A family was hoping to finally fly home last night after TUI cancelled their flights home from Cyprus "several times". They were originally due to come home to Bristol on Saturday.
Glenda and Stephen Powell said the situation was an "absolute joke" and had left their six-year-old daughter in tears. The couple, who are police officers, and their two daughters missed any issues when they flew out on May 21, but have not been as lucky on the return leg, reports BristolLive.
TUI has apologised and claimed to have been in contact with passengers to advise of new departure times.
Mrs Powell said she felt sorry for those people having to reschedule their holiday plans but said "there's a large bunch of us stranded in Cyprus and we can't get home". Mrs Powell took to social media on Sunday, where she shared an image of her 'exhausted' six-year-old daughter crying because she is unable to return to the UK.
"2nd attempt to get home... So our Manchester flight is cancelled... Literally got off the coach at the airport to be turned straight back round to go back to the same hotel/room... Absolute joke... #tui this is the face of a six-year-old who is exhausted from travelling to an airport at 10pm and just wants to go home we were supposed to get on our flight 24 hours ago," she added.
Mrs Powell told Bristol Live of what she witnessed at Cyprus Airport - from armed police patrolling to what she describes as a lack of TUI representatives leaving many families "completely stressed out". She added that Mr Powell was due to attend a three-day trial at 9am on Monday morning to give evidence at Bristol Crown Court, but had been forced to cancel.
"We were then told by email we would be put on the 1.20am flight to Manchester on May 30 with a coach transfer to Bristol. Families were checking online themselves for the status of said flight and rumours were going around that it was cancelled.
"Sure enough, when we arrived at the airport and unloaded our luggage we did not even enter the airport as the information board displayed that our flight was again cancelled. My daughters burst into tears with the anxiety and just wanted to go home," she added.
The 40-year-old said they were then told their flight had been changed to 7.15pm on Monday evening instead, but was not convinced "until we lift-off".
A TUI spokesperson said on Monday: "We’d like to apologise to customers travelling on flight TOM6677 from Paphos to Bristol which was unable to depart as planned on Saturday, May 28, due to operational issues. All impacted customers were offered welfare vouchers, overnight accommodation and meals while we worked through a new flight plan."
It continued: "We were in regular contact with customers and advised them of their new departure time as soon as we could. Customers are now due to arrive in Manchester this evening and transport back to Bristol Airport will be provided. We’d like to thank customers for their patience and understanding during this time."
Last week Friday (May 27) Bristol Airport announced that 300,000 customers are expected to travel this week in light of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee.
More than 30,000 customers will be flying on some days between May 26 and June 5, the airport has said, as it again asked customers not to arrive early as check-in and security may not be open. The airport has said it is seeing travellers arrive five hours prior to flight departure which adds to the congestion in the airport.
In recent weeks, there have been long queues and delays at Bristol Airport as the airport experiences "huge pent-up demand for travel". People have had to wait for hours to collect their bags while hold-ups at security earlier this month saw passengers queueing outside the airport.
