Melvyn was due to fly back to Liverpool from Turkey but his flight was delayed by almost 20 hoursMegan Banner Senior Reporter and Helena Vesty NHS, social care and patients reporter
12:08, 19 Jul 2025Updated 19:26, 19 Jul 2025
Melvin Chazen claims he was left without food and water for hours when his easyjet flight was delayed(Image: Liverpool Echo)
An elderly man claims he was left without food and drink, and had “nowhere to sit down” for hours following delays to his easyJet flight.
Melvyn Chazen had been on holiday in Turkey earlier this month and was scheduled to return home on July 2, until a bird strike caused his flight to be delayed for nearly “20 hours”.
“I was travelling on my own as an elderly man, I’m diabetic and became low on sugar,” he said of the trip.
“I did think at one stage I was going to pass out.”
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The 83-year-old was expected to board the EZY3408 service from Bodrum, which was timetabled to leave at 10.40pm, but when birds collided with the aircraft, passengers were initially informed of a five-hour postponement.
That delay turned into an overnight stay, with easyJet putting passengers up in a hotel.
However, Melvyn, from Wavertree, claims the lack of in-person communication from the airline left him feeling “upset”, reports the Echo.
EasyJet said it provided updates about the flight to customers via SMS, email, and through announcements at the airport
He said: “I went to Turkey for a week on holiday, which was fine. The day we were coming home we were picked up from the hotel by the transfer coach and told that the flight had been delayed for five hours.
“Instead of departing a 10.40pm it was leaving at 3.30am, which was fine to a degree, nobody moaned about it.
“We left the hotel, which was about 30 miles away from the airport. Once we got there and once we’d waited an hour to get through customs we were then told it had been delayed until the following evening.
“They put us up in a hotel but we had to go all the way back through customs and back into Turkey.
“It took six hours to get back to a hotel in Turkey, all the while there was no refreshments available, no water, no food offered.
“We were waiting in long queues with nowhere to sit down and not one member of easyJet staff was there to communicate or check on the customers.”
EasyJet has issued an apology for the flight delay, explaining that the service was rescheduled to the following day following a bird strike on the previous flight, which required an engineering inspection.
The airline insists it kept passengers updated through text messages, emails and on Flight Tracker.
EasyJet also says the airport helped customers with arrangements for hotel bookings and meals.
Melvin was travelling with easyJet(Image: Getty Images)
However, Melvyn said he had no access to emails and couldn’t get online. He hoped an easyJet representative would have been there to talk to passengers.
He said: “I’m an elderly man, I don’t do the internet and I was there on my own so I had no means of getting online to check my emails.
“I didn’t know what was going on. Eventually, some kind people who were also delayed told me we’d been delayed because of a technical issue.
“I had no forms of communication apart from what other passengers were telling me.
“I just don’t understand why there was nobody there from easyJet to tell us what was going on or to offer advice. The only time someone spoke to us – and they weren’t even from easyJet – was to tell us we were being put up in a hotel.”
The following evening, on July 3, Melvyn was taken back to the airport by transfer bus, where he boarded an easyJet flight to Liverpool.
He says it was only on this flight when he learned about the bird strike that delayed the previous plane.
Melvyn says easyJet has offered him £21 in compensation, which covers the money he spent on food and drink during the wait.
He added: “It was very upsetting for me, I was travelling on my own as an elderly man, I’m diabetic and became low on sugar. I did think at one stage I was going to pass out.
“I was kindly helped by some of the other passengers but by the time I got home the next day I was totally exhausted.”
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An easyJet spokesperson commented: “We are sorry for Melvyn’s experience after his flight from Liverpool to Bodrum was delayed overnight due to a bird strike on the aircraft’s previous flight, which led to the crew reaching their safety regulated operating hours.
“While this was outside of our control, we did all we could to minimise the impact for our customers. We provided updates directly via SMS, email, announcements at the airport and our Flight Tracker and our team at the airport assisted customers with arranging hotel accommodation and meals.
“We take our customer responsibilities seriously and are in touch with Melvin to apologise and understand more about his experience as we always want to ensure our customers feel supported.”