A week trapped at an airport and without solutions: The odyssey of the Club Volei Manacor players to return home
The team continues in Granada without accommodation or a clear alternative to return to Mallorca, after Vueling cancelled two flights in less than 24 hours
Manacor"When we think it can't get any worse, in a matter of minutes something even more surprising happens...", explain Maria Nadal and Tonina Pont, players of the senior women's team of the Primera Nacional of Club Volei Manacor, caught between rage and resignation, 'stranded' in Granada after the airline Vueling canceled up to two return flights to Mallorca in less than 24 hours and offered no solution for accommodation or routes to Palma until Friday and Saturday.
The fact is that the Manacor team has experienced a true odyssey, both on Sunday to arrive to play the league match, and afterwards to be able to return home. The team was scheduled to play this Sunday afternoon, at 5 p.m., the match corresponding to the first day of the league against CDU Atarfe. "We left Sunday morning from Palma airport already with an hour delay, which meant we landed in Granada around 3 p.m.". A few minutes that were decisive in losing the rental cars they had reserved to be able to go for lunch and arrive early at the pavilion. "The company Enterprise knew perfectly well that we would arrive a little late because they were warned, and even so, they closed the office without further explanation.".
This forced the expedition to take taxis both to go to the restaurant "where we had to eat in 10 minutes", and then to arrive just in time at the court, without much time to warm up and start playing. They didn't know it yet, but after the 3-sets-to-1 defeat, the worst was yet to come. "We took taxis back to the airport. Upon arriving, we were told that the plane was delayed by an hour and therefore we would leave for Mallorca with Vueling at 11:45 PM", says Nadal, "but we were also warned that Granada airport closes every day at midnight and that possibly we wouldn't even leave".
After more than three hours waiting at the Vueling counter to demand a solution, both the technical staff and the players were relocated to a hotel 15 minutes from the airport, not without first having to wait until one in the morning for the bus to take them to their rooms "at first we took it with humor, but the situation has us very tired", explains Pont.
The worst had not yet arrived
And that is not the end of it. "At 9:25 AM on Monday, Vueling contacted the reception, informing them that the shuttle bus back to the airport would leave in 5 minutes. "There were still players in their rooms and none of us had had a snack, so since we had our flight scheduled for 12:45 PM, we went a little later by taxi". Once again at the departure terminal, Vueling informed the expedition again that the series of delayed flights would make the departure impossible and offered some surreal alternatives: "That 6 or 7 players return on Friday at 8:00 PM, 4 more on Saturday at 12:00 PM, and one all alone on the Saturday flight at 6:00 PM".
According to the Manacor Volleyball Club, since then the players have spent the whole day at the airport without the company providing them with food: "We have had to walk around shops, go for lunch, buy underwear because we were here for one day and everything out of our own pocket, it's incredible". The situation significantly affects many of the players from Manacor, "because it is a senior team made up of people who have work obligations and cannot spend the whole week in Granada", criticizes the club.
To make matters worse, the team reports that the company has also denied them hotel accommodation for these remaining days, despite the successive cancellations and the long wait to be able to return to Mallorca. "This has meant that 4 of our players have rented a car on their own and have gone to Alicante airport to catch a flight, which they also had to buy however they could". Now, the 9 players remaining in Granada are considering doing the same and tomorrow trying to reach Malaga airport or the port of Denia. "Vueling has not taken responsibility for anything!, when we asked for complaint forms they didn't have enough... we have had to fend for ourselves as best we could".