A luxury holiday turned into a nightmare for Alison Shah and her partner Richard Kay, 52, after their month-long celebration trip to Bangkok and Thailand ended in chaos. The couple finally returned home after a gruelling three-day journey, vowing never to repeat the experience.
“I have never experienced anything like this,” Alison stated. “We paid a lot of money for the holiday and it has ended in a nightmare.”
Last April, the couple flew from Thailand to Dubai only to find the airport in disarray due to severe storms, causing their plane to circle above the airport for an hour and a half before landing. They had a few hours to wait until their flight to Manchester.
“Finally at 8am, we started to board the plane, the plane was there,” Alison recalled. “We then sat there for two and a half hours in the holding area waiting to get on the plane. Nobody was answering any questions and people were getting frantic.”
Their frustration reached its peak when they were informed that their flight had been cancelled. “We were then told our flight was cancelled and we had to leave the airport,” added the emergency control operator, reports the Mirror.
“We went back the following day and joined another queue for seven and a half hours.
“We were waiting to board the plane and it kept saying delayed, delayed, delayed. The screen changed from Manchester to Sydney and they sent us away again.”
After forking out for a hotel stay, Alison and Richard faced more uncertainty at the airport when they were offered a flight to Manchester on April 28, a full 12 days after their intended return. “We couldn’t do that. We had to go to work and we had already been out of the country for a month,” Alison explained.
“I asked if they could get us to another airport, if I could get near the UK I could work it out. They got us a flight to Istanbul.”
Yet, their troubles were far from over. Upon arriving in Istanbul on April 19, they were met with the distressing news that their luggage was lost, forcing them to purchase new clothes.
The couple then journeyed from Istanbul to Dalaman, Turkey, on Saturday, hoping to secure a flight back to Manchester.
“We’re pleased to be home, but really really upset not to be able to give the grandchildren the gifts and open the cases and do what you normally do when you get home,” Alison shared.
“We are relieved to be back, when we walked in and my granddaughter was looking after the pets we had a nice welcome home. “The relief of being home is mixed with the upset with not feeling normal. We’re home but it is not over as we still have no luggage.
“In an open letter during the disruption, Sir Tim Clark, President of Emirates Airline, wrote: “The UAE experienced its highest rainfall in 75 years. Storm winds and torrential rain disrupted activities across the cities.
“Sir Tim Clark, President of Emirates Airline, penned an open letter at the time of the disruption, which said: “While our hub in Dubai continued to operate, albeit with reduced flight movements for safety reasons, the flooded roads hampered our customers, pilots, cabin crew, and airport employees from getting to the airport, and also affected the delivery of essential supplies like meals and other flight amenities.
“”We know our response has been far from perfect. We acknowledge and understand the frustration of our customers due to the congestion, lack of information, and confusion in terminals.
We acknowledge that the long queues and waiting times have been unacceptable. “.
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