Sussex holiday family hit by two cancelled flights

The Turner family ended up in a Manchester hotel after their second attempt to fly to Tenerife

A family are making their third attempt in five days to fly to Tenerife after two flights they booked were cancelled - one while they were on the plane.

Michael Turner said EasyJet cancelled their Gatwick flight last Thursday, leaving his family "high and dry".

Then, when the Shoreham family travelled to Manchester to fly with Tui on Monday, their second flight was cancelled after they boarded the plane.

Both Tui and EasyJet apologised for the disruption.

Mr Turner said their flight from Gatwick was cancelled about 20 minutes before they were due to board the flight.

When they made a second attempt to fly from Manchester on Monday, he said they arrived to find departures "completely overcrowded".

"It was just chaos," he said. "There were far, far too many people in there. There was nowhere to sit. There was no food. Most of the outlets were closed."

'Left in despair'

The Turners had boarded the plane when they heard the flight would be cancelled.

He said families with children were left "in despair".

He claimed police were called because the aircraft was stranded with no ground crew - but travel firm Tui said officers attended because of disruptive customers.

Mr Turner said passengers were escorted back to baggage reclaim and waited an hour before they were put on a coach to a Manchester hotel, arriving after midnight.

Nurse Mr Turner, whose wife is a midwife, added: "The last couple of years have been tough for us. We just want some R&R."

EasyJet said it had cancelled about 24 Gatwick flights a day until 6 June

In a statement, EasyJet said: "We have taken the decision to make advance cancellations of around 24 Gatwick flights per day between 28 May until 6 June.

"We are very sorry for the late notice of some of these cancellations and inconvenience caused for customers booked on these flights however we believe this is necessary to provide reliable services over this busy period."

Tui said: "Due to operational issues, flight TOM2106 from Manchester to Tenerife was delayed. We were in contact with affected customers, offered overnight accommodation and meals where needed, and advised them of their new departure time as soon as we could."

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