TUI passenger faces £1,300 Canary Islands holiday loss over booking mistake

Alan Straughan, a TUI passenger, grappled with what ended up being an expensive booking blunder after losing £1,300 due to a simple mistake whilst planning his holiday. After booking a June trip to Tenerife in the Canary Islands with his wife, Mr Straughan wrestled with TUI for several weeks trying to fix an error concerning his flight schedule.

His plans were to book return flights departing Newcastle Airport bound for Tenerife on 11th June and making his return journey on 22nd June around midday. However, after receiving his confirmation email, he realised that the return flight was scheduled to depart Tenerife at 9.05pm.

This new departure time would mean arriving back at Newcastle around 1.30 am. Mr Straughan quickly took action by reaching out to TUI online and subsequently via phone to request changes to the flight timing.

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However, the choices offered were to stick with the existing booking or cancel it altogether, subjecting him to a hefty loss of 70% of the cost. In despair, Alan told The Sun newspaper: "I'm at my wits end with this issue, it seems as though TUI is trying to fob me off and hope that I'll just accept the booking," upon realising that losing 70% of the cost of his holiday came up to a shocking £900, reports Birmingham Live.

He further explained: "I don't live close to the airport and can't possibly drive there and back at that time of night." Following media involvement, TUI decided to escalate Alan's complaint, as documented by The Sun last weekend.

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TUI, which operates from Birmingham Airport and shares its market with competitors such as Easyjet, Ryanair, British Airways and Wizz Air among others, acknowledged their lapse in customer service by directly reaching out to him. The full amount of £1,340 has been reimbursed by TUI for him to reschedule his overseas trip, as reported by the tabloid.

A representative from TUI stated: "Our team has now contacted the customer and has resolved this directly with him."

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