easyJet flight to Birmingham left disabled man stranded and out of pocket

A disabled man who was trying to get to Birmingham has claimed that he and his cousin were left stranded at an airport after their easyJet flight was forced to land in Newcastle due to Storm Eunice.

Domenico Magliocco says he was also left with just £56 in his bank account for 18 days after the British airline initially rejected part of his expenses claims.

Mr Magliocco was due to travel from Belfast to Birmingham on 18 February for a family wedding with his cousin Esther.

The 62-year-old, who has arthritis in his knees and hips and has recently had a knee replacement, said that due to Storm Eunice, the flight had to land at Newcastle Airport instead of Birmingham.

But once there, he said the passengers were told they would have to make their own way to Birmingham, and easyJet would cover the expenses, but no trains were available due to the storm, so he and his cousin Esther, who is 68, were left stranded in Newcastle with no representatives from easyJet to help at the time, said Mr Magliocco.

‘They dumped us more than 200 miles away’

Mr Magliocco, who lives in Belfast, claims Personal Independence Payment and is unable to work due to his disability, and his ordeal last month (February) only got worse after he claimed easyJet rejected his expenses three times for an Uber which he got from Newcastle to Birmingham.

He said: “A man who was on the flight from Belfast to Birmingham approached us in Newcastle and recognised us from the flight.

“He kindly offered us the chance to share a Uber with him, so we split the bill, which in total, cost just over £500.

“So I paid £203 for the fare -paying for myself and my cousin - and once we were in Birmingham, we then got a taxi from Birmingham to a hotel in Coventry which cost £50.”

When he got home from the wedding, he said he gathered the receipts and submitted the expenses claims on the website, along with a note explaining that he was paying £203 for the £500 Uber receipt - paying for both himself and his cousin Esther’s side of the fare.

easyJet reimbursed him for the £50 taxi to Coventry and other expenses, but Mr Magliocco said he was told the claim for the Newcastle to Birmingham Uber had been rejected after he made a slight error inputting the flight number.

Mr Magliocco said he put the claim in again, but to no avail.

He was told the reason it was rejected this time was, although he had booked his cousin Esher’s flight through the easyJet app and paid for her tickets using his bank account, the airline rejected it because they said Esther had to claim separately as she had a different booking reference.

He said the £203 claim was then rejected a third time because there was no destination on the Uber receipt which he provided, although he says he wasn’t told he would need that at the time.

‘I’ve lost sleep due to the stress’

Mr Magliocco said: “After speaking to easyJet , I was told over the phone that all the receipts needed to include the destination of where you are going from but I said we weren’t told that at the start,” he said.

He added: “The stress it had caused me; I lost a night’s sleep over it and I just don’t think it’s fair regardless of the reasons, then they just dump you 200 miles from your destination.

“If it had not been for the kindness of strangers we wouldn’t have known what to do.

“I had just £56 in my bank account, and I needed to keep that money for food.”

What have easyJet said?

All of Mr Magliocco’s expenses have now been reimbursed to him.

The company said Mr Magliocco’s initial Uber expense claim which was submitted didn’t match the correct booking details so was not able to be processed at the time.

A spokeswoman for easyJet , said: “Due to storm Eunice impacting parts of the UK on Friday 18 February, Mr Magliocco’s flight from Belfast to Birmingham was unable to land in Birmingham and so the Captain had to take the decision to divert to Newcastle and the flight was subsequently cancelled. The safety and wellbeing of our passengers and crew is our highest priority.

“We are very sorry to hear about Mr Magliocco’s experience after the flight arrived in Newcastle, unfortunately due to the impact of the weather no coach travel was available in Newcastle and so we advised customers they would be reimbursed for expenses incurred for their own transport arrangements.

“Passengers were also provided with the option of transferring to an alternative flight free of charge or receiving a refund, Mr Magliocco opted to receive a free flight transfer and he has also been reimbursed for his expenses.

“There was a short delay in processing one of Mr Magliocco’s expenses due to an issue with the details provided to us, however this has now been resolved and all expenses reimbursed to him.

“While this was outside of our control, we would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused by the weather.”

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