Storm Babet: Couple ‘frustrated’ after flight home delayed and diverted

Phil Casey and his partner Ann Meredith faced travel disruption after a plane skidded off a runway amid Storm Babet.

A couple’s flight home from Cyprus was delayed and diverted in an “intensely frustrating” ordeal after a plane skidded off a runway at Leeds Bradford Airport.

Phil Casey, golf correspondent at PA Media, and his partner Ann Meredith, 51, were due to fly from Larnaca International Airport to Leeds at 11.20pm local time on Friday.

Their plans were disrupted after heavy winds forced a Tui flight to skid off a runway, causing the Leeds travel hub’s temporary closure.

Having cleared security, the couple’s Jet2 flight was delayed and diverted to Manchester Airport, as Storm Babet caused chaos in the UK.

Their flight finally departed at 3.20am local time and arrived in Manchester at about 7am on Saturday, Mr Casey said.

The “very tired” couple did not get home until about 8.15am.

Mr Casey, 49, of Leeds, said: “Obviously it’s intensely frustrating but at the same time you realise it’s out of the control of the airlines, so we had a certain amount of sympathy.

“And then yeah, to make matters slightly worse at one point they put up that the gate was opening in five minutes. And then five minutes later when I went to check again it said ‘gate now opening in 195 minutes’, so obviously slight difference.

“So yeah, obviously we were then concerned about getting back from Manchester.”

Jet2 provided buses to transport people from Manchester to Leeds but the couple decided to fork out £88 on an Uber to get home sooner, he said.

Leeds Bradford Airport has reopened but Tui customers who were due to travel from there on Saturday are being directed to Manchester Airport, the airline has said.