TUI passengers travelling from Cyprus to Bristol have hit out at their "shambles" of a journey after long delays, a diversion to Gatwick and then a confused wait outside the terminal as their transfers failed to show.
The flight from Larnaca to Bristol Airport was originally scheduled to take off from the holiday destination just after 2am on Monday morning (June 27), but passengers reported being informed of a delay of more than two hours and being given refreshment vouchers at the airport while they waited. That ended up being the start of a long wait to get back to Bristol, with the flight eventually rescheduled to last night and diverted to Gatwick instead.
TUI has apologised for the delays and said "operational issues" paired with transport strikes in London were to blame for the disruption. One passenger took to Twitter claiming that TUI staff were in tears, while several on the affected flight reported resorting to arranging their own taxis back to Bristol in a bid to get home.
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One passenger who spoke to Bristol Live, who preferred not to be named, said: "It’s a total shambles to be honest - I’ve never seen anything like it. Our transfer time [to Larnaca Airport] was 11pm Sunday (Cyprus time) and we got home literally just before 11am today (Tuesday)."
He ended up arranging his own transport from Gatwick to Bristol at a cost of £270, which he said TUI has said will be reimbursed, after the promised transfers arranged by the airline between the airports did not arrive. He said the original flight from Larnaca was delayed for a couple of hours and then rescheduled to 9.40pm last night, but was then delayed again to 11.50pm because the 6.25pm arrival from Bristol to Larnaca on Sunday - which they were due to board at the other end - did not take off.
He added: "We were informed around 4am that [our] flight was cancelled and accommodation was being sourced. Hotel staff were adamant at one point that the plane was coming, however the plane we would be getting on would’ve been the plane that was the 18.25pm from Bristol on Sunday. Because that was cancelled, ours was too.
"The flight was then rearranged to Monday evening and a coach picked us back up at 7pm to take us back to the airport. Initially we were told this was going back to Bristol but later changed to Gatwick.
"This was further delayed until 11.50pm, again because the rescheduled 6.25pm Bristol flight was delayed coming in. We were told we would have coaches waiting outside by a TUI rep and also in text/email correspondence and by the cabin crew on the plane."
However, passengers finally arriving back in England - albeit at a different airport than the one they had anticipated - found no coaches outside the terminal upon landing. TUI faced a slew of complaints on Twitter from holidaymakers left waiting in the cold for their ride home.
@mullsridge tweeted to TUI: "You left diverted passengers at Gatwick with no bus to take them back to Bristol airport and your staff crying because of the situation. 24 hour delayed from Larnaca and then this. Passengers told to find their own way home."
@PaulDavies1735 tweeted just before 4am: "Disgusting service from @TUIUK a plane full of people stuck at @Gatwick_Airport after being diverted here instead of Bristol and no buses laid on to transfer us…. Small children, families and pregnant women freezing and tired."
@sophie_r_napper added in a tweet: "300 of us left standing outside in the cold at 3am, having been told a @TUIUK rep and buses would be waiting for us to take us to our original end destination. We’ve nearly been delayed now for 24 hours.
"TUI cancelled our flight, left us waiting at the airport overnight in Cyprus, then rescheduled our bristol flight to Gatwick telling us there would be coaches waiting to take us back, we arrived, there was nothing. We had to make our own way back."
A passenger whose daughter was on the flight told Bristol Live she ended up sharing an Uber back home at a cost of £240. Another man said he also caught a taxi from Gatwick to Bristol.
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TUI's full response
A TUI spokesperson said: "We’d like to apologise to customers travelling on TOM6765 from Larnaca to Bristol Airport on 27 June, which was diverted to London Gatwick Airport due to operational issues. Our teams worked hard to secure transfers back to Bristol for all customers, however transport strikes in London meant this took longer than usual.
"We understand that last minute delays and diversions are incredibly disappointing and would like to reassure customers that we do everything we can to get them home as planned. We communicated with customers as quickly as we could including offering transport, overnight accommodation, meals and refreshments as needed.
"We’d like to apologise again for the inconvenience and we thank customers for their understanding." TUI said customers were proactively sent a link to make a claim for the flight delay.
The passenger who spoke to Bristol Live said the excuse of the strikes was "infuriating", adding: "We were told at 2pm on Monday afternoon there would be coaches so I don’t know why, by the time we landed around 2.15am this morning, there weren’t any available."
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