A mum has told how her 13-month-old baby was "screaming" for food at Malaga airport as they waited for a flight back to Manchester after being "abandoned".
Debbie Holden, from Doncaster, said her holiday with TUI had been fine until May 25 when they were due to fly home from the south of Spain and it took a further 46 hours before they could leave.
Once at the airport they were then told that the flight was cancelled and they were taken to a hotel, reported the Manchester Evening News.
“We were initially told that our flight was late landing in Manchester so it would be late for us, then it was changed to a technical fault before it was cancelled due to an operational issue,” said Debbie.
"There was not one person to speak to at the airport who knew anything about what was going on. Then we got told we were going to be taken to a replacement hotel in Malaga while they worked it out.
Tell us about your travel nightmare. Email webnews@mirror.co.uk
“They literally abandoned us at that hotel - there’s no other way to put it. We were dropped off by the coach and just left in the boiling hot sun to queue up. I had to beg for them to let me inside so my daughter didn’t burn because we had no sun cream or anything on us.”
Debbie said while staying at the hotel, there was a period of time when she received no communication from TUI regarding their flights back to the UK.
“We got a text just before 9pm the next day to say that they were unable to fly us back that day but would be picking us up just after midnight for a 4am flight,” she continued.
“I wasn’t too happy about that as I would never choose that time of flight for my little girl but I just wanted to get home at that point.”
At the airport for a second time, at 1am on May 27, she was then faced with a problem of feeding her daughter after oat milk had been taken off her by security.
“I wasn’t quite sure how Kendal was going to eat or drink so I packed milk for her,” she said.
“She is allergic to milk so that oak milk was supposed to be her food. I tried to explain that to them but security just threw it in the bin.”
Debbie hoped she could find a shop in departures to buy food for her baby but everything was closed - and on top of that the flight was delayed until 6.30am.
“My little girl was screaming, I can’t even describe how it was,” Debbie recalled.
“She was hungry but I couldn’t feed her. The only option I had in the vending machine was water, chocolate milk or a can of Monster. I was so close to giving her that milkshake but I couldn't do that to her, it could have made things worse.
"I eventually managed to find a member of staff from Wamos Air who rang loads of people and eventually took me back to security. They apologised for taking my milk off me and said it was a mistake.
“They rummaged through the bin to find the milk and gave it back to me. It was locked so it hadn’t been opened, but I would have taken anything at that time just to make my baby happy. Kendal had literally cried herself to sleep by that point, but the milk was enough to give her the breakfast she needed on the flight.”
The flight, which was operated by Wamos Air, then departed Malaga just after 7am and then back at Manchester Airport, passengers had to wait on board for an hour as they waited for steps to arrive.
Debbie said the only food they could get was a bottle of water and a small packet of crisps until they were inside the terminal.
At the baggage hall, Debbie claims she was first informed that there were no staff available to take their luggage off the plane and they would have to fill out forms to get them delivered home.
She said a member of staff then made an announcement to say their luggage would be on the carousels in ‘ten to 15 minutes’, before arriving some three hours later.
“It was a complete nightmare - it was just one thing after another,” Debbie explained. “There was just a total lack of communication. Nobody knew what was happening. How can you leave people stranded in a foreign country with no information or guidance?”
Debbie said TUI has offered her £350 in compensation, but she says she still wants answers. “I don’t think the compensation undoes the damage they have done really,” Debbie added.
A spokesperson for TUI told The Mirror: "We’d like to apologise to customers travelling on flight TOM2301 from Malaga to Manchester which was unable to depart as planned on Wednesday, May 25, due to operational issues. All impacted customers were offered welfare vouchers, overnight accommodation and were provided with meals while we worked through a new flight plan.
"We were in regular contact with customers, and advised them of their new departure time as soon as we could. The flight departed for Manchester at 06:27 local time on Friday, May 27."
