Welsh holidaymakers stranded across Europe due to flight delays and cancellations

Welsh tourists were left stranded in holiday resorts across Europe this weekend, with some facing hours-long delays, while in others flights were cancelled altogether.

Travellers have been urged to check with tour operators after dozens of flights were cancelled following the Crowdstrike computer outage on Friday. WalesOnline has been contacted by several families and groups who have been affected by the chaos in places including the Greek island of Zante and the city of Alicante in Spain.

Some travelers told us they waited for hours outside hotel entrances, while others gave up waiting and found their own way home, booking alternative flights at their own expense.

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The Crowdstrike IT outage on Friday 19 July is largely responsible for disruption to airports, businesses, broadcasters and the NHS. The full list of services affected can be found here . People have now been warned that the impact of the outage could potentially last for “weeks”.

Among those stranded were Jess Miles, 36, her partner and her 14-year-old son. The family from Newcastle Emlyn were on holiday in Alicante when their scheduled flight home on Saturday was cancelled.

Jess explained that there were no TUI flights scheduled to Cardiff until Wednesday, July 24, so the family decided to pay £250 to fly home on Sunday morning with Ryanair. She added that without her partner’s credit card, the family would have struggled to find another option.

She said: “We’re lucky because my partner has a credit card so we booked a flight home for £250, but not everyone can afford new flights – it’s a lot of money to fork out.

“We woke up this morning and got a message on our TUI app that our flight was delayed from 2.15pm to 3.15pm. Then a TUI rep came to see us at the airport to tell us our flight had been cancelled and there was no flight home until Wednesday around 4.45pm. Thank goodness we managed to book a flight home with Ryanair but half the people can’t get home until Wednesday. It’s a nightmare – people have jobs, kids, families, everything.

“We’re just going to stay at the airport because it doesn’t make sense to go anywhere else and come back for a flight tomorrow morning, but we’ve been here a long time. They only gave us 20 euros on a card to buy food and drinks, but we’ve been here since 9am and 20 euros doesn’t go very far in an airport. We’ve just told everyone on social media what’s going on because people need to know.”

Meanwhile, a TUI flight was due to leave Cardiff Airport on Friday (16 July) afternoon for Zante. However, the flight was delayed by more than five hours, before finally taking off on Friday evening.

According to one passenger, an announcement was made mid-flight informing him that, as Zante airport was closed for the day, the flight would be turning around and returning to Cardiff. You can read more about this story here.

The flight delay also affected holidaymakers due to return to Wales. Twelve teenagers from Barry, who were heading off on their first holiday abroad to Zante, were due to fly home on Friday evening.

Becky Allen said her son Cian, 19, was on his first holiday abroad with 11 friends before heading off to university in September. The youngsters were due to fly from Zakynthos International Airport to Cardiff Airport. They arrived at the Greek airport around midday but were told the flight was delayed.

“My friend was on the flight that was delayed and turned back,” she said. “She messaged me to tell me about the situation. It seems everyone knows that planes are not allowed to land or take off at night at Zante airport. When that plane got back to Cardiff, that’s when my son informed me that it was cancelled. I somehow found out that his flight had been cancelled before he did because I knew my friend was back at Cardiff airport.”

Becky said Cian and his friends stayed at the airport until 1am before being transferred to a hotel. She added that although they were given rooms for the night, they were not given any vouchers for food or drinks.

On Saturday morning at 9am, she said they had left the room but decided to wait in the area to get further information from TUI. “A representative told them she would ‘sort it out’ and told them to check their app. She also told them: ‘In about half an hour you will have details of your room tonight.’”

“The boys waited all day on the steps of the hotel, in the heat, with no money, no food or drink. At 1am they still had not received any details and had to book their room themselves with their own money.”

Becky said that at 5am the next day, Sunday 21st July, they received further information that a flight had been scheduled, but the group experienced further delays upon arrival. Later that day, Becky confirmed that their flight had departed at around 11.42am.

Becky said the experience had been “nerve-wracking” for her and all the parents involved. She said: “I decided to start a Facebook group with all the parents because I thought if this was going to happen we should all work together and help them.

“At one point I told Cian I was going to book him a flight to Birmingham but he said, ‘Mum, I’ve gone on holiday with the boys, you told me to stay in a group and I’m going home with the boys’, which I totally understand. As much as I want him to come home, I can understand why he wouldn’t want to leave them there and stranded.”

She added: “The first night Cian agreed, I think, because it meant they could spend another night in Zante, but they couldn’t leave the hotel, they were waiting for this representative to give them information. They were literally sitting on those steps all day in very hot weather.

“It worries me. If they had no one home, what would they have done? They were evicted at 9am, I got a text at 11pm local time. So it must have been 1am there, that’s when they decided to get a room for the night. They all honestly thought this rep would fix it.

“I was so anxious about it that I didn’t sleep at all last night. With the whole Jay Slater thing that’s happened recently, you get worried.”

WalesOnline has contacted Cardiff Airport and TUI for comment.