Manchester Airport TUI passengers paid £800 for taxi home after 36-hour delay and flight chaos

A couple have told how their holiday ended in a nightmare battle to get back home amid chaos at the airport.

Ryan and Kimberly Ramsay said they ended up on the go for a whopping 36 hours - and were so frazzled by delays at Manchester Airport that they shelled out nearly £800 for a taxi home to Scotland.

The pair had enjoyed a holiday in Turkey but when they arrived at Antalya airport at 6pm on Saturday (28 May) to catch their TUI plane to Glasgow, they were told after an hour the flight had been cancelled and they would be put up in a hotel overnight.

They received no information overnight about flight changes but in the morning were told they would be flying to Manchester Airport then put on a coach to Glasgow.

“It was all very last minute,” Ryan said. “The staff on the plane told us they only had 20 minutes’ notice before we boarded.

“There was no hot food, cleaning had not taken place. But everyone on board was trying their best to keep in good spirits. The problems really started when we landed in Manchester four hours later.”

Unfortunately for an exhausted Ryan and Kimberly it then took one and a half hours for the luggage to arrive at the airport on the carousel.

“The belt went for half an hour and about a quarter of the bags had come through and then it just stopped,” he continued. “There were no staff members around to turn it back on.”

The issues didn’t end here as when the couple finally found their bags they were expecting to be ushered onto a coach taking them back to Glasgow - where their car was parked pre-holiday.

“We were told that TUI did book coaches to Glasgow, but they did so for the wrong date,” he said. “We couldn’t believe it.

“They gave us £10 food vouchers but the only place open was the Starbucks which had run out of food. There were kids on that flight who had not had a proper meal in 12 hours.

“One couple decided to take their baby to A&E because they had run out of formula during the ordeal and were worried about its health. No one had any idea what was going on and there were no TUI staff to ask.”

At 9.30pm on Sunday, May 29 they were told they could spend the night in a hotel in Manchester or take a taxi back to Glasgow.

“We were so frustrated and stressed we just wanted to get home,” Ryan said. “So we paid £787 for a taxi which took three and a half hours to get us back.

“It was carnage from start to finish. I was so stressed that I have had to phone in sick today - I feel drained and broken. You go on holiday to recharge and relax but we feel that was taken away from us.”

Meanwhile, another TUI passenger has shared a video on social media of how police were sent to a boarding gate on Saturday to tell them their holiday had been cancelled after lengthy delays - as apparently there were no TUI staff on hand to relay the message.

Jayesh Patel from Manchester tweeted: “No airport or @TUIUK staff on hand, the police read out a statement on their behalf. From this point it took another 2 hrs to get our bags back as we were left stranded in baggage reclaim with no staff to advise us what was happening.”

What has TUI said?

TUI will refund the price of the taxi but Ryan said they should be doing more to help. “We expected a travel day of about eight to 10 hours,” he said. “Never could we have imagined it would be 36 (hours).”

Ryan will be making a complaint about his experience but he also has this advice for anyone travelling over the busy half-term period.

“I think we were a bit complacent thinking everything would be back to normal post-Covid,” he said. “But we were wrong - I would be very wary of booking anything right now and if you do take supplies in case this happens to you.”

TUI has been contacted for a response to Ryan and Kimberly’s experiences.