Holiday hell as TUI flight to Majorca is delayed for 43 HOURS with families forced to sleep in cars
- Passengers were scheduled to fly with TUI at 7:20pm Friday to Palma, Majorca
- However, travellers were left ‘stuck in limbo for 43 hours waiting for updates’
- Following extreme delays, the jet eventually took off at 1:55pm on Sunday
- Terry Mack, 75, said he’d ‘never known passengers to be treated so appallingly’
Holidaymakers faced chaos at Norwich airport after families were forced to ‘sleep in their cars’ following a 43-hour flight delay to Majorca.
** Are you being caught up in airport chaos in Britain or elsewhere? Please email: [email protected] **
Passengers were scheduled to fly with TUI at 7:20pm on Friday to Palma, but a ‘technical fault with the aircraft’ left them waiting in limbo for updates from the travel agency.
Following two days and nights in the airport, the jet eventually took off at 1:55pm on Sunday afternoon.
Spanish airline Albastar were operating the TUI flight that was delayed.
Pensioner, Terry Mack, 75, said the service was ‘appalling’ after many elderly passengers were forced to sleep in their cars and across the seats of the small airport.
He told ITV News: ‘I am 75 years of age, I have travelled all over the world since the age of 16. Never in 59 years have I ever known people to be treated so appallingly.’
Passengers also claimed they were ‘not offered accommodation’ as they waited for updates over a ’43-hour period’.
One furious traveller, Luce, took to Twitter and blasted TUI’s ‘disgusting customer service’ and not being able to ‘purchase food or drink’ for her children due to the ‘pubs being shut’ after the company announced the flight was delayed.
She wrote: ‘Arrived at Norwich Airport at 4.30 for 7.30 flight. No food being served so no dinner for kids. We go to board at 7pm [but there’s a] technical fault with the plane. Still waiting. Go to buy the kids a drink, pub closed. Hoping TUI can help us out.
‘I’ve called them twice. Once at 4.30am. No call back. Again at 7am. She said they were waiting for parts for the plane and would call me back within the hour. One hour and 40 mins later still no call. Absolutely disgusting customer service from TUI.
‘Not one update since the flight was cancelled at 7pm last night. Been on hold for so long and keep being passed from person to person! We knew there was a fault at 7pm last night. Just spoke to Norwich airport who said they are still waiting on information from TUI.’
Pensioner, Terry Mack, 75, (pictured) said the service was ‘appalling’ after many elderly passengers were forced to sleep in their cars and across the seats of the small airport
One furious traveller, Luce, took to Twitter and blasted TUI’s ‘disgusting customer service’ and not being able to ‘purchase food or drink’ for her children due to ‘pubs being shut’ after TUI announced the flight was delayed
Spanish airline Albastar were operating the TUI flight (pictured)
As the hours went by, holidaymakers were ‘left in limbo waiting for updates’ from the travel agent – Luce claimed delays were experienced up ‘to the very second’.
Luce added: ‘Everyone is angry due to the lack of updates. It’s not fair. Now at the airport. Due to leave in 40 mins. Announcement saying more delays. More technical issues. No TUI reps on site. Next information at 1pm!!’
While many businesses in the aviation sector are struggling to rehire staff after many were let go during the pandemic due to a collapse in demand thanks to successive lockdowns, high levels of staff sickness for those who are still employed is also having an impact.
TUI has also come under fire for reportedly diverting a flight from Larnaca in Cyprus, which was due to land at Bristol, to Gatwick, before telling passengers to ‘find their own way home.’
One affected customer fumed: ‘You left diverted passengers at Gatwick with no bus to take them back to Bristol airport and your staff crying because of the situation – 24 hour delayed from Larnaca and then this. Passengers told to find their own way home.’
It comes after miserable holidaymakers at Bristol Airport were yesterday forced to sleep on the floor to avoid the queues while those at Heathrow Airport were being made to go on a wild goose chase to find their own luggage.
Hundreds of suitcases are seen abandoned at the baggage reclaim area of Terminal 2 in Heathrow Airport, west London
Passengers were forced to sleep on the floor as they waited to see if they would be able to travel at Bristol Airport on Monday morning. They queued from 4.30am.
Other customers were forced to bed down anywhere they could while waiting for more information on their flights in Bristol on Monday morning. One even thought ahead to pack an air bed so they would be more comfortable
One traveller brought an air bed with them to Bristol as they battled to check-in, as queues grew from as early as 4.30am.
Customers had shown up hours earlier than their flights in an attempt to battle the already long queues amid more travel bedlam.
Heathrow was first plunged into chaos in March as bosses struggled to hire enough staff amid widespread labour shortages in the UK in the wake of the pandemic.
British Airway staff are also threatening to strike, after unions rejected a 10 per cent pay offer in favour of walkouts as early as next month, potentially during the school holidays
Union barons claim the airline’s offer was a one-time ‘bonus’ and its members want a full-time raise.
The earliest date the strikes could happen is early July, but the unions have not announced a timescale, possibly in the hopes of pressuring BA bosses to cave in.
Pictures form inside Heathrow appeared to show dozens of pieces of ‘unclaimed’ luggage just dumped around the carousels, while other desperate travellers have been sent on a wild goose chase to track down their bags which was meant to land with them days ago.
Hundreds of passengers packed into Heathrow’s Terminal 2, pictured, Monday as they attempted to check in for their flights. Less flights have been cancelled so far at the UK’s biggest airport, but travellers still arrived early for flights
A business expert says that temporary staff working at Heathrow, pictured today, are warning their own family members not to travel until November at the earliest. British Airway staff are also threatening to strike, after unions rejected a 10 per cent pay offer in favour of walkouts as early as next month, potentially during the school holidays
HEATHROW AIRPORT: Arrivals at Terminal 2 and 3 saw a sea of luggage spilling out across the airport as they landed while staff reportedly told anxious customers ‘sorry, the whole industry in a mess’
Kate Hardcastle MBE was left without her luggage after boarding a flight from Cannes to Heathrow last week, and has been unable to find out where her belongings are for six days.
She was told by a British Airways member of staff that her bag had been put on a plane to Dublin, and arrived back in Terminal 2 – which has been worst affected by the luggage disruption.
The business expert said she had been told by staff on the ground at Heathrow they were advising their own families not to travel until November at the earliest.
Speaking to MailOnline Kate said: ‘I am genuinely worried for people who don’t travel as often as I do, I have been travelling for 20 years and you think nothing is going to phase you.
‘But this is chaotic. People coming for holidays that they have worked for for years have no idea what is in store for them.
‘I was in Terminal 5 for two hours in the end when I landed last week from Cannes trying to get my bag.
Passengers at Bristol, pictured Monday, have been left waiting to see if they will be able to catch their flights. Those at Heathrow have been battling to get back their bags after luggage chaos this weekend
Arrivals at Terminal 2 and 3 at Heathrow, pictured Monday, saw a sea of luggage spilling out across the airport as they landed from Amsterdam, Canada and India over the weekend while staff reportedly told anxious customers ‘sorry, the whole industry in a mess’
‘It was chaos, they were pushing forms at people, really complex forms. BA haven’t been answering the phones for months as far as I understand it.
‘I had to pack a bag for four weeks as I will be travelling away for work for that period, and I have high value and sentimental items in there which have just gone.
‘Normally I would advise everyone to pack light and would do that myself, but I just couldn’t in my current situation. It is a complete goose chase, BA have said that they don’t know where in the world my bag is.
‘Today I arrived at Terminal 2 hoping to get it back, there were 13 people there before me who said that they had been there for hours and no one was answering from any airline.
‘I managed to track someone down from operations and we helped to get the people who had flown today’s bags back.
‘Staff members on the ground have said they are advising their own friends and family not to travel until November because of the chaos.
I’m just stunned by the silence of the CEO’s who have not said anything at all.
‘The fact of the matter is that people in the UK have waited like Rapunzel in a tower for two years and they don’t deserve to be delayed or without their baggage.
‘Why no one at the top of the companies is not stepping up I don’t know.
‘I am not one to criticise unduly, but if you aren’t even prepared to be on the front line and tough it out it’s not good enough.
‘People are quite rightly close to tears, I’m close to tears. I have no hope that I’ll get it back.
‘People who live further away and have lost their baggage can’t even get back easily. I’m having to carry my stuff on in carrier bags.’
A British Airways spokeswoman told MailOnline: ‘We’re doing everything we can to reunite our customer with their bag.
‘We apologise for the delay and inconvenience caused.’
Heathrow are advising any passengers having issues with their baggage to contact the individual airlines.
TUI have been contacted for comment by MailOnline.
** Are you being caught up in airport chaos in Britain or elsewhere? Please email: [email protected] **
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