TUI Passengers Find Themselves in North Africa Instead of London Gatwick

Unfortunately, the article doesn't say how much advance notice passengers were given, whether or not they were given a good faith estimate of the length of the delay, and what compensation they were offered, if any.

All of which is pretty important information, IMO.

Just tell the passengers ahead of time and offer them a free change..... unacceptable to do it without fully informing the passengers - which based on the article is what Happened

“We deeply regret the inconvenience this may have caused our passengers. We're grateful for their patience and understanding.”

Yeah, whatever. Show me the cash.

In 1974 we were returning from Majorca, at 10 pm we were called to the aircraft but the told to return to the departure lounge as there was a problem with the aircraft. 11 pm the airport staff went home giving no details of why the delay. Everyone had to sleep in the lounge. At 5 am staff arrived and gave us a voucher for a coffee & dry sandwich. Apparently a lorry driver had backed into the air intake. Mid morning a 737 arrived from Manchester with engineer and replacement air intake. The people who were on the 737 were kept on the aircraft in the heat as the authorities would not let them disembark. Mid afternoon we were back in the air and on our way home. All through the process the words ‘sorry’ or ‘compensation’ were never heard.

https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/view/1254092

https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/view/1244239

Happy days

If you were one of the passengers who were waiting on the ground in Tunisia for that part to fix the airplane they were to fly home on, you might all have a different attitude.

It would seem to me, that a charter would have been more economical. once you figure in maintenance cost for one cycle, fuel, landing fees, ATC fees, crew costs for extra flight time and customer inconvenience.

Bus at 34,000 feet. What does one expect? Welcome to low-cost flying folks. As stated elsewhere, every pax will be back if the price is right.

FWIW I looked up the flight on SeatGuru. It's a standard flying bus; 3+3 layout throughout, 28" W and 17.2" pitch. Imagine being stuck for four house in that thing. In Tunisia. In the summer.

Having flown in four of TUI Antique 737-800's in the last year. I'm not suppressed of the technical issues. They need to replace the 12-13 year old 737-800 with better aircraft. I.E. A320 NEOs ect.
The airline really treats it customers badly.

Many of you are talking about this situation from a US perspective. TUI is a European low-cost airline. It being low-cost means that you can't expect all the perks of a full-service carrier like frequent flyer miles etc. To be honest, a four-hour delay is really nothing for a low-cost carrier and it got another of their aircraft in the air.

"Instead of taking you home, we're going to a third world craphole."
"Oh, that's fine, no difference, then."

This happened last year with a flight from the UK (Forgot which origin) to Melbourne, FL when they had to deliver a new crew to Bangor, Maine after an earlier flight was grounded there due to a sick crew member.

It happens.

And I guarantee you not one of the passengers was credited the extra frequent flyer miles.

**NEVER FLYING TUI AGAIN**

@wannabehocker, yes, thank you. Well said.

When will the corporate lying, the corporate white lying, and the corporate "fingers in their ears la-la-la-la-la" ever end? It's grown to be so tiresome and so wearisome.

Time to start counting all of the elephants in the room and instituting accountability.

And suppose it were to have stopped in Syria or Moscow to "deliver a part"? A very convenient was to hijack someone that is wanted in the third country.

Did all the passengers get to continue on to Gatwick or was there someone removed from the plane?