A Nottingham family are demanding compensation after they were rejected by a temporary hotel Jet2 had arranged after their flight was cancelled. Scott Attenborough and his family said they were put through the "traumatic" experience at the end of their week-long holiday in Tenerife.
The 35-year-old electrical engineer, girlfriend Marie Johnson, 38, and their two boys, aged 12 and four, were transported to an adults-only hotel after their evening flight on June 4 was cancelled. But despite assurances from Jet2, they were rejected and could not find a bed until 7am, the Woodthorpe family explained.
“It was quite a traumatic experience, it tainted what was a well-deserved family holiday," Mr Attenborough told Nottinghamshire Live. Recalling the day in question, he said: “When we got to the airport it started with an hour delay, which wasn’t a problem. That turned into two hours which turned into three. We were told to proceed to a gate, the plane was delayed by four hours by the time it had landed.
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Mr Attenborough said they were then told the flight had been cancelled due to staff on the plane working too many hours. Passengers were then taken to the baggage area, where they were given “very little information” and waited for two hours, he continued.
“They told us they were putting us in overnight accommodation, but when my wife Googled the hotel it said ‘adults only’." Mr Attenborough said Jet2 staff assured the family it would not be an issue, but upon arrival the hotel said they would not be allowed to stay.
“The coach had already left us. We had no idea where we were going and where we were going to stay.” The family were not put up in another hotel until 7am.
The family eventually departed the Spanish island on the afternoon of June 5. Mr Attenborough is now seeking compensation for the delayed flight, as well as expenses for the family’s resulting taxi to the hotel, car parking ticket and text messages sent to family.
“I don’t think they are taking any responsibility. I felt quite confident with Jet2, I saw they’d had good press and people had told me good things about them. My four-year-old was very good, but he’s young enough to sleep on the suitcases. It took my 12-year-old two or three days to get over it, he didn’t sleep at all that night so we couldn’t let him go school on Monday."
A spokesperson for Jet2 said: “We communicated the unforeseen delay to our customers as soon as possible, and our teams worked extremely hard to look after everyone. Although in this isolated instance, Mr Attenborough and his family were initially allocated an adults-only hotel due to a lack of availability at short notice, alternative family accommodation was sourced as soon as possible.
"We would like to apologise to Mr Attenborough for the inconvenience. We have liaised with Mr Attenborough directly and explained that we would be happy to review any expenses incurred due to this unforeseen delay.”
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