An Aberdeen mum is worried her holiday with her son will not go ahead after Tui failed to respond about booking important medical equipment on board.
Mrs Purdie, 51, takes her son on holiday every two years and booked a flight to Tenerife with Tui in September.
Her son, Shaun Sinclair, is a full-time wheelchair user with cerebral palsy and, as such, needs specific equipment for carrying out his day-to-day activities.
After spending four hours on the phone to Tui’s customer service, Mrs Purdie was told the equipment – a wheelchair, sleep system, toilet seat, catheter and medication – was booked on.
‘Can’t just turn up at the airport’
However, a week later she received an e-mail saying Sunwing, a Canadian airline affiliated with Tui, would now be running the flight but with a Tui cabin crew.
The Mastrick resident said: “I thought I better just phone and check and make sure everything stays the same with the booking.”
What followed was another round of long phone calls, sometimes getting an hour and half in before being cut off.
She was told differing accounts of what would happen with the booking but was told on the last phone call that only the wheelchair had been booked on.
The NHS worker said: “Of course my answer to that was ‘are you serious? I do all this and now you’re telling me it’s just the wheelchair that’s been booked on’. So now I’m really frustrated and thinking I really need to get through.
“Now my issue is because I can’t just turn up at the airport, because I won’t get on the plane with all the things. And I just don’t know what to do now because I can’t get through to them.”
Still no personal response from Tui
A Tui spokeswoman said: “We’re very sorry to hear of Mrs Purdie’s distress and we understand she’s keen to get reassurance that all of her son’s essential medical equipment will be with him when they travel.
“However, as they aren’t travelling until September the booking has yet to be transferred to the new flight on our systems.
“We can verify that all special requirements are clearly noted and she can rest assured when the booking is transferred all of the medical equipment they need to bring will be included.
“Our welfare team will be in touch soon to confirm with Mrs Purdie that all arrangements have been made.”
It has been a month since Tui sent this response to The Press and Journal yet Mrs Purdie has not heard anything from the airline.
“It’s not a simple process,” she said. “And it’s never an easy task for me to go on holiday but I’ve never had a problem like this.
‘Tui’s response has been absolutely shocking’
They have flown with many other airlines in the past and Mrs Purdie said she has never had issues.
She added: “But Tui seems to just be a continual problem. I think it’s just getting to speak to the right people is a problem as well and then not answering e-mails.”
Mrs Purdie has spent more thann 11 hours on the phone to customer service and has sent three e-mails, all which received an automatic response.
She said: “We fly in five weeks and I’m really concerned about this.
“Tui’s response has been absolutely shocking.
“I’m just finding it very frustrating, because obviously, this is a needs basis. It’s not something that we do very lightly.
“It’s all things that he genuinely needs to be able to access going on holiday for his comfort as well.”
Mrs Purdie wants to cancel the holiday and get a refund but has still been unable to get through to anyone to make any of the arrangements.