Egypt Air. By Christian Palent | Adobe shares
Imagine a flight 50 hours late, 300 passengers in the dark and airline staff completely absent from the airport: this is the strangest flight travelers experience en route from Washington DC to Cairo.
“Here is the worst travel story you have ever heard, how EgyptAir dropped us from plans, how we spent two days at the airport, made 300 new friends on WhatsApp and how there is no record of that happening “says a passenger in an interview in a viral video.
EgyptAir's 'craziest flight' with 300 passengers
That passenger is Sara, @injector_sara on TikTok. In her video, which has been viewed more than 2.4 million times, she proclaims: “Welcome to my craziest travel story and why I would avoid flying EgyptAir at all costs in the future.”
She says she went to the airport three hours earlier with a friend, they checked their luggage and waited, and that's where it all started.
An airline agent tells them the flight will be delayed 12 hours and takeoff will be pushed back to 2 a.m.
“Our flight has disappeared from the notice board. The schedule has not changed, it has completely disappeared. It has also disappeared from EgyptAir’s website,” she says.
When the passengers showed up 12 hours later, there was no sign of the airline or flight crew. The next morning the same scenario plays out again.
36 hours later, passengers are still at the airport waiting to either board or return their checked luggage. But still no sign of the airline, no agent, no email.
@injector_sara
Welcome to my craziest travel story and why I would avoid Egypt Air at all costs???? #travel #washingtondc #cairo #egypt #egyptair #travelhorrorstory #delayedflight
♬ Original sound – Injector Sara
Passengers board 50 hours late with no hope of a refund
Just 40 hours later, Sara met a Frontier agent who told her, “I have access to certain information, and there is a flight schedule for your plane tomorrow afternoon.”
48 hours after the supposed departure time and after informing the 300 other passengers via a WhatsApp group, Sara and the other travelers finally boarded their flight.
You'll take off two hours later, after a 50-hour drive in total ignorance between the airport and the hotel.
“While we were waiting at the airport, there were reports that we had taken off and then landed. That’s not true, we waited there,” says Sara.
She adds that there is no written evidence that the airline caused them a huge 50-hour delay as even the boarding passes were “backdated” and left them with no chance of a refund.
“They backdated the boarding passes and marked the flights as on time in all sources so as not to have to reimburse anyone,” protested one internet user, among more than 3,185 outraged comments.