Chaos on Mallorca

Flight canceled: Local mayor missed funeral

Barbara Schweitl experienced pure airport chaos in the vacation paradise of Mallorca due to delays.

(Bild: zVg)

Due to storm "Dana", Puch's mayor Barbara Schweitl was stuck on Mallorca for four days. She never found out why. 350 flights were canceled that day and passengers had to sleep at the airport. The compensation procedure is now underway for the mayor of Puch.

Everything was fine until the day of departure: Puch's mayor Barbara Schweitl (SPÖ) was on Mallorca with a large entourage at a 50th birthday party. Her husband's nephew invited her. The shock came on August 15: Schweitl and dozens of family members were at the airport and couldn't leave.

"It was very unpleasant, we had to split up 28 people into several houses with friends. The bitterest thing was that we missed my uncle's funeral." He had passed away a few days earlier.

Barbara Schweitl

(Bild: zVg)

Schweitl is annoyed: "We didn't get any information in Palma about why we couldn't fly or when we would get a replacement flight."

Thousands of passengers had to wait
The airport in Palma announced: "Due to the weather-related problems, almost 350 flights had to be canceled and almost all flights were affected by significant delays." Due to these delays and cancellations, many passengers were forced to spend several nights at the airport.

Alexander Klaus, from Salzburg Airport, explains: "It is a normal procedure in such cases that passengers are allocated to the next flights or to the nearest destination airports."

What the injured parties could be entitled to
A compensation procedure now follows. Schweitl: "It all goes through the travel agency, they do it for us." In addition to meals, overnight stays and much more, Schweitl and her relatives could be entitled to lump-sum compensation of 250 euros per person - but no one can compensate her for missing her uncle.