Return trip not plane sailing

After the holiday from hell, comes the flight home from hell. Debora and Paul Merryfield had been looking forward simply to returning home to Penenden Heath after their £4,000 delayed honeymoon in Cancun in Mexico was marred by the collapse of Thomas Cook. The couple’s hotel had grilled people trying to leave the compound, fearing it wouldn’t be paid and armed guards were also patrolling.

The pair were flown home on an emergency flight under the Civil Aviation Authority’s repatriation programme Operation Matterhorn. But their rescue was far from ideal.

Mrs Merryfield said around 600 passengers for Gatwick and Manchester were crammed onto a 747 and the seats still had ashtrays.

The Spanish crew of the Wamos airline flight spoke little English, the tannoy system kept fading out so the passengers couldn’t hear the captain and the flight attendants were not geared up to cater for the numbers on board. Mrs Merryfield said: “Trying to get a cup of tea was near impossible. “Also the TV screens weren’t working, so we spent nine-anda-half hours looking at a blank wall, the air conditioning vents were dripping water and there was packing hanging from the ceiling.”

The fight terminated at Manchester and insufficient coaches were laid on to transport the Gatwick passengers back. The Merryfields and another couple from Norwich were forced to pay £190 for a hire car.

After touching down early in the morning on Friday they didn’t reach Gatwick until 4.45pm.

It was the Merryfields’ second attempt at a honeymoon after their marriage in November 2018. Their first trip to Antigua was also a disaster because Mrs Merryfield was seriously ill the whole time.

She said: “We just feel jinxed.”