A plane that was about to take off turned around to pick up a girl and her father who almost missed the flight. Adrian Insley and his daughter initially failed to board the TUI plane to East Midlands Airport from Tenerife after misplacing her passport.
They had lost the passport at the airport. Adrian, 38, and his daughter had no choice but to stay behind while his partner, their other three children and his parents boarded the flight.
When Adrian eventually found the missing passport he was convinced he and his daughter would have to find a later flight because the plane had already left the gate. To their amazement, though, the pilot turned the plane around to pick them up so they could fly home with the rest of their family as planned.
Adrian explained to Nottinghamshire Live how the drama unfolded. The account manager said: "I am very organised with my passport, I even have a bag for them.
"But this time my partner said she needs a passport to get something from Duty Free, and then she put the passport in the bag. Our flight was delayed and the airport was very busy because there were three flights to the UK."
Because he was travelling with his children, Mr Insley had to go through the security check manually. It wasn't until he lined up for the security checks, though, that he realised the Duty Free bag was nowhere to be found.
"I am starting to panic because I do not know where it is," he said. "And then the realisation set in there. We do not have a passport - we are missing one."
Adrian continued: "I went and spoke to to the security personnel and they told me that I cannot board without a passport. So I had to send all my family through, and it is just me and my daughter that were left behind because of my daughter's missing passport.
"So it got a bit hairy because I did not know what to do. I have got to find somewhere to stay, I have got to find transport, and I have got to organise for a temporary passport - there is a lot of organising in a very short amount of time."
In an unexpected turn of events, his daughter's missing passport eventually turned up. While he was originally told he could no longer board the scheduled flight, they were at least pleased to have recovered the passport.
But there was another unexpected twist. Adrian's mum Sharon Insley said: ""I was impressed with the staff, who were so caring and tried to calm down the grandchildren who were crying. They said that Adrian could get on the next flight to Manchester if there is space, they were just so kind and understanding.
"They have gone to speak to the captain and ask about the logistics of it. At this point we were ready to take off, it was right before the runway.
"And then the steward asked if we could tell Adrian to come to the gate, so we could pick him up. I was gobsmacked because I have never ever in all my time flying, ever known that they can come back for you.
"They then apologised saying they would not be able to put Adrian's luggage back on. We said we do not care, it was amazing, just incredible.
"And then they managed to put his luggage back in anyway. We had an amazing holiday and everything was top notch, obviously just a bit of trauma."
She added: "I have actually tried to thank TUI, but they have only got a portal for complaints. When all you hear about the travel industry is doom and gloom, we just wanted to share some exceptional customer service our family encountered over the bank holiday weekend."
A spokesperson for TUI said: "We’re pleased that the Insley family were able to travel on their holiday as planned. This is just another example of the incredible dedication of TUI colleagues who are doing everything they can to get customers away on their holidays.
"We appreciate all of our teams who continue to demonstrate their hard-work and commitment to TUI and its customers."
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