Stranded mum, 23, can't return to UK for days after new border rules chaos

A 23-year-old mum left stranded in Italy for days has spoken out after she was among dozens of travellers caught up in mayhem caused by new border regulations.

Lily Mae Bridgehouse was one of around 100 passengers whose easyJet flight to Manchester Airport from Milan departed without them on Sunday (April 12). She had been due to return from Italy's Linate Airport on a 10.30am flight.

However, owing to enormous queues at the airport's border control, she was among those left behind. The chaos follows the UK government updating its guidance for those travelling to the European Schengen area, meaning travellers may now be required to register biometric data upon arrival.

The EU entry and exit system (EES) is an electronic system that replaces the physical stamping of passports at border controls. However, enormous queues left vast numbers of passengers stranded at the airport, with flights departing without them.

This included the easyJet service bound for Manchester. EasyJet confirmed it held the aircraft for nearly an hour beyond its scheduled departure time but was ultimately forced to leave owing to restrictions on crew working hours.

Mum-of-two Lily, from Shaw, Oldham, said she had flown out to Italy on Friday to spend the weekend with her partner, who was working over there. She was due to fly back on Sunday morning, in time for work on Monday.

However, despite arriving at the airport with hours to spare, the whole experience quickly became a nightmarish "fever dream".

Lily told the M.E.N.: "I got through security within like five minutes. So I wandered about the airport for a bit, I kept checking the screen and the screen kept saying 'Gate information at 9.30am'. So I sat down, read my book for a bit, and then when it was 9.30am, looked at the screen, because there was no information on the easyJet app".

Lily said there was no information about delays on the app, so she went to gate B25 and saw a massive queue of passengers. She was told to join the queue, where she says she waited for an hour and a half, before she and a couple who had been standing behind her decided to go to the front desk.

The pharmacy worker said she was told by an airport staff member that someone would call them through when their flight was ready. However, after standing in the queue for a total of about three and a half hours, they looked at the departure screen to see their Manchester flight was no longer on there.

Half an hour later, Lily said they were told their flight had taken off without them, along with around a hundred other passengers who were still in the queue.

Lily said: "We were like, 'What do you mean it's gone?' She said, 'The flight's gone, it's left.' And so we're all stood there like, 'What do you mean it's gone? We're here, how has it gone?'

"And then she was like, 'You all need to come out of the queue.' So about a hundred of us stepped out of this queue and lined up against this wall like we was on a fire drill at school or something."

She added: "Honestly, it was like a fever dream, it was so weird."

After being removed from the queue, Lily said she and the other confused and angry passengers were then told they were being led out of the airport.

"Because I suffer with severe anxiety, so I was crying anyway, this was massively out of my comfort zone," she said.

"I was absolutely inconsolable at the time. Everyone was like, 'Are you okay?' I'm like, 'No, I just want to go home!'"

Instead of leaving the airport, Lily said she and the other passengers went to the easyJet desk to ask what was going on. Lily said they were then given a piece of paper stating that their flights had been cancelled and that they needed to book a new one; however, the only flights available back to any UK airport were later in the week.

After about nine hours at the airport, Lily said she eventually managed to book a flight back to the UK for Thursday. She also had to contact her employer to explain what had happened and arrange for her mum and dad to continue looking after her children, who are six and three years old.

"The worst of it was the fact that it got to the point where we were so hungry, we were so thirsty. But luckily my partner's here for work. So I booked a new flight whilst I was there. The only flight available was Thursday at 8am in the morning."

'I am literally washing my clothes in the sink with shower gel'

After booking the flight, Lily then travelled the two hours back to her partner's hotel. But when she got back to the hotel room and called easyJet, there was more bad news.

"I've had to spend 300 Euros on a new flight. I was on the phone to easyJet for about two hours, saying, 'I've paid for a new flight, are you going to reimburse me that money?' And they're going, 'There's nothing we can do. All we can do is put you on the next flight.'

"And I was like, 'But I booked the next flight because your groundwork people told me to book the next flight on my own, which I did. And now you're telling me that you could have put me on it for free even though the next flight is on Thursday, four days' time.' I have kids at home I need to get back to. I had work on the Monday. I had work this morning."

Lily said she has since received a refund for the flight she booked on Thursday from EasyJet.

She added: "This two-day trip has now turned into a seven-day trip and I've packed two outfits. So I am literally, as we speak, washing my clothes in the sink with shower gel."

However, Lily says she has had to fork out more money for a change of clothes and food while being forced to stay in Italy until Thursday. She also fears the same thing is going to happen when she's due to fly out from Malpensa Airport on her flight booked for Thursday morning.

"I am so nervous," said Lily. "I keep going through phases where like I'm like, I'm fine, it'll be fine, it won't happen again. But then I go through the phases where I start getting emotional, I start getting upset and I'm like - I have kids at home. What about if I can't get back to them and that's it and I'm just stuck here?"

In an earlier statement to the M.E.N., easyJet said passengers affected have now been offered a 'free flight transfer' and urged them to arrive at the airport in plenty of time due to longer wait times. It has also slammed the EES waits that affected passengers as 'unacceptable'.

An easyJet spokesperson said: "We are aware that some passengers departing from Milan Linate today experienced longer than usual waiting times at passport control and we advised customers due to fly to allow additional time to make their way through the airport.

"We held flight EJU5420 from Milan to Manchester for nearly an hour to give passengers extra time but it had to then depart due to crew reaching their safety regulated operating hours. Customers who missed the flight have been offered a free flight transfer.

"We continue to urge border authorities to ensure they make full and effective use of the permitted flexibilities for as long as needed while EES is implemented, to avoid these unacceptable border delays for our customers. While this is outside of our control, we are sorry for any inconvenience caused."

According to the Gov.uk site, passengers travelling to a country in the Schengen area for a short stay using a UK passport, may be required to register biometric details, such as fingerprints and a photo, upon arrival. Travellers do not need to take any further action and there is no cost for EES registration.

"EES registration is replacing the current system of manually stamping passports when visitors arrive in the EU," it said. "EES may take each passenger extra time to complete so be prepared to wait longer than usual at the border."