Airline insists dead man was on flight

A grieving widow tried to claim a refund for a holiday, only to be told her dead husband had boarded the flight.

Pauline Pritchard of Newcastle, England, had booked a holiday to Mallorca, Spain with her 12-year-old son and husband, when he became gravely ill with liver disease.

When she rang Thomas Cook Airlines to cancel the holiday, she was initially refused a refund on the grounds that its insurance policy didn’t cover the illness, the Daily Mail reported.

The airline eventually relented, apologising and agreeing to refund the trip. But then she received an email claiming her husband had travelled to Mallorca on May 21 and was refused entry by border control authorities, so they were unable to pay out.

Her husband had in fact died a week earlier, on May 14.

Pritchard told the Daily Mail the experience was ‘‘shocking’’.

‘‘They said that he was on a flight when he was lying dead in a morgue,’’ she said. ‘‘It was like some kind of sick joke.’’

Thomas Cook has since provided a voucher refunding the £1347.97 ($2478) booking.

But Pritchard said she would never trust another holiday company again.

‘‘I have to fly next year with Thomas Cook because of the voucher but after that I am done,’’ she said.

‘‘Not only did my son lose his dad, he lost a holiday that he was really looking forward to as well.’’

Pritchard received a letter of apology from Thomas Cook, which said: ‘‘While the initial incident was human error it is certainly not good enough and understandably would have caused you great anguish.

‘‘It was and will continue to be a distressing time for you and Thomas Cook should have been helping you quickly and with compassion which I am deeply sorry for.’’