A man has described the carnage at Bristol Airport after his family's flight was among a number of routes cancelled on Saturday.
Jason Nash, 37, from Midsomer Norton, was travelling with his wife, mother and two young children aged five and ten, for Rhodes on the 4.10pm flight on Saturday, May 28. The trip was organised for his mother's 60th birthday as she had not been on a holiday for years.
The family arrived in plenty of time having been advised of how busy Bristol Airport has been ahead of half term and the Jubilee weekend. Mr Nash said they got through security smoothly but noticed there was an hour and 45 minute delay on the flight board. Other Tui flights were also seeing delays at the airport.
Also see: Tui's Bristol Airport to Paphos flight cancelled after eight-hour delay
"The times for the gate to be announced came and went and people were starting to get a little bit restless asking for information and they couldn't give us anything," Mr Nash said recalling the experience. The flight departure time was then pushed back further and with no Tui staff at Bristol Airport - they use Swissport staff instead - there was difficulty in communicating with the airline.
Mr Nash continued: "The board said 'gate info' for hours and eventually we resigned to the fact we wouldn't be going. There was another Paphos flight due to go out at half past one with Tui and they did the same thing, kept pushing it back."
Around 8pm a message came on the tannoy to say they would be leaving later that evening but Mr Nash then claims staff at Bristol Airport were unable to offer any more information. The airport has been contacted for comment by Bristol Live. Passengers then received an email from the airline to say the entire holiday was cancelled.
Bristol Live has seen the communication from Tui to passengers who apologised claiming that the "significant disruption" had been caused by "a combination of factors causing significant operational disruption". It also stated package holidays - flights and hotels - were also cancelled. The airline added it will be issuing full refunds and a £200 voucher as a way of apology along with the mandatory £350 compensation in accordance with EU regulations.
Follow live: Bristol Airport chaos as flights cancelled eight hours after check in
Mr Nash said there were other Tui passengers on different flights with young children, people who were due to go to funerals and even a wedding party whose wedding had to be called off after the airline cancelled their package holiday. "The bride and groom were in tears because they were missing their wedding," he explained.
When approached by Bristol Live a spokesperson for TUI apologised for the cancellations, who said the delays were 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."
Having parked in Silver Zone Parking Mr Nash's family along with many other passengers had to wait for their vehicles after they were double-parked off site, meaning they were at the airport for 12 hours in total. "As you can imagine there were lots of crying children and people with medical conditions with tablets stuck in their suitcases - it was just carnage, really.
"These things happen, but it was just the way they must have known what was going on, but there was no one from Tui to represent them. There are worst things in the world, of course, but it's just the way they left us for 12 hours in the airport."
He said the passengers were promised £5 food vouchers to buy food while they waited but he said they never materialised. Mr Nash added he thought the communication from the airline was one of the biggest letdowns.
"They just didn't communicate anything and you couldn't get hold of them on the phone." He said they did get back to them on Facebook Messanger but with the information of the original flight, suggesting customers services were unaware of the situation. Mr Nash added that this experience had put him off ever using Tui again.
