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31st May 2022

150 Irish tourists stuck in Greece after flight cancelled three times

Ellen Fitzpatrick

Oh, dear.

A group of 150 tourists have been left stranded in Greece for days after their flight was cancelled three separate times.

A TUI flight from Rhodes to Dublin was set to leave on Saturday, May 28 but was cancelled only hours before.

After being put up in a hotel for the night, the rescheduled Sunday flight was also cancelled.

A third flight was then set to leave at 6pm on Monday but has been since pushed out to 4.50am on Tuesday.

Tourisits have been unable to return to work due to the incident and are fed up waiting for a flight.

Pauline Ward from Wicklow travelled with her husband and two children, and told The Mirror: “I’m self-employed so I should be at work, my husband should be at work.

“There’s a woman here today who ran out of medication. It was really serious, she had to get her medication. She got it but it’s things like that.

“We’re just fed up and want to go home.”

TUI blamed “operational issues” and “the sudden increase in people going on holidays” for the issue of each flight getting cancelled.

TUI has since apologised for the problem, saying in a statement that “all impacted customers were offered welfare vouchers, overnight accommodation and were provided with meals while we worked through a new flight plan.”

They also noted that they were in contact with customers and are working tirelessly to support those affected.

This isn’t the first incident like this as heading from Manchester on Friday to Turkey for his sister in law’s wedding, Rob Gore told the BBC that he and his family, along with other passengers, found out the flight was cancelled as they were sitting on it.

“It was just an absolute farce from TUI, no reps available until right at the very end,” he said.

Having to stay in a hotel in Manchester for two nights as they wait to fly out on Monday, the incident left them “heartbroken” as this was the family’s first trip in three years and first since Rob had undergone cancer treatment.

TUI has apologised for those impacted by the cancellation and has offered compensation, but it is not the only incident like this.