Video footage showed the shocking moment police were drafted in to tell furious passengers that their TUI holiday had been cancelled.
The officers had to deliver the disappointing news to scores of holidaymakers at Manchester Airport on Saturday (May 28) that they would not be jetting off to Kos in Greece for their half-term break as planned. The passengers at the boarding gate had already had an eight-hour wait at the airport, including a gruelling four-hour delay to get through check-in and security, followed by a four-hour flight delay 'waiting for a pilot', reports Manchester Evening News.
TUI is one of the airlines that has been forced to make flight cancellations with some holiday packages being axed completely due to "operational reasons". Some had already been sent text messages from TUI to say that the holiday had been cancelled as they waited at the boarding gate. Passengers described the situation as "utter, utter chaos". The airline has apologised for the cancellations.
In the video clip, one police officer told the large of crowd of people 'this has been cancelled, you won't be going today'. He went on: "But what has happened is this. You're all going to be getting a full refund".
The officer was then interrupted by frustrated passengers who wanted to ask him questions. He told them to let him finish and said: "You're all going to be getting a full refund for the holiday you have purchased.
"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 out of Terminal 2 in question 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. After enduring a further four-hour delay, one family said they were informed by a text from TUI that their trip, including flights and an all-inclusive hotel, were cancelled.
Helen, from Sale, was due to travel with her husband and teenage daughter. "It's utter, utter chaos," she told the M.E.N. "There has been hardly any staff here. Everyone got a text from TUI saying their holidays have been cancelled and to go home. The check-in girls knew nothing, we found out before they did. And they were left to deal with hundreds of passengers complaining, a full flight's worth.
"The police had to come in and make an announcement, a holidaymaker was arrested and was in handcuffs. We have had to go back through security, show our passports, even though we'd never left the airport. I wouldn't expect this from Manchester Airport and certainly not from TUI. It's just 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. 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."
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."
George Sharp said his daughter had travelled from Bradford for their holiday to Kos - on the same flight as Helen - and had been queuing since 12 noon. They were at the gate ready to board the flight when they received a text from TUI saying their £4,500 trip was cancelled.
"It was like circumstances I've never ever heard of before," George said. "They went to board and then they cancelled not just the flight but the entire holiday. TUI staff refused to face up to anyone and the police arrived to tell them to go back through security to collect their bags and go home.
"She just got married two years ago so all they've known is Covid since they got married in March 2020 and this was supposed to be a big reset for them and to help them get back to normality. They were with a five-year-old little girl and it's just horrendous. They were just heartbroken and confused.
"It's hard to console her, because what can you say? They had only just got their passports two days ago so they've been stressed to bits over that. It's just been one thing after another. To be at the airport for eight hours, face numerous delays and get ready to board to then be told that it's over is just really upsetting for them all. There's been no communication other than a text message."
Jayesh Patel, from Manchester, was due to travel on the same flight to Kos with his wife and their three children, aged nine, 12 and 13. "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," Jayesh said.
"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.
"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."
