A husband and wife were left devastated after being told they could not jet off on their dream honeymoon together just moments before the plane was set to take off. Recently married Alex and Willow Rymer were looking forward to going to Cape Verde from Manchester Airport when the drama unfolded.
While trying to board the plane with TUI, them and 24 other people were told that the flight had been overbooked, the Mirror reports. They were not told about the situation until 25 minutes before the departure time.
It had been a difficult trip to plan for the couple as Alex, 52, is a full-time carer for his 94-year-old mum, who has dementia. They have given further disappointment as the refund offered to them by TUI covers the amount they paid two years ago and does not take into account inflation.
Alex, from Harrogate, said: "We have the cat in the cattery, my mum has dementia and we had to organise care for her. Family members have taken time off work to care for her. I'm my 94-year-old mother's full time carer and this was was my week of respite.
"TUI just don't give a monkeys. It's the lack of care."
The couple had booked to stay at the TUI BLUE Cabo Verde resort after three previous visits there. They had already delayed the trip by a year after the Covid pandemic forced their wedding to be pushed back.
Alex had called the TUI helpline the day before departure after an error message appeared when he tried to check-in online. His first call lasted 25 minutes before the line went dead, but he managed to speak to a customer services representative during a second attempt which lasted 54 minutes and was told to print the boarding passes at the airport.
However, after Alex and Willow waited for two-and-a-half hours in Manchester Airport's departure hall and having checked their bags in already, they were alerted to a tannoy message which asked them to find a staff member from TUI. It was then that there were told the flight was full due to the plane being changed to a smaller model.
Alex said: "They said just six of us weren't contacted before we got to the airport. We said that was outrageous and they must have known before. They weren't interested."
The Rymer's are now trying to get compensated for the trip including the hotel stay they booked at the airport for the night before and parking. A spokesperson for TUI said: "We would like to apologise for the inconvenience to our customers on flight TOM586 from Manchester to Sal, Cape Verde, on Sunday 22 May who were affected by an aircraft change due to operational issues.
"We contacted affected customers as soon as we became aware of the change, offering the options to cancel their holiday for a full refund, amend their holiday with an incentive or change onto an alternative flight. We understand how frustrating and disappointing this will have been and are very sorry for the inconvenience caused."
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