Diabetic passenger put through "absolute hell" after being stopped from boarding flight home to Manchester

A diabetic carer has described her ‘absolute hell’ trying to fly back to Manchester from Greece after being told they could not board the plane because air staff were ‘exhausted’.

Rachael Utley was coming back from Rhodes after celebrating a friend’s 50th birthday, and was due to fly at 11.25pm on Saturday (July 2). However, she was told during that day that the flight would be delayed.

When she and her pal Jo Greer arrived at the airport, they were ‘stopped’ from boarding by staff, Rachael, 47, said - but that was only the start of her ordeal. easyJet have now apologised for the 'difficulty' customers had.

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“They stopped [boarding] and said they needed eight people to volunteer to fly out the next day,” Rachael said. “They said one of the air stewards was exhausted and demanded rest. Nobody came forward, so they let us board. There were babies and old people were passing out.”

Another passenger the Manchester Evening News spoke to said that staff then did let passengers board, but stopped the final eight people from getting on the plane. That included Rachael, Jo, 52, and another party of four younger women that they befriended at the airport.

One of that group was Morgan Haddock, who said: “We were then stood on the ramp to the bus in 26-degree heat for an hour with nobody telling us anything. Some poor lady at the front passed out, staff just stood there and did nothing. Only the family of the lady helped her.”

Rachael — who suffers from diabetes, severe food allergies, asthma, and is dairy-free — and her party were then taken to arrivals, but say no members of easyJet staff were on hand to