28 March 2024 , 21:27
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A Wizz Air flight from Antalya, Turkey was evacuated on Thursday night after passengers noticed a smell of burning on board.
Passengers returning from holidays were embroiled in travel chaos as the plane, flight number W95708 turned round and was flown back to Antalya about half an hour in to the journey. They were left waiting at the gate late at night while an engineer was called to inspect the plane. Business park manager Stephanie Stone, 37, and her husband Shaun, a 42-year-old taxi driver from Flimwell, East Sussex, were among those caught in the delay.
Stephanie, who had been in Antalya for nine days, said she had felt very panicked by the experience. She said: “I’m really scared of flying so I was glad they decided to turn round.” Shaun had the opposite view. He said: “I want to go home now, something like this totally ruins your day.”
Around two hours after the flight was brought back to Antalya, passengers were told the flight was cancelled and they would be put in a hotel. While there was no explanation given for the burning smell, Wizz Air said they were cancelling it due to a lack of crew.
Passengers had to return to Antalya after just 30 minutes on board (Humphrey Nemar /daily mirror)Last month, the Mirror reported how Wizz Air chief executive József Váradi is set enjoy a jumbo pay rise of over £60,000 year on year. The high flyer, 58, trousered a basic salary of £524,516 in 2022, soaring to £586,891 last year. And he’s on track to unlock a bonus of £100million by 2028 if he hits performance targets.
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It came as 64,000 fed-up Wizz travellers banded together on Facebook to demand their compensation claims for delayed flights are settled. Most report waiting five months or more for Wizz to deal with their cases. One wrote: “They admitted we are entitled but no payment. They keep sending us the same emails, requesting the same data for the fifth time.” Another said: “My suitcase is now trash after a flight with Wizz Air.”
One passenger said the incident had 'ruined' their day (Humphrey Nemar /daily mirror)Another warned: “People – read the reviews about this company and you will understand everything. We have been deceived and ignored and no compensation was paid, they do not solve problems.” Wizz operates from Luton and Gatwick and carried nearly five million passengers last year. Some 6,000 were awarded a total of £1.2m from the carrier last month after years of complaints.