Monarch apologies for 18-hour flight delay
Monarch has apologised to passengers who suffered an 18-hour delay after their flight Gran Canaria to Birmingham was diverted following three separate medical emergencies.
It has offered every passenger a £100 flight vouchers as a ‘goodwill gesture’.
The plane was diverted to Portugal on September 12 after it ran out of emergency oxygen supplies following one emergency on the outbound flight and two on the return leg.
After landing in Porto there was a delay while crew sourced replacement oxygen tanks and by the time these were delivered the crew’s shift had finished so they were sent to a hotel to rest.
However, due to a music event in the city there weren’t enough hotel rooms for the passengers, who were left to sleep in the airport terminal with blankets supplied by fire crews.
In a letter sent to one passenger, Monarch wrote: "We are aware that the arrangements were less than satisfactory and can only reiterate our apology.
"We were very disappointed that we were not able to secure the required oxygen supplies in the first instance and the situation was only further complicated by the closure of terminal facilities over the period of your enforced stay.
"We remain grateful that we were able to source stocks of thermal blankets from the local fire service in an attempt to provide some comfort during this unfortunate turn of events.
"In this instance, whilst the events which occurred during the delay were below the standard we would have wanted to provide, the cause of the diversion, a medical emergency, was clearly beyond our control and could not have been avoided."
A Monarch spokeswoman said the aircraft had left Gran Canaria with more than the required number of oxygen bottles onboard and that it diverted to Porto because a passenger required urgent medical attention.
She said the airline tried to source further oxygen tanks at the airport, including from other airlines, so that it could continue to Birmingham with only a short delay but this wasn’t possible.
Due to the music festival, it only managed to find a small number of rooms, in a hotel about an hour away, which crew shared.
"Had we not been able to provide minimum rest for the crew in line with legal requirements, the delay would have been considerably longer for our customers," she said.
On returning home, all customers had received a letter of apology from the airline, she said.
"We recognise that in this instance the great service we are known for was not delivered and therefore we have offered every customer who was on-board the flight a £100 voucher toward their next Monarch flight, where we hope we will get the demonstrate the exceptional level of service we pride ourselves on."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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