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Flight disaster to Crete: vacation ends in 32-hour nightmare!
A flight to Crete turns into a nightmare: passengers experience 32 hours of chaos due to weather conditions before their holiday begins.
Flight disaster to Crete: vacation ends in 32-hour nightmare!
Crete, the popular holiday island in the Mediterranean, is currently experiencing a particularly harrowing experience for travelers. Julie (not her real name) and her boyfriend from Switzerland had planned a trip to Crete, but their Condor flight DE1234, which departed Zurich at 6:50 a.m. on May 24, quickly turned into a 32-hour nightmare. There were 135 passengers and six crew members on board.
After about two hours of flight, the first attempt to land in Heraklion was aborted due to strong winds. The crew attempted to circle over the coast nine times before the decision was finally made to divert the flight to Athens. The plane landed in Athens at 11:25 a.m., but the passengers had to remain on board without the opportunity to disembark or receive food.
Circling over the coast
Another attempt to land in Crete was also unsuccessful. After ten more laps around the island, it was decided to divert to Kos and finally to Thessaloniki, where the plane landed at 6 p.m. Here the passengers were accommodated in hotels, but had to cover the accommodation costs themselves.
The next morning, May 25th, the plane made another attempt, but was again unable to land in Heraklion and returned to Athens. The passengers were given the choice of getting out—but without luggage—or flying back to Zurich. Julie decided to return and the flight ended 32 hours after the original departure from Zurich.
Weather conditions and impacts
Condor said landings in Heraklion were limited by extreme weather conditions. Affected passengers were informed of the development via email or SMS and refreshments were distributed on site. As compensation, Condor offered that travelers can contact customer service for possible refunds.
Three days later, Julie was finally able to fly to Crete with Easyjet, but her vacation got off to a late start. Current weather forecasts for Heraklion say conditions in the region remain unpredictable. Further information on this is available on weather.com available.