Holidaymakers are fuming after their flight from Aberdeen to Tenerife was cancelled and they were left in the dark over if, when and where they may take off.
Their flight to the sun with Tui, code signal BY/TOM 1718, never took off on Sunday afternoon, leaving many of them stranded at Aberdeen International Airport.
Grand having your flight cancelled on a Sunday with no way of getting through to the airline and no updates on where they’re putting us up for the night.. also no guarantees or updates on whether the flight will be rescheduled for tomorrow? @TUIUK @TUIGroup @loveholidays
— Cara Crowley (@CaraCrowls) May 22, 2022
Tui has blamed “operational issues” for the cancellation.
Passengers were taken to a nearby hotel for an overnight stay but received calls from the reception desk at around 1am telling them they were being bussed to Glasgow at 5am.
One of them, Dave Merson, told The Press and Journal there were nearly 200 people waiting outside his hotel, Aberdeen Airport Dyce Hotel, formerly the Skean Dhu, for a bus – only to then find they were getting taxis down to Glasgow.
Speaking as he and his wife, Anne, waited for take-off from Glasgow Airport at lunchtime today, Mr Merson said: “We finally reached Glasgow nearly 24 hours after we were meant to fly from Aberdeen. It’s been a very exhausting experience. I’ve heard there were similar problems with a flight from Norwich.”
For the Mersons, who live in Aberdeen, their two-week holiday is the first they’ve had since the start of the pandemic – making the loss of two days due to travel disruption all the more annoying.
For many others, their trip to the Canary Islands was booked for only one week – so their delayed start leaves them with an even shorter holiday.
Several passengers offloaded their frustrations online.
Cara Crowley said: “Grand having your flight cancelled on a Sunday, with no way of getting through to the airline and no updates on where they’re putting us up for the night – also no guarantees or updates on whether the flight will be rescheduled.”
A passenger named Shamek said the way Tui’s customers were treated by the tour operators was “pathetic”.
@TUIUK Is there any updates regarding the flight ABZ- TFS? You surely knew that flight is unachievable but still kept all people for hours, are you going to compensate £ spent on meals there? This is pathetic.
— Shamek (@hansikk91) May 22, 2022
Another, Tracey Dickson, said Tui’s handling of the delay was an “absolute disgrace” and the company had no-one on the ground at Aberdeen to tell people what was going on.
@northsound1 absolute disgrace TUI flight to Tenerife cancelled last night and bus to hotel in Aberdeen to then get phone call at 1am to say being bus to Glasgow at 5am still waiting as it is taxis no one from TUI here to help
— Tracy Dickson (@TracyDi20823155) May 23, 2022
A spokeswoman for Tui said: “We’d like to apologise to customers travelling on flight TOM1718 from Aberdeen to Tenerife which was unable to depart as planned on Sunday 22 May… due to operational issues.
“All impacted customers were offered overnight accommodation while we worked through a new flight plan.
“We then arranged transport to Glasgow Airport this morning, where customers departed for Tenerife at 12:55 BST.”
‘Sorry for any inconvenience’
The spokeswoman added: “We understand delays are frustrating, appreciate our customers’ patience and are sorry for any inconvenience caused.”
Tui uses Canadian company Sunwing Airlines to supply planes for European routes during the peak summer season.
It is thought the cancellation of one of its Aberdeen-Tenerife flights was a knock-on impact of a flight from Palma, Majorca, being either cancelled or delayed.
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