By Ruairi O’Connor
A student from De Montfort University was stuck in the French Alps last weekend as heavy snowfall prevented his flight home.
Ali Morgan, a 20-year-old mechanical engineering student, was away skiing with his family when the snow storm that gripped the country kept his flight home from Geneva firmly on the runway.
“It was extremely disorientating to begin with, we were not really told much more than the flight was delayed for a couple of hours,” he said.
“I only really understood the severity of the situation when I spoke to friends at home and saw the amount of snow that had fallen in England.”
Mr Morgan, who was skiing in the nearby French resort Val d’Isère, was supposed to fly home to Manchester Airport on Thursday but could not get on a flight until late on Sunday evening.
“It was extremely frustrating because my family and I missed a friend’s 50th birthday party,” he added.
On top of not being able to get home, Mr Morgan also had to pay for another flight to take him home; a different one to the rest of his family.
“There was very limited availability on flights over Saturday and Sunday, and any spaces were extremely expensive.
“There were opportunities to get back to England, but the flights were to London or the Midlands, which did not help me at the time.
“I had to wait until the last flight out on Sunday evening, which was only put on by the airline at the very last minute.
“All of my family had to return for work and school earlier so they made sure they got to England before considering how to get back towards home.
“I was the last one to leave the airport.”
However, despite not being able to return home on time and being out of pocket, Mr Morgan was very complimentary towards airport staff.
“They did everything they could to make sure we were kept informed, even though they were receiving very little information themselves and were under a hell of a lot of pressure.
“They did a great job!”
