Ruined: the great Jubilee getaway
IF YOU went to a railway station or bus station to get to work, the shops or school and found out you’d be queuing for hours with a possibility that you’d still not be able to travel, you’d turn around and go straight back home. However, it seems that when you are at an airport going on holiday, you put up with being treated despicably. This half-term, families have slept on airport floors with their fingers crossed hoping they’ll wake up in the sun. If we removed our custom from airlines, airports and holiday firms, I’m sure these businesses would soon get their acts together. How about holidaying in this country instead?
PAUL MORLEY, Skipton, N. Yorks.
THE chaos at the airports has put me off travelling abroad. Passengers are being treated like cattle and the firms responsible don’t care because they already have our money.
C. HAMMANS, Laindon, Essex.
WE ARRIVED at Birmingham airport from Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, at 1.20am. We had requested wheelchair assistance, but were abandoned in the baggage hall by the attendant. Then we discovered there was a four-hour delay to collect our baggage. It was recommended we go home and phone up to arrange for the luggage to be delivered to our address. Living almost 100 miles from the airport and with a taxi waiting for an hour while we tried to find out what was going on, we decided this was our only option. Surprise, surprise, it took all day to get through on the helpline number for Swissport, the baggage handlers. I was told the only option was to return to the airport to pick up the luggage ourselves. When I questioned this, I was told it wasn’t their problem and that the airline Tui would not pay to return our bags. A taxi costs £95 each way to the airport.
Eventually, the Swissport call handler took my details and said he would refer the matter to a manager and they would get in touch by phone. That was days ago and I have heard nothing. Tui emailed with instructions on how we could collect our bags between 1pm and 8pm midweek, but there was no information about what to do if we were unable to do this. We have been unable to get through on the phone to Tui. This hassle has put us off future travel abroad.
P. LITTLEWOOD, Rotherham, S. Yorks.
I SEE half-term holidays have come as a complete surprise to Tui. And we thought the civil service was useless.
J. M. HAINES, Spaldwick, Cambs.
TUI and easyJet seem to be able to cancel flights at a moment’s notice. I don’t expect travellers are able to do the same for a full refund.
ROSE PATON, address supplied.
I’VE tried — I really have — to find sympathy for the disappointed travellers unable to leave these shores to celebrate our monarch’s Jubilee in another country. D. EDWARDS, Leighton Buzzard, Beds.