Wintry weather affects Ryanair and EasyJet flights to and from Essex airport as some passengers wait eight hours to reclaim baggage

Hundreds of people were forced to spend the night at Stansted airport as wintry conditions hit, causing dozens of flights to be cancelled or delayed.



Snow and ice affected Ryanair and EasyJet flights to and from the airport, as well as more services at Liverpool and London Luton airports.

Passengers at Stansted described waiting into the early hours of the morning for flights to be turned around or for their baggage to be returned to them. One man, Joe Allen, posted a video of the arrivals area at Stansted packed with people at around 4am on Thursday.



Samir Hussein (@samhussein) Stansted Airport a disgrace. Waiting for baggage for 3 hours & still told no idea when it will arrive. This follows 4 hour flight delay arriving at Stansted due to small amount of snow. Thousands in the same situation in baggage hall. @STN_Airport #Stansted pic.twitter.com/M96QNS1KM8

He said: “[It is] a little busier than you might expect. Some flights have been delayed up to five hours. The one I am waiting for is currently over five hours delayed and is currently sitting on the tarmac with no staff able to offload it, even though it’s been due to arrive for five hours, which is obviously a little bit frustrating.

“The tension is quite high. People are sleeping here. I guess they have been here for a while. Not very pleasant because of a few centimetres of snow.”

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Stansted said the runway was closed for snow clearance but had reopened on Thursday morning. The airport advised people to check their flight’s status before leaving home and not to travel if it was cancelled.

It said it had handed out beds and blankets for people stuck at the airport, as well as giving out free food and drinks. One passenger said she had seen no sign of such help, however.

Lucy Weyinmi said she had spent eight hours waiting to reclaim her baggage and had seen “no blankets or food or any support for passengers” during that time. She condemned the “shocking lack of comms or support from airport or Ryanair”.

She said there was “no information whatsoever. The passengers weren’t told anything at all. There were hardly any staff around to answer questions or give advice.”

A London Stansted spokeswoman said there were “up to 300 passengers in the terminal waiting to rebook flights” on Wednesday. She said additional help was also being given to elderly passengers and those with young children.

There were 27 inbound and 27 outbound Ryanair flight cancellations, she added, though all flights were expected to operate as scheduled on Thursday.

Met office forecasters warned of more wintry weather on Thursday and Friday mornings. They said northern and western Scotland, as well as almost all of southern England, were at risk of icy conditions on Thursday, while northern England was likely to see snow on Friday.

Each of the areas was issued a yellow warning;, the least severe. The snow was expected to cause delays on roads and railways and further problems with air travel, while people in ice-affected areas were warned to take care on untreated roads and paths.

EasyJet apologised as it confirmed it had had to cancel eight flights to and from Stansted airport and said another three had been diverted to nearby airports.

A Ryanair spokesman also apologised and said: “Due to snow-related runway closures at several UK airports, including Liverpool, Luton and Stansted, we regret we were forced to cancel a small number of flights [on Wednesday]. All affected customers were contacted by email and SMS text message and advised of their rebooking options.” Further delays were expected on Thursday.