A family have been left raging after being left to sleep in Edinburgh airport after their flight was aborted.
Emma Littlewood, along with her daughter Jessie, 11, sister Christine, 63, husband Mark, 53, and auntie Ivy, 80, were travelling from Edinburgh to Corfu for a relaxing break after a difficult time for the family.
The TUI passengers passed through security and check-in with no problems but things started to go wrong when they were seated on the plane. An intoxicated passenger, who reportedly had been causing trouble and lost her passport, forcing the plane to be delayed while attempts were made to trace it.
Speaking to Edinburgh Live about the trouble, Emma said: "We travelled up from Middlesbrough on Friday, May 26 for our flight at 3.40pm. Everything was going fine until I scanned my boarding pass and was making my way down the tunnel to board the flight.
"There was a distressed woman shouting and swearing at all the different members of her family then she started throwing the hand luggage around. I flagged it to the staff as I wanted it to get resolved before we got on board so it wouldn't affect the flight.
"We got on and the same lady was at the front of the plane. We sat and sat and sat for ages and then they came around and gave us water.
"The staff said on the tannoy that there was an issue with a passenger who had lost her passport and then that we had missed our first slot so the plane drove around the runway and then needed to refuel. The plane refuelled and then began to take off. As it gained height and twenty minutes or so had passed I knew something wasn't right as the staff hadn't come around and started the refreshments."
She continued: "The plane continued to circle around the Firth of the Forth close to the airport and then it was announced we would have to go back to Edinburgh. We sat on the plane for two hours - my little girl was stressed and crying and there were other screaming children onboard.
"The fire brigade was there waiting when we landed. Then they followed the plane to an area where it had parked far away from the terminal.
"They said it was a technical fault where the plane couldn't gain any more height to fly so it returned to Edinburgh. They checked the undercarriage of the plane with thermal imaging equipment. Once they were happy we were then bussed to the terminal but the plane stayed where it was."
After two hours of sitting on the plane and multiple attempts to depart, the passengers were relieved as they were told they could get off. Unfortunately for the tired family, another issue quickly arose.
Emma explained: "Just as we were about to get off the plane the ladders slipped from the door and we had to wait another 30 minutes to get off. We went back to the check-in area and were told there would be staff there to assist us, by this time it was around 11.15pm.
"We got our luggage and the Swissport staff were the only ones around at that time. They told me there were no hotels in Edinburgh and when we looked it up there was - but they would be £600 for the five of us.
"The staff advised that we could book them ourselves and claim back but there was no guarantee and we did not have a spare £600 to spend."
With no other options, the gutted family were left in the airport's foyer with a £20 gift card for Starbucks to get some food and drinks.
She said: "When it got to around 3am we accepted we were not leaving the airport that night. We were given a £20 Starbucks voucher each but still had no communication and had decided we would be sleeping in the airport.
"My 80-year-old auntie slept on a wooden chair. We were exhausted and broken and nobody was on the ground to check if we are OK.
"We stayed in the airport all night and then found out our flight had been rescheduled to 1pm in the afternoon but then there was another delay."
Finally, she added: "The flight got moved to 3pm and we finally got into the air at about 4.20pm - more than 24 hours after arriving at the airport.
"We got plenty of food and drink vouchers but it wasn't good enough. My aunt is a breast cancer survivor, and other family members have been rushed to hospital recently.
"We've had a really rough time of it and didn't expect we'd get to go on this holiday so we were so excited when we did. But instead were dumped in Edinburgh Airport - it really wasn't fair."
A TUI spokesperson said: "We understand the frustration of customers on flight TOM 1596 and apologise for the delay experienced.
"Due to a potential technical issue, and with an abundance of caution, the aircraft returned to be inspected by engineers as the safety of our passengers and crew is always our upmost priority and a different aircraft was then used to take our customers on their holiday."
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