The shocking moment police were brought into Manchester Airport to tell fed up travellers their flight with TUI had been cancelled has been captured on camera.
Officers had been drafted in to distribute the devastating news to holidaymakers who had been looking forward to a half-term getaway in Kos, Greece, this week. In the footage which was taken by a passenger, a police officer can be seen talking to holidaymakers as they waited at a boarding gate - after already having to endure a four hour wait to get through check-in and security and a four hour flight delay, Manchester Evening News reports.
Masses of TUI passengers even received text messages from TUI while waiting to board their plane that said their journey had been cancelled - some including flights and their hotel - causing disappointment for many families who described their experience as "utter chaos".
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One officer in the video can be heard delivering disappointing news to a crowd of people as he informed them they "won't be going today". Before being interrupted by furious passengers wanting answers, he said: "But what has happened is this. You're all going to be getting a full refund for the holiday you have purchased."
He continued: "There's also going to be a £320 compensation per person. You will get there within 14 days. You'll also get a £200 holiday voucher per person to go on another holiday. Due to operational reasons, they won't tell me what those operational reasons are, but you've all found out, it's obviously been on the news, it's not just the airline, it's other airlines as well. I assume that's what it's in relation to. None of you have to claim on your insurance."
He added: "Very shortly, you're all going to get taken down to the baggage reclaim where you'll all get your bags back and then you can make your way out of the airport." People could then be heard in the clip asking the officers 'how shortly?' as others shouted 'we want to go home'.
The flight from Manchester to Kos at Terminal 2 was meant to have departed at 3.45pm, though many holidaymakers say they would have missed the flight anyway, even if it was on time, due to the massive queues and long delays.
Jayesh Patel, who took the video, was set to fly on the same flight to Kos with his wife and their three young children. Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, he said: "We arrived at the airport three hours before our flight, as advised, and the queue for the baggage at T2 was all along the sky bridge up to terminal one."
He added: "We got through security pretty quickly, but we only had about 20 minutes to go before our flight was due to fly. The first time we found out our flight had been delayed by another three hours was when we got to the departure lounge - at no stage did anyone tell us our flight was going to be delayed.
"At around 6pm, they gave us £5 vouchers to buy food but we've still got them as the shops were all so busy or had just began to close. At 7.48pm, we received a text to tell us our entire holiday had been cancelled. There was nobody at the airport to speak to, but there was a lot of upset and frustration as we all received the text at the same time."
He continued: "We all then had to go back through passport control, which was ironic as we hadn't gone anywhere, and back into arrivals to wait for our luggage which was already on the plane. Because the airplane hadn't arrived from anywhere, our flight wasn't listed at any of the baggage carousels so we didn't know where to wait - people were visibly upset and children were crying. We then had to wait another couple of hours and at this point, we'd spent the whole day at the airport and just wanted to leave."
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."
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