A woman has described a TUI flight 'from hell' where police were called onboard and a woman went into labour.
Council worker Naomii Thomas, 36, was on board the delayed flight from Cape Verde to Bristol, on June 8 when passengers reported it briefly “bouncing hard off the ground” at Bristol Airport, before taking off again and sending an emergency 7700 code to land urgently elsewhere. The plane eventually landed in Birmingham where passengers waited another two hours on the runway - leading to some getting so angry police were called to remove them and monitor the situation.
Naomii said these weren’t the first strange occurrences, and she believes problems had started before the plane had even taken off from the African island, WalesOnline reports.
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Noamii said: "Initially the flight to Bristol was delayed by two hours and 45 minutes. We asked if we could stay in the hotel because it would mean avoiding a six-hour wait at Cape Verde Airport, but they said no and gave us a voucher worth five euros.
"The airport was manic due to delays. It’s only small and because we were all there earlier than we really needed to be the queues were huge. It was an absolute nightmare."
TUI apologised for the "inconvenience caused to customers onboard" and said the "safety and wellbeing of passengers and crew is always our highest priority".
Naomii said: "When we boarded the plane the pilot spoke immediately, he said he would try to get us to Bristol with as little delay as possible. The plane hadn’t been stocked with any food."
“I had already gathered from the way the plane had rushed from the ground that they were trying to get us home as soon as possible. We met a lot of people out there who were actually in credit from their holiday because of delays. The pilot told us he would be taking a shortcut."
Passengers told of the plane hitting the runway hard before rising back into the air. Naomii said the pilot told them this was because the plane was too heavy to land. TUI denies this was the case and says the decision not to land was made due to bad weather conditions.
Naomii said: "I know that sometimes you can hit the ground and it can be quite rough, but this was a noticeable bump. You could see everyone was starting to panic then."
The pilot said he would try to land again, but after three or four minutes of hovering above the airport he told them they would instead attempt to land in Birmingham.
Naomii said: “We were sat there [In Birmingham] for two hours. People started kicking off and the police were called on.
"One family was escorted off by the police and some of the police stuck around after that. A woman then went into labour and they called paramedics onboard."
By the time they’d reached Bristol to get their car they’d been delayed by ten hours and the whole ordeal was more than 20 hours after a further delay at baggage reclaim.
Naomii said: “We’ve emailed them three times in relation to compensation since landing and each time we’ve had a standard response saying they can’t locate the flight. We’ve had no communication as to whether we’re likely to get it or not, but we believe we’re owed more than a grand. I know others who were on the plane who are in the same boat.”
A spokeswoman for TUIsaid: "We can confirm that TOM245 from Sal, Cape Verde, to Bristol was diverted to Birmingham on June 7 due to weather conditions at Bristol Airport. Our crew offered all possible support during the flight before everyone was safely disembarked. We’d like to apologise for the inconvenience caused to customers onboard. The safety and wellbeing of passengers and crew is always our highest priority and we’d like to thank passengers for their patience and understanding."
