Family gets all the way to boarding at Manchester Airport - only for flight to be cancelled 'moments' before take off

A 'gutted' family have shared their upset after their EasyJet flight from Manchester Airport was cancelled just ‘moments’ before take off due to a technical issue. Joanna Lovell, who lives in Hull, East Yorkshire, had been looking forward to a trip to Turkey with her two children, partner Jack and his son, her parents, sister, brother-in-law, and their two children.

The family booked the holiday back in 2020 for 2021, but the trip was cancelled due to the pandemic. Two years after originally planning the holiday, the group of 11 headed to Manchester Airport on Thursday morning (May 26) to finally depart for the trip.

They checked in, went through security, enjoyed some pre-holiday food and drink, before arriving at the gate. But shortly before boarding their EasyJet flight to Antalya, it was suddenly cancelled.

READ MORE: Families facing 'hours' of queues at Manchester Airport for TUI bag-drop

EasyJet had to cancel or delay hundreds of flights due to the IT issue, reports YorkshireLive. A statement from EasyJet on Thursday confirmed the issue and said their specialists had worked to restore the IT systems.

Joanna, founder of Lovell Films and former Hull Daily Mail reporter, said she was due to fly from Manchester to Antalya at 1.35pm. Seven hours later she said she had still been waiting to find out if they could go on their much-anticipated trip.

"Our bags went on the plane then while we were queuing to board we saw them coming off, then the crew all came off so we were all speculating,” Joanna explained. "We then got an email from EasyJet saying it was cancelled. We were told 400 EasyJet flights between 1-3pm nationwide were cancelled.

"This was not long after we found out, with people trying to rebook flights