Manchester police officers were left with the unsavoury task of telling a mob of furious jet setters that they’re TUI flight had been cancelled, and they were to leave the airport instead of going on holiday in Kos, Greece.
Video footage shows officers addressing a crowd of fed-up passengers at Manchester Airport with the disappointing news this morning, only to be met with jeers and shouts.
People were told they “won’t be going today”, but they were eligible for a full refund, a £350 compensation and £200 holiday voucher per person, and they were told to leave the airport.
The passengers, who were spoken to by the officers as they waited at the boarding gate, had already had a nightmare eight-hour wait at the airport, Manchester Evening News reports.
The endured a four-hour wait to get through check-in and security, followed by a four-hour flight delay 'waiting for a pilot'.
Some had already been sent text messages from TOUI to say that the holiday had been cancelled as they waited at the boarding gate. Passengers described the situation as 'utter, utter chaos'.
The flight was cancelled “due to operational reasons” but the officer said the crowd had “all found out” anyway through the news.
“None of you have to claim insurance because you get the full refund back.
“You all will be taken down to the baggage reclaim and you will all get your bags back and you will all make your way out of the airport,” he told the crowd.
One woman could be heard asking “how shortly?”
“I want to go home.”
The flight out of Terminal 2 was supposed to take off at 3.45pm, but angry ticketholders said they would have missed the flight - if it had been on time - due to queues 'out of the building' to check-in.
Passengers told Manchester Evening News that one person was arrested and was in handcuffs, and that the whole ordeal was “disgusting”.
"All the passengers are really angry, there's children crying. We've taken the week off work, my daughter is off school - she'd been looking forward to this holiday, bought new clothes and everything,” said Helen, from Sale.
“We expected it to be bad at Manchester Airport but everyone is in shock at how bad it actually is. The police had to unload people's suitcases because there were no staff to do it."
Others told the paper their £4,500 trip was now money down the drain.
A spokesperson for TUI said: "We would like to apologise for the inconvenience to our customers on flight TOM2680 from Manchester and Kos, on Saturday 28th May who were delayed 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."
Manchester Airport is just one of many airports hit by overwhelming queues as Brits rush to make the most of the long weekend.
Staff shortages are being blamed for reportedly horrific processing times this morning at Bristol Airport, Glasgow, Heathrow and Gatwick airports as well.
Airports have been struggling to cope with the demand for travel this week amid staff shortages, while flight cancellations from easyJet and TUI are heaping further pressure on the travel industry.
