AGONY AS KIDS LAPLAND PLANE FAILS TO TAKE OFF
DUBLIN YESTERDAY
Moses and Lola at Dublin Airport DOZENS of children were left heartbroken after their trip of a lifetime to Lapland was cancelled as the plane was about to take off.
The flight was delayed on the Dublin Airport runway for two hours on Saturday morning before TUI eventually axed the service due to technical issues.
Denise Dunne was onboard with her husband John and two kids Lola, eight, and 12-year-old Moses.
The trip, which cost more than €2,000, was a surprise for the children who didn’t know where they were headed until arriving at Dublin Airport.
Denise said: “We all woke up at 4am and I told the kids we had a special family day planned.
“I hadn’t said anything to them so they didn’t know where they were going until they arrived at the airport.
“Once they saw the sign for the North Pole they started to get very excited, everyone was in their Christmas gear.
“We got on the plane and were told there was a short delay for technical difficulties.
“Staff were great, getting kids to sing carols and keeping a good atmosphere so we can’t fault that.
“After an hour waiting I was kind of thinking this could be kind of crap, it’s only a day trip and an hour out of the day could make a big difference.
“Then after two hours we were told due to technical difficulties we wouldn’t be going.
“The kids couldn’t understand it at all, they were kind of looking at me like, ‘We are not going?’
“The spirit of all the people on the plane was great, no anger or making a fuss, they really kept in the Christmas spirit.”
Denise added they were all bitterly disappointed by what happened but are glad to be safe.
She said: “I will never hype stuff up for the kids ever again after that.
“I thought this is probably the last time I could bring them and they would still be excited about it and me as a big kid as well was really looking forward to it.
“What started out as a magical day just turned out to be a commercial thing.
“But I know there are bigger Mum Denise problems for people and it would have been worse if we went up in the air and the plane had technical issues then. “We will be fully refunded and were given a €100 voucher towards another holiday, I’m not sure how quickly we will get the refund though.”
A TUI spokesman said: “We would like to apologise to all customers on flight TOM1652 from Dublin to Rovaniemi which was cancelled last Saturday due to a technical issue.
“We have provided a letter to our customers to offer our deepest apologies and to advise they have the option to re-book an alternative holiday or cancel and receive a full refund.
“The safety of our customers and crew is of paramount importance and we would like to reassure customers incidents like this are rare.”
The spirit of the people on the flight was great, no one made a fuss DENISE DUNNE