Do we have any knowledge of what happened to G-OBYK last week, cancelled in Larnaca and ferried back to Manchester but not flying since then

It tried to operate last night to Antalya but diverted back to Man after an hour circling

Set off for Antalya yesterday but diverted back to MAN after some holding for a 23L landing. Reportedly a leading edge flaps issue.

Seems to be flying again now. Looks to me like there is a disproportionate number of delays and diversions associated with the two 767s. Not helped by the fact there are only two of them I’m sure. Still a couple flying for TUI in Europe - don’t know if these are performing better.

I was due to fly G-OBYK to Paphos on 17th but it was switched th night before for a Wamos A330-300. We did get OBYK in the return flight.

To be honest I'd take the Wamos jet anyday. The sooner TUI retire the B767s the better. They're tired and the APU failed while on the ground.

Experienced this today after flying back from Florida with TUI. Took 2.5 hours for our bags to be delivered to the baggage belt at BRS. No reps or Swissport personnel to be seen anywhere. No explanations, just very very poor.

Todays Man-LPA Being operated by Wamos A330 instead of the scheduled 788 for some reason ?

Sorry for your wait. Apart from a general shortage of staff, yesterday there were no Bristol based staff on site who could operate the hi-lift loader needed to get the containers off the aircraft. Arrangements had been made for out-of-base staff to come in and operate it but for various reasons they were delayed two hours getting onto the airfield.

Thanks for the info!

Apparently the same was true of the previous TUI flight that landed 2am ish. They had to wait two hours also with no info.

After a long haul night flight you can imagine tempers were short with some other passengers. I think people were mostly angry with the lack of info and representation rather than the delay itself. Of course then the baggage belt broke down too!

It was my first time using TUI long haul instead of my usual VS or BA. Have to say I was really
impressed with them and Bristol Airport. This ending just soured the experience a little!

A TUI feel good news story
 

Good news TUI story -
This week in a heartwarming story in the Press reports a TFS-EMA TUI flight Captain returned his 737 to the gate at Tenerife (the 737 was already at the runway) to go back for a Dad and his 7yo daughter who had lost her passport at Duty Free...
(We have all done this haven't we !)
The little girls passport was soon found but the 737 had already pushed back and taxied - The TUI ground staff had kindly said they could go on the next MAN flight in a few hours, no charge, but the Ground Agents still called the aircraft to let them know (and the rest of the family on board) but the skipper returned to the gate and got them on -
TUI at TFS said sorry but your bags won't go back on, and they quickly joined the rest of their family on board - - but the loaders still got the luggage on!

All round team effort with a 'can do' result.

The Family have said the TUI ground staff and all the TUI CREW went over and above and were truly marvellous :)

Read that yesterday. It is really good when a customer of any business accentuates a positive to counter the whinges and moans that get picked up from social media by junk online 'news feeds' (Reach group comes to mind) and trashes businesses, often unjustifiably.

Congratulations to all involved in this good news story.

Got to agree, nice to see some positive feedback.
As for Reach, note for any advertisement agencies who spend money on sites with embedded Reach, I exit straight away and block them. Zero reading your spam from me!

New weekly route from Manchester to Ohrid, North Macedonia, operating 31 May to 20 Sep 2023.

A fantastic part of the world, I might add. Yet to be ruined by mass tourism.

Any idea where the displaced 787s from DSA and BRS will be heading?

displaced from BRS? Are there cuts?

im not aware of the Brs Dreamliner going anywhere . Where did that come from ?

Melbourne and Cancun are cut to just x1 weekly next summer….perhaps a few more short haul ops from BRS next summer?

yes the Brs based aircraft operates a fair few short haul this summer - Antalya , larnaca x2 , Palma , Sal

Although I guess if they are cut to just 2 long haul, from 4 - they could probably alternate with another airport's long haul pattern? Which could see the 787 short haul plan at Bristol be replaced by 738s?

I’d expect the DSA 787 to be moved to an existing base rather than a new one….the positioning of 787s between bases has caused a lot of delays this summer.

For Summer 2023, I am guessing 767's will still be MAN based, and there will be some short haul activity on 787's out of LGW/MAN/BHX as per this year?

Yes still MAN based. Operating Cape Verde amongst other mid haul and short haul flights

What the hell is going on with TUI?! Are they still that short staffed and have endless amount of claims to process, that they can't even answer a question on Twitter or Facebook Messenger, or don't answer the phone!!
We flew out to Izmir on a delayed flight from Birmingham on 18th September (should have been Manchester) and were delayed 3hrs 20mins, but still since 19th Sep we cannot get hold of TUI!
When completing the online form, the automatic e mail response comes back saying "unfortunately, we are unable to process your claim, because one of several reasons" blah blah blah! Everything on the form is correct!

Should have departed Manchester on 17th Sep @15:40, but after 5hrs of delays, flight was cancelled, sent to a hotel in Manchester and bussed down to Birmingham on 18th Sep for a departure to Izmir @15:25, however, the flight was delayed until 18:55...when putting the claim in for this delay, the above message appears!

Anyone having the same or similar experiences?

Something big called ‘Ian’ just blew its way through Florida. Perhaps their resources are prioritised to focus on that?

Yes, I'm aware of the current situation in Florida...but like I stated, the communication started on 18th Sep and not one response yet!
We have a TUI travel agents nearby, might be worth calling in there, although I doubt they can help with this situation...

How long will SE-RFZ be doing the Cancun route from Manchester? is it just summer or staying over winter as well.

SE-RFZ will stay in MAN until the tail end of October and then will transfer back to ARN for the winter season.

The only celebration that DSA staff are having is ES-SAM, a wet lease A320 that has been plaguing Tui flights with maintenance delays all summer has flown the coup and is returning home....

I know the answer is because they’re cheap and they probably recoup a significant amount back, from clauses in their contract, but I have no idea why TUI and Jet2 continue to use them. Even when you went back to the TCX days, they were dire then. There was an aircraft one year based up at NCL and it was literally tech every other week.

Titan and Wamos (admittedly not a 737/320/321) are far more reliable.

it will be interesting to see what TUI do for S23 especially with the Sunwing agreement, apparently, ending. Although that has had its issues at ABZ too.

Most of the Sunwing issues have been caused by their pilots essentially working to rule as a result of the proposed acquisition by Westjet. This includes a refusal to go into discretion and refusing to work if "rest" is disturbed, for example by a phone call delaying report to avoid going into discretion. Longer flights like ABZ-DLM become particularly vulnerable.

Unfortunately it's British customers just trying to go on holiday that end up caught up in an industrial dispute that's happening on the other side of the Atlantic.

Has anybody seen any details to back up this common assertion, or is it an urban myth? Given their small numbers any delays are more noticeable, but how does their serviceability stack up with mainline fleets?

I’m sure someone can find the figures somewhere but this is definitely not an urban myth. It’s been the case for years, as I said above.

Across the summer, it’s barely been seen with Titan and they have even smaller numbers. I can guarantee they would win many more contracts, certainly over the summer, if they added even more to their fleet. It’s TBC whether it’s always tech issues (for Smart Lynx) this summer, as it could easily be crew issues too, but historically they have been awful.

Thanks for that, hopefully it means we have a chance of not being delayed when we next fly out in November. ITUI have had delays on this route all summer (7 hours for us back in May) I am assuming it is due to only having the option of one aircraft for this route and not being able to substitute another. If I am wrong can someone tell me how it actually works. It must havew cost TUI a fortune this year (Not their fault I know, it was Swissport who cocked our flight up) one good thing is they are very prompt at paying compensation.

I agree Smartlynx and Avion Express were terrible from Newcastle for TCX (and so were TCX itself in the last year of 757’s ).

Other than making a mental note to avoid I think a trawl though the old NCL treads will corroborate this!

I think it will just reflect the same oft repeated opinions - I was just wondering if there were ever any analysis to support them. For example, based on casual observation, nobody would go anywhere near a TOM 787 out of Newcastle but there is a bit more to it than that.

Avion at NCL wernt much better either

Wamos have been here at Gatwick quite a few times over the last couple of months..not sure why ,but really enjoying seeing the heavies here
EC-NTY and EC-NOF are here for Tui now ..presume Tui are short of 787? or is it crew?

My guess is we will see more of these operators doing TUI flights in the future and less flights by TUI aircraft. Having done two such subleased flights I regard this as a retrograde step. No problem with cabin crew and impresssed with Titan but can’t say the same regarding the aircraft state on Avion Express. Delay due to a radio fault, no hot water for drinks, no washbasin water, very worn seating and filthy under seat cover. If this is the future of TUI short haul flights there is a major risk of delays increasing due serviceability issues and adverse passenger reaction to cabin states. If this is the TUI future I am sure Jet 2 will benefit hugely.

You are aware that Jet2 have been using Smartlynx too, right?

Aircraft out of position and working outside of schedule due to hurricane Ian.