Friends of mine have been trying to fly to Cape Verde from Manchester since 22nd May with TUI, flight has been cancelled twice now. They are currently on a coach on the way back to a hotel in Manchester for another night with no further information what is happening next. All they are being told is "aircraft technical problem".

Does anyone have any idea what is going on ?

According to FR24 the flight left on 22nd May. Do you have the flight number please?

the problem is though if it’s a 767 that’s gone tech and it was going to be operating fully, they’d need two of those A320’s/B738’s to cover and that might be where the price is too much.

That’s was my earlier point that it’s much harder currently to find one aircraft to cover over 300 pax on a flight at short notice.

On the ground and available are two different things - could be 101 different reasons other than price.

Yesterday’s HER operated today with a 20-hour delay and this afternoon’s RHO is showing a 7-hour delay at present. This morning’s IBZ doesn’t appear to have operated.

This mornings Cardiff Ibiza hasn't flown yet either

There is an extra tui flight to IBZ going tonight from BRS

comments on social media suggest EXT passengers have been transferred to BRS

They are now being bussed from Manchester to Birmingham for a 4:15 departure tomorrow, although that information appears to be coming from heresay being passed around, they haven't received any direct information from TUI. I think people are starting to get miffed.

no they are in the hotel with us from the Malaga flight! In Manchester CC

Some hoo-ha on the GLA-CUN 788 service earlier today and left almost 3 hrs late. Not sure the down time layover to allow some catch up.

Update from our flight to Manchester from Malaga, should have departed at 11.10am today local time (Wednesday), now departing at 3am Friday morning!
Transferred to a 4* all inclusive hotel near Malaga for now…very nice but an inconvenience to those who need to be in work! Luckily I’m not back in until Monday!

and 788 G-TUII has been sat on the ground at BHX since 15:00 doing nothing, as far as I am aware fully serviceable, so why couldn't it be used on the delayed Manchester Malaga or Cape Verde flights or even the Cardiff flights? - Lack of crew/cabin crew to fly it?

TUI still woefully short of aircraft, G-TUIF, SE-RFZ still in maintenance, G-TAWD, G-TAWN, G-TAWP still not yet re-entered service!!

At CWL, ZTH from Tues, and IBZ from 0635 today and DLM from 1625 today all rescheduled for tomorrow, along with the usual 5 flights (3 first thing and 2 afternoon flights) to cover. Along with all the other disruption across the network, that's going to be an interesting day to cover!

Makes you wonder if they should have taken up all of the G-TUK* series of aircraft they were going to take pre pandemic, but I suppose they’d still have to find crew for them which may have been an extra problem in itself

Are TUI being serious? This flight was meant to go on Sunday and they’re now trying to operate it the following Thursday from a different airport? Surely this should have been long cancelled and refunded if not operated by Mon/Tue (which is frankly an appalling delay anyway). I doubt anyone only going for a week would still want to go and anyone else would want significant reimbursement. Also, what about those stuck in Cape Verde? I wonder if they have been split onto other TUI flights that (may) have operated since Sunday.

The 767s seem to be causing quite the headache so far this season.

Is this the same flight? Articles suggest it was “overbooked” and 26 passengers were “kicked off”.

https://www.express.co.uk/travel/art...Cape-Verde/amp

I believe that this service used 300-seat G-TUIB, replacing one of the B763's which are advised as configured with 328 seats. Hence the shortfall. G-TUIB positioned BRS-MAN, then operated substantially delayed services MAN-AGP-MAN and MAN-SID-MAN.

the flight to Malaga isn’t going till 11.30pm tonight! I’ve been taken off it as they are using a smaller plane and as I only booked flight only they have cancelled me off the flight! I’m livid tbh.

Even Channel Airways at their lowest would not have dumped people with just a paltry refund 4 days after intended departure. I wonder what the CAA will have to say about it?

Possibly TUI can take the £100k-plus they have saved by not going for a subcharter and spread it around the 28 passengers.

I’m sorry to hear you’ve been taken off the flight!
We’ve been told we are going to Malaga airport at midnight tonight but nothing about being split up, there’s around 325 passengers…it’s going to be a long 24hrs!
Good luck to you!

you must have been in the hotel then in Manchester

Hotel in Malaga, if I read it correctly.
What a mess we are in! All the best for all of you with your disrupted plans. It can't be any fun.

No I’m in Malaga now, we are going to Malaga airport by coach at midnight tonight local time. We should have flown back to Manchester at 11.10am local time yesterday (Wednesday). Now due to arrive at 6.30am tomorrow morning (Friday). Absolute mess, apart from the nice hotel!

Wonder who will be operating the flight for so many people saying as TUI 763 is in use today and I can't see a gap in the schedule to send one.

Today's rescheduled Cape Verde is showing cancelled on FR24. I take it the 763 is still tech?

Haven’t they already gone down to Birmingham by coach?

Good question! There are around 325 of us, no info on if they are splitting flights, just that we are all getting picked up at midnight and taken to Malaga airport.

I appreciate not everyone is a financial position to buy their own tickets and find their own way home, but just looking on Ryanair website they have a Malaga to Liverpool flight this afternoon at 16.55 for 73 Euros which is around £60, unfortunately the Manchester departure this afternoon is over 360 Euros.
If you live south of Manchester, East Midlands and Birmingham airports have Ryanair departures around 9pm tonight for around 50 Euros.

Jet2 also have flights for around 50 Euros to Leeds Bradford at 8.35pm.

Im sure airlines have to refund reasonable travel costs if they cannot offer an acceptable alternative to get you home, in a timely manner.

I think they were still in the hotel in Manchester
this morning!

OK so in regards to myself I have been cancelled off the delayed Malaga flight from
yesterday that app is operating later tonight. As it’s a smaller aircraft operating the flight today and as I only booked flight only they have taken me off it as there’s not enough seats. My question is that I have now lost out on non refundable hotels for the next few days and a flight back on EasyJet that I can change but at a cost to me of over £100. Are they allowed just to take me off a flight and shouldn’t they have given me an alternative. Im quite livid tbh. I have filled in the EU261 claim but that is for the flight delay and
not for everything else I’ve booked. I have travel Insurance but why should I claim on that when there’s an excess to pay. Sorry for the long text but it’s well out of order what they have done!

Have TUI allocated an aircraft for this flight?

I don’t know tbh. All I was told from another passenger on the flight this morning is that it’s leaving at 11.30 tonight. I’ve had an email off TUI saying it’s a smaller aircraft and I have been cancelled . People are not happy tbh as that quite a late departure to get into Malaga in the early hours!

Dear Mr Bowcock, We’re really sorry about the delay to your flight today. Due to a technical issue with the aircraft, we’ve had to arrange for an alternative aircraft to operate the flight tomorrow. The new aircraft is smaller than originally planned and we therefore have less seats available which means we’ve had to cancel your flight only booking.

We’re really sorry for any disappointment and inconvenience caused. We’ve actioned a full refund of the cost paid for your flight and below is a link that you’re able to use to claim compensation. The refund of your flight costs should show in your bank within the next 3-5 working days.

https://www.tui.co.uk/destinations/c.../flight-delays

and tbh there was a 787 parked up at Manchester all day yesterday ! So why didn’t they use that?

Does there have to be a stated policy for UK operators for who gets bumped in the event of overbooking/insufficient seats ? Does this have to be in their AOC ? I am aware that USA carriers have to have such a public policy, and indeed display it, for the order in which they drop off involuntary overbookings, to avoid any claim of discrimination. I can't see the CAA would sign off on "holiday bookings are prioritised over seat only bookings", and I doubt that is in the Conditions of Contract in those terms either.

I was under the impression they had to book you on to the next available flight, even if that means flying with a different operator.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/co...-or-cancelled/


https://www.caa.co.uk/passengers/res...nied-boarding/

What staggers me is that the national media has not caught on to the absolute shambles of a TUI operation at the moment. The experience of MANFAN and Mr. Bowcock are totally unacceptable, and cannot be blamed on Covid, lack of staff, factors outside of our control or any such other fatuous reasons. If that were the case then the likes of Jet2 and Ryanair would be finding themselves in a similar mess, which, by the look of things they are not. it appears on the face of it to be total incompetence from planning and management, and I'm not thinking of day to day management but decisions made several steps up the pay grade scale.

Someone mentioned further up-thread that some of the delay situation put the absolute mess that was the Channel Airways operations for Lyons Tours on ex Olympic Comets back in the late 70s or early 80s into the proverbial cocked hat. TUI simply cannot treat customers in this way.

It appears to me that TUI have been flogging holidays for the past few months with no idea how they were going to move them, which were that to be the case, would be verging on taking money under false pretences.

I have, by the way, no axe to grind, I'm not working for TUI or a competitor, and haven't the misfortune to have a booking with TUI this year - and probably won't in the future. I feel for the staff both of TUI and their handling agents for flack they are almost certainly having to face on a day by day basis.

Channel went bust in 1972. Always good to get your facts straight.

If we are comparing apples and oranges - look at Gatwicks arrivals today.

TUI are far from the worst, it’s just that every single delay is noticed by PPrune spotters attached to FR24 all day. ROC10’s entire purpose appears to be finding TUI delays and posting about them, s/he was doing that long before Covid.

Im not sure the “national press” are that interested in a few bad experiences and long delays whilst BA, EZY and Wizz continue to cancel tens of flights on a daily basis and then make no effort to get customers to their destinations, bar putting them on the next flight subject to availability. Maybe time to get some
perspective.

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel...85269.html?amp

Time plays tricks; however can you deny the current situation with TUI is, at least for some passengers, at least as bad as those of unfortunate Lyons Tours customers in the early 70s? Again, the memory can and does play tricks, but I recall that even Channel didn't have too many multi day delays.

If they did then I stand corrected.

I can think of many airlines that have had multi-day delays over the years. At least they are not taking the easy option of mass cancellations.

TUI is a more complex beast than the other airlines you mentioned. Long haul operations and more small base (single a/c in some cases) operations. Are they having a tough time - yes. Is it more than bad luck, who knows but lets keep a sense of perspective. The vast majority of TUI pax are getting away on time.