TUI Airways has warned customers flying from 15 UK airports that food will be 'limited'. In a move unlikely to be welcomed by passengers, the operator said that a change to their services means they can, for now, no longer serve hot and cold meals or sandwiches.
They noted that the disruption does not affect any long-haul flights to Aruba, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Mexico, Orlando and St Lucia and meal services on these flights will 'continue to operate as normal.'
In a statement on May 5, they confirmed that the issue was due to "staff shortages" which would take place over the coming days and in total affects 15 airports - including two in Scotland reports the Mirror. TUI explained: "We can confirm that unfortunately due to staff shortages with our catering supplier, there will be no hot and cold meals or sandwiches, and a limited offering of snacks and drinks, available onboard TUI Airways short- and mid-haul flights over the coming days.
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"Customers may therefore want to bring their own food and soft drinks onboard (no alcohol permitted). Any soft drinks over 100ml will need to be purchased after you have passed through security."
The company stressed to passengers that they are "continuously monitoring the situation" and "working closely" with their suppliers in a bid to limit the impact to their onboard services. All customers affected will be directly contacted with the company apologising for any inconvenience caused.
This will impact flights from the following airports:
- Birmingham
- Bristol
- Cardiff
- Doncaster Sheffield
- Dublin
- East Midlands
- Edinburgh
- Exeter
- Glasgow
- Humberside
- Leeds Bradford
- Luton
- Manchester
- Norwich
- Teesside
It comes after a mum-of-four criticised TUI after her family were left waiting at an airport for 14 hours. Lisa Mason and her children were due to fly back to Manchester after enjoying a break in Cyprus.
On arriving at Larnaca airport, they boarded the flight an hour late after being told by travel firm TUI that it had been delayed, Stoke on Trent Live reported. Passengers were then left waiting for three hours on board the grounded plane before being herded back into the airport and left in the departure lounge.
TUI has apologised to the affected holidaymakers. The firm said passengers were given vouchers to buy food and drink at the airport and its customer teams would be in touch with them regarding compensation.
A spokesman said: "We would like to apologise for the inconvenience to our customers on flight TOM2367 from Larnaca to Manchester, which was delayed due to operational issues. The safety and wellbeing of our passengers and crew is always our highest priority, and we would like to thank passengers for their patience and understanding at this time."
