'Airline left us on a freezing island for days'

A man who was left stuck with his family on a freezing Canadian island for days after their flight to the US was forced to land said British Airways' handling of the situation had been "ridiculous".

Jon Shipman from Crosby, Liverpool, was among hundreds of passengers left at St Johns in Newfoundland after his flight from London was diverted due to a medical emergency.

He said after landing they were told to go and find hotels with "just the clothes on their back" in sub-zero temperatures after being effectively "fobbed off" by the airline.

British Airways (BA) said it was "very sorry" for the experience and it had "been in touch to offer a gesture to make things right".

The plane had been forced to land on the large Canadian island on Tuesday due to the medical emergency, but then could not depart again due to a "temporary technical issue", BA said.

Two days later, the flight had resumed its journey to Houston, but speaking before take-off, Shipman said many passengers were not happy.

"Furious is an understatement. We are being told we are now heading to Houston. I won't believe it til we take off," he said.

Shipman and his family were heading to Texas to see their best friends from Litherland in Sefton, who had moved to the US a few years ago.

He explained on BBC Radio Merseyside how passengers were told three hours into the journey the plane had to land due to a "grave medical emergency".

After landing in St Johns, passengers "sat on the plane for three hours", he said.

"They then told us the plane had developed a technical issue, then they told us the plane could not be fixed and we had to be taken off and put up in local hotels."

But passengers were not able to take their luggage with them and instead were taken straight through immigration control and into St Johns airport.

The temperature at St Johns was -10C (14F).

Shipman said: "When we finally got through, we were just left, we were just sat around waiting for news, and had to speak to local airport staff for help."

They were put up in a hotel and told a flight would leave on Wednesday night.

Passengers went to the airport but were then told the flight would instead be going back to London.

"No-one was particularly aggressive, but everyone was frustrated, there were people with families and young kids who've been waiting around and sleeping on the floor, it just wasn't very good from BA at all," Shipman said.

As passengers began to board, they were abruptly told they would no longer by flying back to London, and the flight was then cancelled again.

Shipman said: "It's ridiculous, it's just so poor from British Airways.

"Most of the frustration was due to lack of information. Just be open and explain what's happening, you know, we're not soft, we understand there was a medical emergency, we understand there's a technical issue.

"But to then to keep fobbing us off."

BA later offered each passenger a £500 electronic voucher, but Shipman said: "That's not good enough. Our whole holiday is ruined."

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