Air Madrid Strands Holiday Travelers

Ecuatorians passengers with a sign that reads: "Welcome to the Ecuatorian hotel"

I flew with Air Madrid for a trip to Mexico last year and it was undoubtedly the most unpleasant long haul flying experience I have had

Tim Wright , U.K.

Date Posted: 12/22/06

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Thousands of Latin American immigrants who have spent years saving to spend a Christmas at home with their families are these days stuck in Spain after low-cost airline Air Madrid suspended all flights. Hundreds have slept the last two days on mattresses at Madrid's Barajas Airport and thousands more were waiting in Barcelona and other cities to see what Air Madrid is going to do regarding their tickets. Most passengers say they don't want monetary compensation; They just want to fly and refuse to leave the airports until a new ticket is issued for them.

As I walked to the departure gate for my flight to London last Friday afternoon, I passed a large group of passengers gathered around the gate for the Air Madrid flight to Santiago in Chile. It was already around 16:30 when I got there, and I could see from the screen above the gate that the Santiago flight had been scheduled to leave shortly after 11 in the morning. A few minutes later, an almighty row erupted around this gate as the waiting passengers were obviously informed that their plane was not about to depart. On my return flight from London to Madrid on Sunday afternoon, I opened my copy of El Pais and discovered that the unfortunate people who had expected to arrive in Chile on Friday won't even take off from Madrid until this Saturday December 23.

None of this surprised me; Air Madrid has constantly been in the papers recently for the late arrival or departure of its flights, and the police have had to intervene on several occasions to try and calm the situation as irate passengers try and find out exactly when they can expect to leave for their destination. The airline offers low(er)price flights from Madrid to several South American destinations. It is absolutely clear that they do not have enough planes to adequately cover themselves when something goes wrong with one of these flights, so a delay with one plane is causing severe delays for those who are waiting to board the same plane for the next flight.