By Neil Shaw

Copyright walesonline

A ‘disgusted’ dad claims easyJet left his family in the ‘wrong country’ and left them to sleep on an airport floor all night – before refusing a refund. Darren Rainey and his family were flying from Luton to Crete when their flight had to make an emergency landing in a different country due to a member of cabin crew falling ill. The 41-year-old says passengers were told to wait onboard the plane after it landed in Split, Croatia, while a replacement member of crew was found. Darren claims that after a 90-minute wait, easyJet were unable to find a replacement and the passengers were informed that it would be an overnight delay. The holidaymaker says he was initially told that the airline would be providing accommodation. But after a further 90-minute wait, a member of staff reportedly informed the holidaymakers that they would need to find and pay for their own accommodation. The groundworker says he couldn’t afford to pay for two hotel rooms for his family and they were forced to sleep on the ‘rock hard, cold’ floor after the airline left them ‘abandoned’. The dad-of-three says he has since complained to easyJet but they have refused to pay out any compensation due to the plane having to make an emergency landing. easyJet apologised for the family’s ordeal and said they would refund the ‘lost night’ as a ‘gesture of goodwill’. Darren, from Hitchin, Hertfordshire, said: “No one knew why we were making the emergency stop until one of the cabin crew said it was because they were ill. “If he was unwell then he never should have flown in the first place. We landed in Split and we were they were going to try and get someone else to take over and then we could fly again. “It must have been 90 minutes and they turned around and said they were going to remove us all off the plane because they couldn’t get anyone else. “We got all our luggage, came off the plane, went through passport control and they told us where to meet. “We were told that easyJet was going to find us all accommodation. It was another 90-minute wait and no one from easyJet was there to announce the situation or what was going on. “Then this lady that works in Split airport turned around and said that easyJet are not accommodating us and we would have to find our own accommodation. At this point, we’ve come off the plane and the shops in Split airport are all shut so I couldn’t feed my family – there was no food and no restaurants around.” Darren says that he and his wife decided to stay in the airport with their three teenage children because they didn’t know what time their replacement flight would be leaving at the following day. Darren said: “We didn’t know when we would be flying back out. “We decided because they weren’t telling us what time we were flying – we were told potentially that we could be flying out in the morning – that we would stay in the airport and keep an eye on EasyJet’s update page. “I stayed awake and watched the kids and a very nice lady who worked there came round and asked if we wanted some blankets. “I stayed up through the night while my family closed their eyes, checking updates on the easyJet app.” The family’s replacement flight didn’t leave Croatia until 1.45pm. By the time they landed in Crete shortly before 6pm that evening, the family-of-five had lost out on almost a full day of their holiday. Darren said: “We didn’t fly or didn’t get on the plane until later on in the afternoon and when we did land into Crete it was 5.45pm. “When we landed I was quite hurt. “It had upset my family what had happened and obviously there was a lack of sleep and lack of food. I’m pretty disgusted at how they went about it and then decided that we would fly in the afternoon.” Darren says that he was left ‘upset’ by the events at the airport and it ‘ruined’ the start of his holiday. Darren said: “It didn’t bother me how I felt but it bothered me how my family were feeling. No one can sleep properly in a situation like that. It ruined my holiday from the time that happened until two or three days into my holiday. “I was so overtired and stressed. I was just unhappy in every means. “Eventually I sort of perked up but it’s hard when that never should have happened.” The dad-of-three says that his wife has since complained to easyJet about the delay but the airline have refused to give them a refund or provide them with any compensation. Darren said: “easyJet replied to my wife saying that they’re not paying out nothing because the plane had to make an emergency landing. We should still be getting something back in return because it’s a member of their staff. “I’m really annoyed. We work hard and we deserve a holiday. We don’t deserve to be treated this way and [be left] abandoned in an airport with kids.” An easyJet holidays spokesperson said: “We’re really sorry for Mr Rainey and his family’s experience after their flight from Luton to Crete was diverted to Split, due to a crew member requiring urgent medical assistance. Our airline sourced a replacement crew member who could operate the following day but unfortunately this meant the flight was delayed overnight. Our team did everything possible to provide overnight accommodation for our customers in Split, but due to the busy holiday season, there was limited availability. We advised our customers that if they were able to make their own arrangements, we would refund the cost of the room, meals and travel. “We understand this was a disappointing start to the family’s holiday, and not the experience we want for our customers. We’re in touch with Mr Rainey to apologise, offer a refund for the lost night, and provide a gesture of goodwill.”