A holidaymaker has expressed their outrage after his family and others had their holiday cancelled while waiting at the gate to board their flight at Glasgow Airport.
Mike Dodgson has slammed TUI leaving holidaymakers "deserted all day" at the airport, and claims that their flight got delayed five separate times before it was called for boarding - only for airport staff to break the news of the cancellation to everyone.
The holiday to Antalya in Turkey was the third attempt by the dad to take his family, from County Durham, abroad after it was cancelled twice due to the covid pandemic.
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The last-minute cancellation left "lots of heartbroken and understandably angry families who want answers", with Mike also left furious at the fact TUI neglected to "send one single representative out to talk to people".
Taking to Twitter to share his frustrations on Sunday, he wrote: "How do I get a complaint about TUI to the highest possible level? Not just for me, but the many families left deserted all day at Glasgow Airport yesterday.
"Letting us all get to the gate before telling us our entire holiday was cancelled. Claiming ‘staffing issues’ and not sending one single TUI representative out to talk to people, instead forcing the airport staff to break the news to everyone.
"For families like mine, we were at the airport from 9.30am for the flight at 1.55pm. The flight got delayed five separate times before declaring the gate was open. Got to the gate and then we were told that not just the flight, but the entire holiday was cancelled.
"This was initially a holiday in 2020, which was cancelled due to Covid. Rebooked for 2021, Covid cancelled again, this was our third attempt at a family holiday in three years. We needed it. Our children needed it."
Mike says that after families were told their holiday had been cancelled, they were told to head to baggage claims and then to a desk in the check-in desk (where they started their day ) to be given details of accommodation.
He claims they waited another three hours at the desk "with no communication, only to be told there were no hotels around for them to cater us". They were then "given a print out with a £150 voucher per family to claim back later".
He added: "After we were told that everything was cancelled, we were told to head to baggage claims and then to a desk in the check-in desk (where our day started) to be given details of accommodation…
"As like us, many families were not from anywhere near Glasgow. With a couple of pre-departure drinks too, driving wasn’t even possible.
"We waited another three hours at the desk with no communication, only to be told there were no hotels around for them to cater us so we were given a print out with a £150 voucher per family to claim back later!
"No TUI staff, no communication, no food or drink, no accommodation and most importantly; no holiday and lots of heartbroken and understandably angry families who want answers."
In response to the cancellation, A TUI spokeswoman said: "We’d like to apologise to customers travelling on flight TOM654 from Glasgow to Antalya on Sunday 28 May which was unfortunately cancelled due to operational issues. Customers affected by flight cancellations will receive a full refund for their holiday within 14 days.
"We understand that last minute cancellations are incredibly disappointing and we would like to reassure our customers that we are doing everything we can to get them on holiday as planned.
"Whilst every cancellation is regrettable, the vast majority of our flights are operating as planned, with more than 26,000 customers taking off yesterday on holiday.
"We’d like to apologise again for the inconvenience caused and we thank customers for their understanding. "
