Agent booked wrong flight for wedding day

Apology from Thomas Cook after Dunfermline woman misses her best friend’s big day in Ethiopia

A woman was forced to miss her best friend’s wedding after her travel agent booked her on the wrong flight.

Nejat Buist, 45, and eight-year-old daughter Sabrina were due to fly from Edinburgh to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia after booking the trip with travel agents Thomas Cook.

But when the pair arrived at the airport on June 29 they were told an error had been made and the Turkish Airline flights had been booked for three days earlier on June 26.

The blunder meant Nejat and Sabrina, who was due to be a flower girl, couldn’t fly to the African country until July 3 – missing the wedding on July 1.

Nejat and husband Ron, 68, from Dunfermline complained to Thomas Cook, who organised the trip, and the travel company has now apologised.

Ron said the initial booking summary print out showed Nejat and her daughter flying out on June 29 – the day they were meant to. But a later confirmation document that Nejat had displayed the error.

In a letter of complaint to the travel company, Nejat said the travel giants “wasted my daughter’s and my time” and that she was “totally depressed and distressed”.

She wrote: “In short what a mess your company made by me missing the wedding, hassles at the airport, luggage expenses, travel and parking, expenses for outfits. It’s caused big distress, depression, anxiety and my daughter cried for three days because she never got to Ethiopia for the wedding. She was to be a flower girl. I have totally lost confidence and trust in Thomas Cook.”

Nejat and Sabrina were re-booked on an Arab Emirates flight on July 3 from Glasgow and are now with family in Ethiopia. But the devastated pair have missed the wedding they had been looking forward to.

Ron said: “My wife picked up the tickets the day before the flight but was very busy packing so didn’t look at the date on the ticket. She had been looking forward to going to her best friend’s wedding. It was stressful and annoying.”

Ron, who met Nejat while working overseas in Ethiopia and married her in 2000, said the mix-up left his wife devastated. Nejat was particularly looking forward to her best friend’s wedding after losing both of her sisters in the last two years.

Thomas Cook have said the flight mishap was a result of human error. A company spokeswoman said: “We made a mistake when booking flights for Mrs and Miss Buist by making the booking for the wrong day. We are very sorry for the inconvenience this caused to their travel plans and we rebooked them on the next available flight. We are also contacting the customer to offer a further gesture of goodwill.”

Hassles at the airport, luggage expenses, travel and parking, expenses for outfits, my daughter cried for three days because she never got to the wedding where she was to be a flower girl

Nejat Buist with husband Ron and daughter Sabrina.