TWO holidaygoers have told how they have been left “devastated” after missing out on their luxury cruise when their flight was cancelled following a 14-hour delay.
Jackie Leslie, 50, and her husband Chic, 48, couldn’t wait to jet off to Palma, in Majorca, with their family to board the Marella Discover 2 cruise only to discover that it wouldn’t be happening.
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The couple, from Forfar, arrived at Edinburgh Airport at 11am on Tuesday morning for the 1.20pm TUI flight which was then delayed to 2am.
After being initially told their cruise would wait for them at Palma, they discovered after a 14-hour wait that it had already left the dock and their later flight was cancelled.
Speaking to The Scottish Sun, Jackie said: “After all that time, an announcement told us said a flight from Gatwick had been dispatched and was coming to get us to take us to Palma – we could track it and we saw it had left so we were upbeat again.
“But then the Marella Facebook page said the ship had sailed before our plane even landed.
“And then to make it worse, the plane coming to get us landed and we were told it had no flying hours left! So the whole lot was cancelled.
“I don’t understand why they said the ship would sail 9am when they sailed a lot earlier. And no one could understand why they sent a replacement plane to get us when they couldn’t take us because they had no flying hours left.”
Jackie, who is recovering from two major back operations, was left gutted after not getting their much-need dream holiday which they had already been waiting three years for.
Jackie and her family originally booked a holiday in 2020 to celebrate her sister’s 50th birthday which was axed due to the coronavirus pandemic, and then a second trip to Krakow had to be cancelled as Jackie faced her first operation to fix a slipped disk in her neck that was crushing her spinal cord.
And she claimed the airline had failed to provide support and communication during their ordeal.
She added: “It was all dealt with by airport staff – not once did we see a TUI rep apart from at the check-in desk. Not one.
“The guys that broke it to us that we were getting put in hotels… I’ll never forget it, he said ‘the captain and crew don’t have the balls to break it to you themselves’.
“There were 84 of us going on the cruise that had our holiday cancelled – maybe 150 people in total cancelled. It’s devastating.
“What made it worse was the lack of communication from 8.10pm until 2am – it was utter chaos, no one knew what was happening, everyone was hearing different stories… it was carnage.
“They wouldn’t even let us go outside to get fresh air or anythimg.
“All that time in there. It was a nightmare.
“There were children as young as five months there and a 90-year-old man was celebrating a golden wedding… it was horrific. Sitting there watching everyone going out and crying… it was soul-destroying.”
Jackie explained that the trip was much needed for her and her family after having gone through a lot personally in the last year.
She said: “I had to have emergency surgery last September because of a slipped disk at my neck which was crushing my spinal cord so I’ve been recovering from that.
“Then I had another operation in January so that was two major surgeries in the last 11 months so this holiday was very much needed.
“We were meant to go to Krakow last August but had to cancel that because of my slipped disc and now this one was cancelled.
“This was our third time booking our holiday – we originally booked in 2020 for my sister’s 50th but it was called off because of Covid so this was actually for that and our honeymoon and a family retirement as well.
“I’m devastated. I can understand how planes get cancelled – you don’t mind a little delay – but 14 hours was awful with no communication and not knowing what was going on.
“We’re already really upset it was cancelled but the carnage from the make it worse.
“Then we had to head for our hotel that we were being put up in overnight – there was a queue in Edinburgh Airport that was so long that it had over 100 people in it.
“We knew we’d be there for hours so we headed home and by the time we got in, we just got a message at 3.30am to say we’d be ready at that point to be checked in at the hotel.
“I was in agony as well – I had to get a wheelchair because I was too sore and it was awful sitting on those bloody hard airport seats. It just was not good enough.”
Chic also added that the worst thing about it “was the feeling of being lied to all day.”
Luckily, TUI had got in touch to explain that their full trip would be refunded.
A spokesperson from TUI said: “We’d like to apologise to customers on the Albastaroperated flight AP6274 from Edinburgh to Palma, who were delayed overnight due to technical issues which meant the flight crew were over their legal working hours.
“Our teams were in contact with customers throughout the delay and all passengers were provided with overnight accommodation and refreshments.
“Unfortunately, the delay impacted some of our cruise customers due to depart on Marella Discovery from Palma.
“The ship did push back its original departure time, but due to the extended flight delay the Marella Discovery ship was required to depart the port.
“Our customer teams are already or will be in contact with those customers impacted and they have been offered a variety of options including a full refund and a holiday voucher or a new holiday with a booking incentive.
“We completely understand the frustration of customers and would once again like to apologise for the inconvenience. All customers will be entitled to claim EU261 flight delay compensation.”
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