Originally Posted by
simonwa
https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news...plane-27028590
My work colleague was on this flight. The flight was delayed first by an intoxicated woman saying she had lost her passport. It went out to runway and then came back to the terminal first to refuel as it missed the slot. Then the plane departed but returned due to being overweight with fuel.
My work colleague had to wait all night in the terminal as TUI claimed no hotels available. They were then sent home as they were due to go on a cruise and TUI said they were unable to get them to the cruise ship as it had left already. There were only two Swissport reps at the airport who did not have a clue what they were doing and how to handle the situation. Edinburgh airport managers actually pleaded with them to complain to TUI as the airport is fed up with the airline and the issues already this summer.
to make matters worse, the plane later departed a few hours after landing back to Aberdeen, perfectly serviceable.
I’m sure an expert will be able to enlighten us on this issue. I’m not pilot but it sounds quite unusual to me and that they probably were being very cautious, given the aircraft positioned up to ABZ not long after. It doesn’t really surprise me though given the flight was operated by Sunwing.
I think this may be the last year of Sunwing ops for TUI given the WestJet acquisition but I’m not sure. If so, I have no idea how they plan to replace the capacity (especially given their growth plans for S24) but I’ve long felt that the sooner they ditch the Sunwing arrangement, the better. The Sunwing flights seem to be plagued with all sorts of issues year after year and the associated customer service from TUI often seems to be pretty dire.
I’m by no means a TUI basher. I actually flew with them just last month out of Glasgow and, other than poor legroom on the MAX (although this varied by row!), I was pretty impressed. Flights on time (or time made up) in both directions and nothing really to complain about. We had a minor delay on the return leg due to issues at the departure airport and the Captain made an appearance in the cabin to make an announcement, explaining and apologising. The FO also greeted us on the steps as we boarded the aircraft and gave very detailed briefings re the details of the flight. Really great service in my opinion!
However, EDI is my local airport and, truth is, we only flew TUI from GLA because we had vouchers and flight times were good. Previously we regularly flew TUI from EDI but now the base is closed, we’d be less likely to use them on the whole as GLA is significantly further away. Given the Sunwing ops, I’d actively avoid any TUI flight from EDI. That may seem a bit extreme but I’ve seen this kind of shambles happen too many times to risk it, especially for a cruise holiday (which is now the only reason they fly from EDI).