Holidaymakers were left in tears after a TUI flight from Glasgow to Tenerife was forced to abort landing twice due to extreme turbulence.
Families on board flight TOM1172, which left Glasgow Airport at 5pm on Monday night, was due to land in the canary islands at 9pm. But the Airbus was struck by extremely high winds while coming into land at Tenerife Sur Airport.
Passenger James Lowe had jetted off for a seven day sunshine break with daughter Cheryl, 44, and son-in-law Mike Knight, 36.
He told how travellers were in tears as high winds 'rocked the plane up and down' before two failed landings forced the pilot to divert the flight to Gran Canaria.
The 68-year-old, from Stonehouse, South Lanarkshire, said: “That was the bumpiest plane ride I’ve ever had in my life. It was really quite scary. We were about 50ft off the ground and suddenly we went back up into the sky.
"The plane was shaking and rocking up and down. We went back out to sea and circled the airport. The pilot announced he was aborting the landing because of wind shear.
"Then he said they were going to make a second landing attempt but the same thing happened. My daughter was leaning on her partner sobbing. She said she wanted to get the boat back.
"Then we flew to Gran Canaria and waited on the runway for an hour.
"On the third landing attempt everyone was terrified.It was like an Alton Towers ride. We were all wondering if we’d make it that time but the pilot managed to land it safely.
"I’ve been to Tenerife around two or three times a year over the last 20 years and that’s the worst I’ve ever seen.”
The flight eventually landed at 1AM local time and the pilot was given a round of applause by passengers and cabin crew.
James continued: "The pilot came out and apologised for wasting time on our holidays. But he said that in the 25 years of his flying career, he’d never experienced a landing like that.
"When we eventually got out of the airport, we realised why they couldn’t land. The wind was unbelievably strong.
"We eventually made it to the hotel at 2am after a white-knuckle ride."
A TUI spokesperson said: "We are sorry that your flight TOM1172 from Glasgow to Tenerife has been diverted into Gran Canaria.
“We understand that this may have been concerning for our passengers, however unfortunately the aircraft was forced to divert due to a wind shear. This action was taken with the safety of all passengers and crew in mind.
“We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.”
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