We were forced to sit on the floor for holiday flight home
A FAMILY of three were forced to sit on the floor of a two-hour-flight from Menorca after they got on the plane to find their seats didn’t exist.
The Taylors, from Alcester, Warwickshire, were given seats 41 D, E and F but when they boarded the TUI flight to Birmingham there were no seats beneath the numbers.
They were given flip-up “jump” seats by the flight attendants for take-off and landing but had to sit on the floor for the rest of the flight.
“It’s hard and it’s uncomfortable and it’s just filthy,” mum Paula told BBC One’s Rip-Off Britain: Holidays.
“We just couldn’t believe it when we realised that there genuinely weren’t any seats for us.”
In June last year Paula, 44, along with husband Ian, 55, and 10-year-old daughter Brooke wanted to sit together for the flight home so arrived at the airport early. They were given seat numbers at the back of the plane, but underneath the numbers was just empty space.
The solution proposed by the crew was that for take-off and landing Brooke would take the last spare seat while Paula and her husband would sit in two spare flip-up seats. However, once the plane was in the air, the attendants needed access to the food supplies which were stored behind the Taylors, so Paula and Ian had to set up camp on the floor. Their daughter Brooke joined them as she did not want to sit with strangers.
Paula, who said she took photos of their ordeal, complained to TUI but was offered only £30 as “a goodwill gesture”. The Civil Aviation Authority says that while passengers are allowed to sit in crew seats under certain conditions, they must not be left unseated during any stage of the flight. It told Rip-Off Britain it would be contacting TUI for an explanation as to why the family had to sit on the floor for the majority of their flight.
TUI Airlines said a “last minute aircraft change” meant the family’s assigned seats were unavailable.
After being contacted by the TV show TUI offered the family a full refund of their £1,300 fares.
Rip-Off Britain: Holidays,
BBC One weekdays, 9.15am, until January 25.