Couple’s holiday horrors revealed
A COUPLE’S holiday ended in misery when they were left stranded in Goa for 48 hours - after two hours of fog.
Valerie and Alan Bryceland had enjoyed a relaxing two weeks in the Indian sun when they were due to fly back to Manchester on February 22.
But the return trip descended into chaos when the plane they were due to catch was diverted to Mumbai during two hours of disruption caused by fog.
After more than six hours in the airport without food or water, they returned to their hotel oly to be woken at 2am to be told they were being transferred to another hotel with no rooms ready for them, the couple said.
Now Valerie, who has arthritis and is registered disabled, has hit out at their “diabolical” treatment by holiday group TUI.
The 65-year-old said: “We got our baggage checked and everything and there was nothing about any delays at all.
“We were all sitting there and two or three hours later rumours started going round that the flight hadn’t come in, but nobody said anything until about 12pm, and we’d been there since 5.30am,
“Other airlines were giving out bottles of water but we didn’t get anything.
“It was the pilot in the end who came over and said we were going to be late.”
EE worker Valerie, of Cramlington, said they were told fog led to their plane being diverted to Mumbai. The airport later confirmed the disruption had started at around 6am and lasted until 8.30am,.
Mum-of-three Valerie added: “People were told to get accommodation for the night and luckily we managed to get back into our hotel.
“We were lucky because we had a little bit of money left over but other people didn’t have a penny.”
Valerie and Alan, 62, claim they were then woken by a TUI rep at 2am to say they were being transferred.
But she said: “We got to this other hotel and they had no rooms for us, we had to wait in the foyer from 10am until 2pm to get a room.
“And we couldn’t get any sleep because we had to be out of there at 11.30pm. Then we were supposed to be flying at 5.20am but the flight crew didn’t even arrive until 7.15am. We finally flew at 8.20am - this was then a 48-hour delay for what was just over an hour of fog.”
Valerie says she has complained to TUI about their treatment.
“We obviously missed our train after the delay and when we asked how we were supposed to get back to Newcastle, they said: ‘That’s your problem.’
“The way all of us were treated was diabolical.”
A TUI spokesperson said: “We are sorry to hear about Mr and Mrs Bryceland’s experience on their return flight from Goa. We’re grateful that the matter has been brought to our attention for further review and we will be in contact with the customer to try and resolve the issue directly.”
We finally flew at 8.20am - this was then a 48-hour delay for what was just over an hour of fog