© Domingos Oliveira / RTL
Although the Pentecost holidays have come to an end, disruptions and cancellations continue upsetting Luxair passengers who are stranded abroad and left without information on when they can return home.
A number of Luxair flights were cancelled during the Pentecost holidays and the problem seems to persist. Aside from the general hassle posed by such disruptions, passengers are particularly annoyed by the lack of communication from Luxembourg's flagship airline.
Our colleagues from RTL met with Dr Javier Barragan, who was scheduled to fly back to Findel airport from Madrid on Tuesday evening until his flight got cancelled. Dr Barragan found out via text message. Luxair offered a new return flight, which was due to leave three days later, but has in the meantime also been cancelled.
Due to his medical commitments and appointments with patients, Dr. Barragan couldn't afford to postpone his return flight for such a long duration. Despite spending two hours trying to contact Luxair, he was unable to reach them, and there was no explanation provided for the cancellation of his flight.
Dr Barragan eventually took matters into his own hands and booked a €600 return flight via Lisbon. He now seeks reimbursement, but knows from experience that this is a lengthy process that can easily last several months. The physician concluded that although he has been a satisfied Luxair customer for over 20 years, he has started looking at alternatives for future travels.
Since then, two planes that Luxair leases through German Airways were unable to carry out their scheduled connections. One of them was forced to turn around and land in Lisbon again. The other was redirected to Athens and then to the German Airways base in Cologne.
According to a couple interviewed by RTL, there are also a number of Luxair passengers currently stranded on the Portuguese archipelago of Madeira: "We were scheduled to return to Luxembourg on 5 June. The Luxair plane did not land due to the weather conditions. We are now about 150 passengers that are still in Madeira and cannot leave. Some people were scheduled to go back [on Wednesday] and we [on Thursday].
The first flight was cancelled again for whatever reason, nothing is being said. Other planes land and take off, so it cannot be a matter of the weather. We have received accommodation for now, but there are elderly people with health issues who have to return home at some point. Others have no holidays left allowing them to stay longer..."
