A mum has told how passengers on an aircraft screamed and cried after two people were removed from a TUI flight. Lara Beasley said people were left anguished as the incident unfolded.
The 42-year-old said it took more than half an hour to take the passengers, which the pilot confirmed were unauthorised, from the plane. Other travellers on the plane then went into "meltdown" with one couple demanding to be allowed to leave the aircraft.
Lara, from Crosby, was travelling with partner Neil Beasley and their daughter, Faith, one, from Cancun Airport, Mexico, to Manchester on June 23 when the incident happened. She told the Liverpool Echo how the pilot told them two passengers were on board who should not have been.
The plane was then grounded for a further two hours before it could finally take off. Lara said: “The pilot confirmed that there were two passengers who should not have been on the flight. Everyone was going into meltdown.
“They did not take us off the aircraft, they left us there. The pilot tried to diffuse the situation and the cabin crew were trying to be professional.
“You could see the anguish in people’s faces. I didn’t go to sleep for the whole 10 hour flight on the way home.
“It was a horrible feeling, [TUI] didn’t put customers at the heart of it. 'Going the extra smile' is meant to be their strapline.
“But I do not understand why [Cancun Airport] did not check the people’s paperwork. How did [the other passengers] get past check-in?
“Anxiety was high leading up to the holiday due to the media build up of cancelled flights, lost luggage and issues with long queues. It put a dampener on the end of our holiday.
“We had no option [to fly back], it’s not like we could jump in a taxi. The whole situation was so strange.
“I have travelled to hundreds of places and that was the worst experience I have ever had.”
This was Lara’s first family holiday with partner Neil Beasley, 43, and their one-year-old daughter Faith. The three of them had enjoyed a relaxing stay in Playa del Carmen for 10 nights but on their return flight the family were travelling for at least 20 hours and the events of their final day put a “dampener” on the holiday.
Lara used to work as a retail manager for TUI and spent 14 years in the travel industry. She said the experience was not what she expected from her former company.
The family should have landed in Manchester at 8am but did not arrive until 1pm. It took more than two hours to receive their baggage from the airport.
Cancun Airport was contacted by the ECHO but did not respond. A spokesperson from TUI said: “We’re aware of this incident and we take incidents of this nature extremely seriously.
“Our crew worked quickly to offload the passengers and their bags so the flight could depart. We’d like to apologise to all customers onboard for the inconvenience, and we’re providing additional training to our ground handling agents to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”
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