A passenger has slammed the "appalling treatment" they received from TUI after their flight from Newcastle to Tenerife was cancelled and they were "left with no food".
The passenger, who wishes to stay anonymous, was due to board the 3.45pm flight to Tenerife from Newcastle Airport on Friday but he was told via text message the flight had been cancelled - 45 minutes after it was due to depart. He said they were given £10 vouchers to spend at the airport by TUI but Greggs was the only place open and they "run out of food" due to the influx of people.
He and his partner ended up sharing a cake from Greggs and they were told via text message shortly after 7pm that they would be picked up by a coach and taken to Holiday Inn at the MetroCentre at 7.30pm. However, they said they didn't get picked up until 9.15pm and by the time they got to the hotel, it had stopped serving food.
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It means they hadn't eaten properly since 3pm and were concerned about families with children. The passenger has since slammed TUI for their "disgraceful" communication saying they left it down to airport staff. He said: "At no point did we have anyone from TUI come see us, they left it down to the airport staff and everyone was asking them questions.
"We were given a £10 voucher to spend at the airport but the only thing that wasn't closed was Greggs but they ran out of food because everyone was trying to get food. There were no sandwiches, I think we got a cake to share.
"There were about 200 people queuing for a £10 voucher for food for 45 minutes and then they made us queue for bus tickets for another 45 minutes so we didn't get the bus until 9.15pm.
"We didn't get to the hotel until after 10pm and there was no food. The only place open was a 24-hour Asda a mile away but we were knackered so we had nothing. There was a continental breakfast in the morning but nobody had told us."
TUI organised a taxi to pick them up on Saturday morning at 6am to take them to Doncaster for a 12pm flight. However, the passenger, who was looking forward to a week-long break in Tenerife, said TUI handled the situation "horrendously" and said they have now missed out on days in the sun.
He said: "We're going for a week and by the time we're going to get there, we've missed two days. We have tried ringing TUI to ask about compensation but we just get an automated message saying it's an hour wait so we just hung up. TUI has just left us hanging, they have handled it horrendously. The passengers were treated appallingly and the communication was nothing short of disgraceful."
In response, TUI said they aim to communicate with customers "quickly" and provide transport, overnight accommodation, meals, and refreshments as needed and apologised to customers impacted. It comes as the aviation industry struggles to cope with the rise in demand for travel amid a severe staffing shortage.
A TUI UK spokesperson said: "We’d like to apologise to customers impacted by the delayed departure of TOM1558 from Newcastle Airport to Tenerife. We aim to communicate with customers as quickly as we can if there are any changes to their holiday and offer transport, overnight accommodation, meals, and refreshments as needed.
"We understand that last-minute changes are incredibly disappointing, and we’d like to reassure customers that we’re doing everything we can to get them on holiday as planned. We thank customers for their patience and understanding."
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