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Sarah Gregory and her partner Brett are stuck on Cyprus waiting to get home to Army Training Centre Pirbright in Woking after their easyJet flight was cancelled
A couple tried to get married in a desperate bit to get home from Cyprus amid the air traffic control chaos.
Sarah Gregory and her partner Brett are currently staying at a military base on the island after their easyJet flight to London Gatwick was cancelled earlier this week. Like tens of thousands of other Brits, their holiday took a turn for the worse on Monday when more than 1,500 UK flights were grounded.
Although issues with the air traffic control systems were fixed a short-while after, a huge backlog of flights is still being worked through, meaning some customers are having to wait days to get back. Fearful that she’ll lose her job if she doesn’t get back, Sarah has looked at all possible options.
One potential route home was via the Akitori RAF base in Cyprus, which lays on flights from UK army troops and their families. As a serving member of the armed forces, Brett could get them both onto one of the planes.
They booked themselves a seat aboard and forked out €100 for a 2am taxi to get to the base in time. Unfortunately, once they arrived the pair were told that only married partners were allowed aboard, despite Sarah and Brett living together on Army Training Centre Pirbright in Woking.
“My partner begged for me to be able to fly as this is a crisis and we were stuck in Cyprus. The soldier then said my partner could fly without me leaving me in Cyprus alone and not knowing when I would get home or where to stay,” Sarah told the Mirror.
With the only other affordable way to get home a flight next Tuesday or a 50 hour route via Tel Aviv, the duo looked into whether they could tie the knot there and then.
“We did consider an emergency marriage. Brett said ‘I’ll drop down on one knee and propose’. We looked into it yesterday, but you need birth certificates and all sorts. You just can’t do it.”
Defeated by the bureaucracy of the situation, Sarah and Brett are forking out to stay on an army base on the island until their easyJet flight home departs next week. They predict they’ll have spent an extra £2,000 on the holiday as a result of the flight cancellation.
Sarah, who headed on holiday on August 18, is getting increasingly worried that she won’t have a job to return to when she gets back following an acquisition while she’s been away. “I work in pharmaceuticals and am meant to be at work on Monday. I was meant to be meeting my new boss,” she added.
A friend who was looking after their dog has now headed on holiday themselves, further adding to the couple’s stress. The issue of how to get back to the UK is one thousands of holidaymakers are still grappling with.
Analysis of airline websites showed most flights to the UK from popular destinations such as Majorca, Crete, Sicily and Antalya are sold out until the weekend. Flights with spare seats are priced at more than £400.
The disruption came at one of the worst times of the year as there is little spare capacity due to many families flying home at the end of the summer holidays. EasyJet said it is trying to fly people back as quickly as possible.
It said in a statement: “Following the UK air traffic control systems issues on Monday, easyJet is now operating its normal schedule. We continue to work hard to support affected customers and bring them home including operating five repatriation flights as well as flying larger planes to particularly busy destinations.
“As more seats become available we are contacting customers who we know are yet to return home to try and get them on earlier flights. Seats on these flights will be offered on a first come, first served basis so we encourage those who wish to travel earlier to call us as soon as possible on +44 (0)330 5515147.
“Although this situation was outside of our control, we are sorry for the difficulty this has caused for our customers and remain focused on doing all possible to assist them.”
British Airways said it will continue to reduce the size of its business class cabins on popular short-haul routes to maximise capacity. This involves selling the middle place in rows of three seats, which are usually kept empty in that part of BA aircraft.
Nats chief executive Martin Rolfe said initial inquiries show an “unusual piece of data” received by the company caused the issue. Aviation analytics company Cirium said 1,585 flights due to serve UK airports were cancelled on Monday.
Despite the problem being resolved, the knock-on impact of aircraft and crew being out of position meant nearly 350 flights were cancelled on Tuesday and dozens on Wednesday. Mr Rolfe said Nats is continuing to investigate what went wrong and will provide a “preliminary report” to Transport Secretary Mark Harper on Monday.
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