Passengers at Manchester Airport have been left ‘outraged’ after travel company TUI cancelled their holidays via text following ‘nightmare’ eight-hour delays.
Holidaymakers hoping to jet to Greek island Kos on Saturday (28 May) faced a four-hour wait to get through security followed by a four-hour flight delay because a ‘pilot was’t available’.
Flight TOM2680 from Manchester to Kos was supposed to depart at 3.45pm, but after hours of waiting around, families were texted by TUI saying their trips - including flights and all-inclusive hotels - had been cancelled.
Speaking to Manchester Evening News, a woman named Helen, who was travelling with her teenage daughter and husband, said TUI’s treatment of customers was ‘disgusting’.
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Helen shared: “It's utter, utter chaos. There has been hardly any staff here.
"Everyone got a text from TUI saying their holidays have been cancelled and to go home.
"The check-in girls knew nothing, we found out before they did. And they were left to deal with hundreds of passengers complaining, a full flight's worth.”
She added: "We have had to go back through security, show our passports, even though we'd never left the airport.
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"I wouldn't expect this from Manchester Airport and certainly not from TUI. It's just disgusting.”
Two other passengers shared similar stories with the paper, with George Sharp confirming his £4,500 ($5,600) trip had also been cancelled by TUI via text.
Jayesh Patel, from Manchester, was also supposed to travel to the Greek island on Saturday, however received a text message at 7.48pm - four hours after the flight was supposed to depart - informing him his holiday was cancelled.
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TUI told LADbible in a statement: "We would like to apologise for the inconvenience to our customers on flight TOM2680 from Manchester and Kos, on Saturday 28 May who were delayed due to a combination of factors causing significant operational disruption.
"Unfortunately, we felt the impact to customers' holiday was too great and took the difficult decision to cancel the flight.
"We contacted affected customers as soon as we became aware of the change and all customers will receive a full refund within 14 days.
"We understand how disappointing and frustrating this is and we do apologise for any inconvenience caused."
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LADbible has contacted Manchester Airport for a comment.
Last week, pictures emerged showing queues at Manchester Airport snaking all the way out into the carpark at terminal three, prompting many holiday goers to complain on social media.
Manchester Airport told LADbible in a statement at the time: "Queues out to the car park are actually pretty standard given space inside some of the terminals is quite tight so they are often purposefully used to ease congestion inside."
Topics: Travel
Aisha Nozari