EasyJet refuses compensation to up to 3,000 passengers hit by last-minute flight cancellations

Airline is refusing many compensation due to ‘extraordinary circumstances’ caused by air traffic control restrictions

Some passengers waited on aircraft for three hours before being deplaned and told to go home (Getty Images)

The budget airline easyJet cancelled more than 20 flights to and from Gatwick yesterday - with some passengers having boarded the plane and waited for hours before their service was cancelled.

Now the airline is refusing some passengers compensation, saying cancellations were as a result of “extraordinary circumstances” caused by air traffic control (ATC).

The routes affected during the afternoon and evening of 24 May included the London hub to the Isle of Man, Belfast, Tenerife, Crete airports Heraklion and Larnaca, and Palma.