduled to leave at 8pm local time on Thursday, were initially told their journey would be delayed due to bad weather.
Two hours later, however, the flight was cancelled completely.
Passengers on the incoming WizzAir flight to Tromsø, which was timetabled to carry Radeva and her fellow passengers back to London Luton, said on social media the weather conditions forced their plane to land in Bodo, about 441 miles south of Tromsø.
However, they were not allowed to disembark at Bodo, and so the plane returned to London.
Meanwhile, in Tromsø, passengers were left clicking their heels for a further three hours, during which time they were asked to provide their particulars so that accommodation arrangements could be made.
At 1am, however, the stunned and weary would-be flyers were informed they would have to fend for themselves. Those who complained were allegedly told by airport staff: 'Deal with it.'
'Initially, we were told there was a delay due to bad weather, and then two hours later, the flight was cancelled,' said Radeva.
'After waiting another three hours at the airport until 1am, and providing our details for hotel accommodation, we were told that WizzAir could not provide food, lodging, or rebook us on another flight.
'We were told to make our own arrangements and that they would reimburse us.'
Radeva, who was in Tromsø for a four-day break with friends, acted swiftly to book an alternative WizzAir flight the following evening. Most of her fellow passengers were less fortunate, opening the airline's app only to find the option to rebook was no longer available.
'Some passengers managed to rebook a flight for Friday night, but most either couldn't or had to book with a completely different airline,' said Radeva. 'As you can imagine, Norway is extremely expensive. I ended up paying £200 for a room for one night, only to sleep in a tiny bunk bed.'
Even that represented something of a coup. One woman to whom Radeva got chatting had planned to travel back to her native Hungary via London; instead, she was forced to sleep at Tromsø airport before beginning the long journey home 24 hours later.
'Understandably, people were very frustrated,' said Radeva, who eventually arrived home at 4am on Saturday morning.
'I took some pictures and videos, but security escorted me and made me delete the more dramatic ones. Then I recorded some in secret.
'When I asked what I was supposed to do if I couldn’t afford the additional costs - booking a new flight, paying for accommodation, food, and not knowing when the next available flight would be - they told me they ‘couldn’t help’ and that it was ‘my problem'.
'The only people who were provided with a room were a family with two babies.
'They made us queue for hours only to tell us to ‘deal with it’ in the end.
'Because it was after midnight, I had to go straight to a hotel and hope they had a room, because you can’t book anything on the websites at that time. I could’ve easily had to stay and sleep there.'
WizzAir have been approached for comment.
Read more 2025-02-08T18:42:05Z
