**‘Devastated’ Mother and Children Denied Boarding on Jet2 Flight After Palma Airport Delays**
A mother has described her “traumatising” ordeal after she and her young family were unexpectedly prevented from boarding their Jet2 flight at Palma Airport, leaving them stranded for almost 15 hours. Megan Patrick, 35, from Boldon, had been holidaying in Majorca with her children, Theo, nine, Saffia, four, and a friend’s nine-year-old son, when their journey home took a distressing turn.
The family were returning from what Megan hoped would be a memorable treat – a four-day summer getaway to Santa Ponsa to celebrate the start of the school holidays. However, their plans unravelled at Palma Airport, where a series of delays affected multiple flights, including their Jet2 return to Newcastle, originally scheduled for 12:10pm.
Megan told reporters that she arrived at the airport well in advance – two and a half hours before departure, in line with guidance. However, upon arrival, airport staff informed her the flight was running almost two hours behind and advised her to monitor the departure screens for updates. “It was absolute chaos in the terminal,” Megan recalled. “Everywhere you looked there were delayed flights and passengers lying on the floor. We knew we were in for a wait.”
As the afternoon wore on, Megan and her family remained near the departure boards keeping watch. At around 12:30pm, their flight status abruptly switched to ‘boarding at Gate A20’, prompting the family to make their way to the gate, a journey she estimated took about 11 minutes.
Upon arrival, Megan says, her boarding pass was scanned and her passport checked, with staff initially commenting on their luck ‘to be getting on’. However, the situation quickly changed when she presented the children’s passports. “She suddenly told me, ‘No, actually you can’t get on,’ despite the board still saying ‘Newcastle boarding’ and the plane clearly still at the gate with its doors open,” Megan explained. “It made absolutely no sense.”
Panic soon set in as Megan’s children became increasingly distraught. She tried to plead with airline staff, pointing to the plane which was still connected to the boarding corridor, but was told their bags were already being removed. Megan described feeling helpless: “I was begging, saying by the time you take the bags off we could have been on the plane. I even considered running on, as my boarding pass had been scanned.”
The confusion was compounded by the lack of boarding announcements in the departure lounge, apparently due to absent public address systems – according to information Megan received from Jet2 crew. She also insisted that none of the alleged attempts to contact her by phone had come through, despite staff claiming otherwise.
Megan soon realised she was not the only one affected. Other British Jet2 passengers, who had also missed the flight, congregated at the airport for support and to seek solutions. According to Megan, the aircraft remained at the gate for another 30 minutes after she was denied entry, exacerbating the sense of injustice.
With her family stranded, Megan says she was given little guidance, being told simply to retrieve their bags and book a fresh flight. She described a moment where, after asking for help at the gate, a staff member declined indicating her shift was about to end.
Ultimately, Megan paid close to £400 for a later Jet2 flight scheduled for 9:35pm but which didn’t depart until after midnight. The total time spent in the airport stretched to more than 15 hours. “The children were inconsolable. It’s put me off travelling with them – I’ve always loved to travel but now I just feel anxious about it,” Megan reflected.
A Jet2 spokesperson said: “We are sorry to hear about Ms Patrick’s experience. Any flight delays are always communicated very clearly, and we always advise customers to check departure boards regularly if they are in the airport terminal. We are investigating this matter further and will be discussing it directly with Ms Patrick.”
The incident has raised questions for many over airline procedures and support for families during travel disruption, further highlighting how even routine journeys can become highly stressful when miscommunication and unexpected rule changes arise.