Norwich-bound flight's passengers 'exhausted' by Birmingham diversion

Exhausted passengers waiting for luggage at Birmingham Airport

Passengers returning from a holiday in Turkey were left "exhausted" when a flight diversion saw them having to travel for hours in taxis to get home.

Tui's flight from Dalaman to Norwich landed at Birmingham in the early hours of Saturday, with travellers then waiting four hours for their bags.

Passenger Sharon Bygrave said she arrived home 12 hours after landing, which was "frustrating".

Tui said it was "investigating... to prevent it from happening again".

The flight was originally delayed because of bad weather, but was forced to divert to Birmingham in the early hours of Saturday because of "night-time closures" at Norwich.

Passengers were then faced with a four-hour wait in baggage reclaim and a 170-mile (270km) taxi journey home.

Sharon Bygrave said those on board the flight were left "exhausted with the wait, wait, wait game"

Ms Bygrave, who was travelling with her mother, said she arrived back in Norwich at about 12:30 BST on Saturday.

She said travellers were told that 70 taxis had been laid on to take them back to Norfolk, but by the time she joined the queue, there were none available.

"It's just so frustrating," she said.

"Even though we got a few emails through, not everyone had internet [and] a lot of people had no idea what was going on.

"You just want to get home after a holiday.

"People were exhausted with the wait, wait, wait game."

The flight's passengers had to wait four hours for their bags to come into the airport

Fellow Norwich resident Amanda Arnold, who was on holiday with partner Tom, said they resorted to sitting on the floor while waiting for their bags and were not able to get any food and drink.

She said they "should have been at home in our own bed by midnight", adding that communications from Tui had been "virtually non-existent".

A Tui spokeswoman said the passengers affected would be offered compensation.

"We're really sorry to customers travelling on TOM713 from Dalaman to Norwich Airport, which was delayed following an earlier flight delay because of bad weather," she said.

"Delays with baggage reclaim and transfers at Birmingham meant customers were unfortunately waiting at the airport much longer than they should have.

"We realise this isn't the level of service our customers usually receive and for that, we are sorry."