Two north-east families have criticised a lack of communication from TUI after their flight home to Scotland was cancelled last minute.
Their flight was due to leave Antalya Airport in Turkey at 10.40pm on Tuesday, July 26, but passengers were told at 11pm that it would not be going ahead.
After the flight to Glasgow was cancelled, all passengers spent a further seven hours sitting in the “middle of nowhere” in the airport.
Caroline Alexander, from Turriff, was booked on the flight with her partner Bill Hutcheon and their two daughters Lexi, 12, and Chelsea, eight.
They had been on holiday in the Turkish city for two weeks and said they had no issues when they flew out from the UK.
However, the cancelled flight back meant they arrived home almost 18 hours later than originally planned.
“The lack of communication was the issue,” she said. “We were just abandoned.
“My daughter was ill as well, so we couldn’t do anything all day. Then we were traipsing around the airport and sitting in the middle of nowhere.
“Lexi only slept for 10 minutes and Chelsea slept in her suitcase. I didn’t sleep at all, I was just pacing back and forth.”
Continuing uncertainty
The families were eventually picked up at 6am the following day to be taken to a hotel before travelling back to the airport just five hours later – still uncertain of where they were flying.
Passengers were split between different flights to the UK the following day, landing in either Birmingham, Doncaster or Manchester.
Miss Alexander, 43, and her family decided to book their own flights from Birmingham to Aberdeen, leaving their car behind in Glasgow, so they could make it home for work.
This cost them a further £650.
“We wanted to get home as quickly as we could. Bill was going offshore on the Thursday and I had to be back at work as well. I’m a hairdresser and didn’t want to cancel on my clients,” she added.
The family finally made it home to Turriff at around 10.30pm on the Wednesday night – a whole 24 hours after their flight was scheduled to depart Antalya.
One of their suitcases was also missing when they arrived in Birmingham but they got a call almost a week later on Tuesday evening saying it had been found.
‘It was out of our control’
Jacqui Miller, from Elgin, was booked on the return TUI flight to Glasgow alongside her 16-year-old son after a 10-day break in Turkey.
They had an even longer journey back home once the flight was cancelled.
“It was a nightmare,” she said. “These things happen but nothing was being said, it was very frustrating.
“The main issue was communication, or lack of, and we were left in the airport not knowing.
“We were just dumped in departures and left for six hours not knowing what was going on. We got a text but were then waiting hours for more information.
“It was out of our control – the fight was on the board and then it disappeared.”
The 41-year-old and her son also got sent to a hotel for a few hours the following morning before boarding a flight to Doncaster – which was also delayed by an hour.
After travelling more than 250 miles by taxi to Glasgow, she then had to drive for a further four hours back home to Elgin.
“I had a look to see if there were any hotels available in Glasgow, but there were none, so we had to crack on,” she said. “We got home at about 2.30am or 3am.”
“I was absolutely shattered and had to take the next day off work.”
The families were offered free food and drinks from a cafe at the airport at around 4am and then offered more refreshments on their flights back to the UK.
TUI response
A TUI spokeswoman: “We fully understand the frustration from customers due to travel back from Antalya to Glasgow.
“Unfortunately, the aircraft required additional engineering inspections which took longer than expected, and it had to remain in Antalya overnight.
“To get customers home as quickly as possible, we arranged for them to travel on various flights into the UK on July 26 and provided transport back to Glasgow.
“Those who couldn’t be allocated flights on the same day were given a generous amount to spend on meals, transfers and overnight accommodation and flew home the next day.
“All customers were sent direct text messages with all the required information and we’d like to thank them for their patience and understanding.”
Conversation