A family say they have been left ‘traumatised’ by a 57-hour flight delay which forced them to sleep on the floor of JFK airport.
Mum Adele Little and boyfriend Ryan Vernon say they expected New York’s extreme weather conditions to cause delays – but have slammed Thomas Cook for ‘bad communication’.
The airline has since apologised through the Manchester Evening News – and promised to reimburse out-of-pocket passengers.
Ryan Vernon’s father, Paul, is disabled after a stroke and had to spend the night on the floor at JFK airport waiting for a Thomas Cook flight
The trio’s flight was delayed four times in four days. Having had their flight delayed once on Thursday and once on Friday they then spent from Saturday morning to Sunday morning in the airport
The couple have complained to Thomas Cook about its ‘lack of communication’ over the series of delays. The image on the right shows how the delays piled up
JFK experienced massive flight delays during a particularly severe winter snowstorm
The passengers’ ordeal unfolded after JFK Airport was gripped by a snowstorm, causing equipment malfunctions and delaying dozens of flights.
Among them was Adele’s flight to Manchester.
Delayed four times over four days, their departure was pushed back a final time on Saturday night after check-in – forcing them to spend a night on the terminal floor.
They arrived home to find their suitcases were missing.
Keeping their strength up: Adele Little and Ryan Vernon and Ryan’s dad Paul were trying to get home to Manchester in the snowstorm that brought JFK to a standstill
The couple were travelling with Ryan’s dad Paul Vernon, 66, who is disabled after suffering a stroke.
Adele, 35, from Heald Green, said: ‘We feel traumatised. It’s the worst thing we’ve ever done. I never usually complain about anything. We understand you can’t help the weather but the communication was just so poor, at no point did Thomas Cook contact us or apologise.
‘There were no chairs at the airport, we had to sit on the floor and we were not offered any food or drink.’
Chaos at JFK airport in New York during the extreme weather conditions
The trio were initially due to fly at 9.30pm on Thursday but their flight was first delayed due to the bad weather to Friday at 7am.
With no contact from Thomas Cook, they checked the Thomas Cook website early on Friday to find it had been delayed to 8am on Saturday.
On Saturday morning, and having been told to be at the airport two hours ahead of the flight to limit congestion, they checked the website again before setting off in a taxi.
But they arrived on time only to find the website had been updated again – delaying their flight to 10pm that night.
Adele Little and Ryan Vernon finally made it home to Manchester four days later, but their suitcases didn’t
Checking in at 7pm, they were then forced to spend the night on the airport floor after the service was delayed to 6.30am on Sunday morning, when they finally flew.
They arrived into Manchester to find two suitcases had gone astray – containing vital medication for both Paul and Ryan, who has epilepsy.
The couple says the extra hotel bills, food, drink and cab fares cost them a total of £1,000 which they will now try to claim back.
Adele, who manages a cleaning and maintenance firm, added: ‘We’ve had tofork out a fortune and now two of our bags are missing.
‘It’s been a nightmare. Ryan’s dad is not a well man. When we’d checked in we struggled to get his pills back. When we returned home Ryan had an epileptic fit because of lack of sleep. They need to realise they can’t do that to people, especially when they are poorly. It was absolute chaos.’
A Thomas Cook spokesman said: ‘We are very sorry for the delay and inconvenience caused to Adele, Ryan, Paul and all customers affected by weather disruption at JFK.
‘We provided delay information to as many customers as possible and updated our website for those we were unable to reach. We are very sorry that Adele, Ryan and Paul’s schedule changed after they had left their hotel, it was, unfortunately, a rapidly changing situation.
‘We understand it is very frustrating for those customers waiting for their luggage. We are working with the airport authorities and ground handlers at JKF to return all luggage to customers as soon as possible.’
She said customers could send details of expenditure and receipts to their customer relations team and all ‘reasonable’ out of pocket expenses would be reimbursed, adding: ‘We are very sorry for the further inconvenience this may have caused.’