A DIABETIC woman was left without insulin for over eight hours after easyJet staff refused to help her access her luggage during a delay.
Adele Napier from Dover, Kent was left without the vital medication when she and other passengers were “locked” inside a holding room at Milan Airport on Monday [3 Feb] during the wait.
Adele, 30, and her family had been flying from Hugharda Airport in Egypt back to London Stansted when her plane had to be diverted via Italy to change crew.
Adele says her hand luggage containing the insulin was taken off her in Milan and when she tried to retrieve her medication, she was told to “go away” by airport staff.
A flight that should have taken six hours ended up taking nearer 16. And to make matters worse, Adele and the other passengers were then sent a generic compensation email without any of their personal details filled in.
Adele said: “It was like we were cattle being locked in a room with out fresh air water or any contact with staff.
“People were becoming very agitated and it was just horrific. Children sleeping on the dirty floor, it’s made us as a family never want to fly with easyJet again.
“My diabetes became very unstable as stress drastically effects my sugar levels.
“I had a low blood sugar and had nothing to correct it no sugar or carbohydrates, it was awful.
“I didn’t access my insulin until we landed at Stansted.
“Even then I couldn’t use it as insulin freezes at those temperatures, so had to wait until I got home. In total they ruined 10 of my insulin pens.
“And then to receive an email like that, I was fuming.”
A furious Adele then took to social media to complain.
She posted a status on Tuesday [4 Feb] saying: “Absolutely shocking how myself, my partner and my children were treated.
“First a 2hrs 45 min delay at Hurghada airport, where all the decent food places were closed so was unable to adequately feed my children.
“Then a stop off in Milan that turned into 4 hours 45 minutes wait locked in a holding room, unable to leave to get fresh air.
“I was told my ten month old baby had to sleep on the floor.
“No food or drinks for the first two and a half hours and told by an easy jet staff member if we wanted to drink water to use the tap in the bathroom.
“I was lied to about when we were getting on the plane to come home on more than one occasion.
“Genuinely never flying easy jet again, was supposed to be home at 11:55pm on the 3rd of February only to arrive at 9.30am today.”
Her post prompted others to come forward about the ordeal.
Ros Sones wrote: “I was there absolutely shameful, used Easy Jet many many times. Never again we were treated worse than cattle.”
Roberto Jupp Snr added: “Total disgrace and a very stressful and unpleasant situation for everybody. Never using Easyjet again.”
EasyJet have since apologised for the delay.
An easyJet spokesman said: “We are sorry for the inconvenience caused by the diversion and delay.
“On the outbound flight the aircraft diverted to Milan so engineers could resolve a technical issue.
“Due to the delay this caused, the crew were unable to operate the full return flight as they would exceed their legally permitted flying hours, so the aircraft diverted to Milan for a crew change.
“A complimentary service was offered on board before landing in Milan and refreshment vouchers issued, although we understand there were limited options available to redeem them due the time of day.
“Breakfast boxes were also provided to customers.
“We would like to apologise to customers for the inconvenience caused.
“It is not correct that customers were locked in a room,  however they remained airside.
“We would always advise passengers to keep any important medication in their hand luggage rather than in the aircraft hold.”
However, Adele said: “My hand luggage suitcase was taken off me at the Italian airport and put in the hold!
“They didn’t even let me take it out and when I tried to explain it had important medication in I was told to go away.”
