Travel

Passengers left stranded in Italy after BA, Ryanair, easyJet and Jet2 all cancel flights due to coronavirus outbreak


TRAVELLERS have been left stuck in Italy after airlines in the UK grounded all flights to the country for the next month due to coronavirus.

The UK government has advised against all travel to Italy as coronavirus cases near 10,000, leading to the cancellations of flights to the entire country.

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 Passengers returning to the UK from Italy have been left stuck abroad

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Passengers returning to the UK from Italy have been left stuck abroadCredit: Reuters

British Airways and Ryanair both announced plans to cancel all flights until next month, with BA grounding all flights from today while Ryanair said it would begin on Friday.

EasyJet and Jet2 have also cancelled flights to and from Italy.

However, passengers have been left stranded in Italy after their flights were cancelled at the last minute, with no alternative options offered.

Jess Nicholls, 43, told PA she felt “dumped” by the airline after it notified her by email that her flight from Rome to London would be cancelled.

The enterprise change consultant said she was seeking an “acknowledgement that they just stranded loads of passengers when they said they would get us home”.

She added: “Their website was down, their call centres are overloaded and we got an email after midnight saying our flight was cancelled. It’s putting more passengers in danger.”

 

Jess said she “had to fight” to secure a place on a flight from BA-owned Vueling on Tuesday, which she was told was currently operating as planned.

Others took to social media in a bid to try and find alternative flights home.

One person said: “Lovely…thank you @British_Airways for leaving us stuck in Italy..cancelling our flight at 1 in the morning #neverusingthemagain”

Another person added: “Cool so @British_Airways is just gonna cancel all my attempts to book flights and leave us stranded in Italy?”

Other airline passengers were also stuck: “I am stranded in Verona. Flights back via both @British_Airways and @Ryanair cancelled. Advice or assistance appreciated.”


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Someone else asked: “Currently stuck in Italy after booking a @BritishAirways flight back to England for the flight 2 hours later to be cancelled.

“No @easyJet @jet2tweets or @Ryanair flights back from Verona. No advice from any of the travel operators or from the @foreignoffice.”

Some people were struggling to find out what to do next: “BA – you have just cancelled our BA7022 return flight from Florence back to London.

“You have not put us on an alternative flight. You are not answering your phones. How do you propose we get home? Or is the plan to leave us stranded for 26 days?”

Thousands are thought to be stranded abroad: “What am I supposed to do regarding my return flight from Turin to LGW with BA on Thursday?

“Been on hold for over an hour now. Leaving 30k British citizens stranded in Italy is disgraceful.”

 Passengers returning from Italy will have to self-quarantine

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Passengers returning from Italy will have to self-quarantineCredit: Reuters
 Flights have been cancelled all across Italy

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Flights have been cancelled all across ItalyCredit: Simon Jones – The Sun
 Tourists must now return home and self-quarantine for two weeks

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Tourists must now return home and self-quarantine for two weeksCredit: AFP or licensors

However, Ryanair flights are continuing to fly until Thursday, and will then reduce services to one a day to destinations in Italy.

A Jet2 spokesperson said they were “contacting customers who are currently in Italy to arrange to fly them back to the UK”.

Sun Online Travel contacted British Airways and easyJet for comment.

Tourists who are now returning from Italy will have to self-quarantine on their return for two weeks, even if they have no symptoms.

Italian PM announces the WHOLE of Italy is now on lockdown in response to coronavirus outbreak

We’ve also updated the travel advice for Portugal and France.

Disneyland Paris and Disney World remain open despite a French member of staff testing positive for coronavirus.

We explain whether you should cancel your holiday and how to cancel it.





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