British Airways Strands Hundreds of Passengers on Freezing Canadian Island for 2 Days After Flight Diverts for Emergency

NEED TO KNOW

• Passengers were stranded in freezing temperatures without access to their luggage after their flight from London to Houston, Texas, was diverted to an island in Canada

• Jon Shipman of Liverpool, England, is blasting British Airways for what he describes as poor communication and a lack of support during the two-day debacle

• British Airways offered passengers a £500 ($659 USD) voucher, but Shipman says, “That’s not good enough. Our whole holiday is ruined.”

A British man who was left stuck on a freezing Canadian island is blasting British Airways for their handling of the incident.

Jon Shipman of Liverpool, England, was one of hundreds of passengers left in St. John’s, a city on the Canadian island of Newfoundland, after his flight from London to Houston, Texas, was diverted due to a medical emergency.

Shipman told the BBC that once the plane landed, passengers were told to go find hotels and left with “just the clothes on their backs.”

British Airways (BA) told the BBC that they were “very sorry” for the experience and that they had “been in touch to offer a gesture to make things right.” BA did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

The plane was forced to land in Newfoundland on Tuesday, March 31, following a medical emergency on board, but was unable to depart again due to a “temporary technical issue,” according to BA.

Two days later, the flight finally resumed its journey to Houston. But speaking to the BBC before the flight, Shipman said many passengers, including himself, were less than pleased with how things were handled.

“Furious is an understatement. We are being told we are now heading to Houston. I won’t believe it ’til we take off,” he said.

Shipman and his family were traveling to Texas to visit friends who had moved to the US a few years ago. He explained on BBC Radio Merseyside that passengers were told three hours into the journey that the plane had to land due to a “grave medical emergency.”

Once they landed in St. John’s, passengers “sat on the plane for three hours,” according to Shipman.

“They then told us the plane had developed a technical issue, then they told us the plane could not be fixed and we had to be taken off and put up in local hotels.”

But passengers were not able to access their luggage. Instead, they were taken straight through immigration control and into St. John’s airport.

Temperatures in St. John’s on March 31 were freezing, reaching a high of 23 degrees Fahrenheit and a low of 14 degrees, according to WeatherUnderground.

“When we finally got through, we were just left. We were just sat around waiting for news, and had to speak to local airport staff for help,” Shipman said.

“No one was particularly aggressive, but everyone was frustrated. There were people with families and young kids who’ve been waiting around and sleeping on the floor. It just wasn’t very good from BA at all.”

Passengers were put up in a hotel and told a flight would leave on Wednesday night. But as they began to board, they were abruptly told they would no longer be flying back to London, and that the flight was cancelled again.

“Most of the frustration was due to a lack of information. Just be open and explain what’s happening, you know? We’re not soft. We understand there was a medical emergency, we understand there’s a technical issue.”

BA later offered each passenger a £500 ($659 USD) electronic voucher, but Shipman remained unsatisfied: “That’s not good enough. Our whole holiday is ruined.”

Read the original article on People