Perpignan-Nantes flight: passengers arrive 13 hours late after travel nightmare
The Volotea aircraft was diverted to Bordeaux as a storm prevented initial landing attempt
Spanish low-cost airline Volotea offered diverted passengers a €5 food voucher
Santi Rodriguez/Shutterstock, Flightradar24
Passengers travelling on a domestic French flight connecting Perpignan and Nantes arrived 13 hours late after Spanish low-cost airline Volotea was forced to divert to Bordeaux.
Aircraft tracking platform FlightRadar24 mapped the Volotea route on June 3.
The site indicated that the flight left Perpignan (Pyrénées-Orientales) at 13:20 - one hour after its scheduled departure time. It also shows the plane arriving over Nantes (Loire-Atlantique), circling above the airport, before being diverted south again and landing in Bordeaux.
Some 150 passengers were impacted by the delay - caused by a surprise storm over Nantes - eventually reaching their destination at around 02:00 on June 4 after a 350 km bus journey by night, reported regional newspaper L'Indépendant.
Passengers reportedly disembarked the plane at around 18:45 in Bordeaux and were stranded in the airport before eventually boarding the bus to Nantes at around 21:30.
“I was on that flight… shame on Volotea! Just a €5 voucher for a meal at 20:00 in Bordeaux airport before heading to Nantes by bus (a 4-hour drive) – that’s all, even though we had just spent five and a half hours stuck on the plane in Bordeaux without being able to get off… I am requesting a refund for this journey,” wrote passenger Sylvie Knight on Facebook.
Ms Knight also indicated that there were young children on board and that there was a lack of information communicated by the airline and air staff throughout the journey.
The airline has since reportedly paid a refund of €30 to each affected passenger.
The Connexion has tried to make contact with Volotea, and the airline has not yet published any official statement on the situation.
