Holidaymakers have criticised TUI for leaving them stranded overseas after flights were axed following the Crowdstrike outage.
Europe’s biggest travel firm cancelled and delayed dozens of flights to and from the UK over the weekend and on Monday, after a massive IT issue wreaked havoc on airlines, banks and media organisations around the world.
The disruption has continued for days, as airlines try to recover from the chaos.
Passengers were left scrambling to find new flights for holiday hotspots such as Cancun in Mexico and Tenerife during one of the busiest weekends of the year for flights.
TUI grounded 64 flights to and from the UK on Friday, followed by more delays and cancellations on Saturday and Sunday, the Independent reports.
Abbie Walker, from Paisley, Scotland, is on a holiday in Tenerife with her friend.
The pals were set to return to Manchester Airport from the Spanish island early on Monday morning on a TUI flight.
But they have now been forced to dish out around £600 on new flights and a hotel extension after TUI delayed their flight by at least 24 hours.
Abbie told Metro.co.uk: ‘I can’t believe what’s happened.
‘I was on the phone for an hour trying to get an update.
‘I’ve had a fantastic holiday but it’s put a dark cloud over it. I’ll never fly TUI again.’
The 23-year-old slammed the travel firm for a lack of communications, saying the ordeal has left her feeling ‘stranded’ and ‘abandoned.’
Abbie received an email from TUI on Sunday afternoon, saying the flight will not operate as scheduled, but that TUI could not confirm a new estimated departure time.
‘It’s the customer service aspect I’m disappointed with,’ she said.
When Abbie messaged TUI, they told her that her flight had landed in Manchester, although the flight was not listed on the arrivals.
‘I told them it has not landed, we have checked Flightradar. I’m confused and really worried not that we won’t get they money from TUI,’ she explained.
TUI’s website told customers who had booked their own hotel to keep receipts, saying it would ‘reimburse reasonable costs.’
TUI travel alert website said the firm has sent new flight information to impacted customers directly.
But it warned that some flights are now ‘split’ across different inbound flights.
The information is sent to the lead customer via text and email, and customers were told to ‘make sure to check which inbound flight you will be returning on.’
‘Transfer information will also be sent directly however those who have sourced their own accommodation will need to make their own way to the airport and will be able to reclaim this cost,’ TUI said.
Passengers can call TUI customer service on +4420 38 303 111.
If you have booked an alternative flight home with another airline, keep hold of the receipts and submit a claim here.
TUI added: ‘We absolutely understand this is not the end of your holiday that you would expect and sincerely apologise again for the impact this has had.’
But Abbie is concerned she and her friend may not receive any money if the flight appeared as landed, which would force her to dip into her savings to buy her own flat one day.
‘I had to borrow money to get home from my parents. It’s the last thing I want to do,’ she said.
‘I work full-time and have made sure I can afford things myself.’
She continued: ‘I understand it’s a worldwide issue but it’s more the lack of communications and miscommunications and unwillingness to help us that has irritated me more than anything.’
Abbie claimed the TUI rep at her hotel told her she ‘doesn’t understand what’s going on’.
TUI told Metro.co.uk that the unprecedented Microsoft IT issue that paralysed the world last week was ‘out of our control.’
It said: ‘We would like to apologise to our customers who were impacted by the global IT outage that resulted in some delays and cancellations.
‘Whilst the original IT issue was outside of our control the impact, alongside air traffic control restrictions over the weekend, meant we had to cancel some flights and delay some return flights home.
‘We understand how frustrating this would have been and recognise that many of these delays happened when our customers were already at the airport.
‘We would like to reassure customers that if they are currently overseas our TUI team will look after them and flights home provided. We will continue to update customers with more information and can confirm that if a return flight time has changed we will contact them directly 24 hours before departure.’
British Airways and EasyJet also cancelled dozens of flights on Sunday, while some flights at London Heathrow and Gatwick were affected.
EasyJet said some flights could not operate due to ‘impact of weather and capacity related ATC restrictions imposed across Europe yesterday, 20 July, which led to delays and some cancellations, and as a result a knock-on impact which led to aircraft being positioned out of base.’
Meanwhile in Greece, holidaymakers have been stranded inside Corfu Airport for more than 50 hours amid ongoing CrowdStrike disruption.
Brits holidaying on the Greek island said they were desperate to get back home after waiting in the airport for more than two days.
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