27 hour delay for Flybe passengers
09.11.06
Passengers were forced to wait 27 hours for a 3 hour Flybe flight from Norwich Airport after a catalogue of technical hitches and illness saw them suffer 8 delays and 4 attempts at boarding, the Eastern Daily Press reports.
The story of flight BE1385 from Norwich Airport to Malaga started when passengers were told the 14:35 service would be delayed due to the late arrival of the plane from Spain. But the delay, expected to be less than 2 hours, was followed by a technical glitch, an airport closure, an enforced hotel stay, two further plane faults, the request for a replacement aircraft and staff illness.
Twice the passengers actually got aboard the plane and once queued on the tarmac, each time only to be turned back to departures. Finally about 90 passenger, many of them pensioners, boarded the flight and arrived Malaga the next day at 19:20 - some 27 hours late.
A spokeswoman for Flybe said passengers have been offered a credit note covering the cost of their ticket along with an additional £100 as a gesture of goodwill. She added: 'This was an extraordinary situation and unfortunately technical difficulties do occur from time to time - a situation regretted by Flybe.'
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