Our holiday was cancelled the day before we flew – because the airport closed down
A COUPLE was left stunned when their holiday was cancelled the day before they flew - because the airport they were flying from had closed down.
The couple, from Cleethorpes, had booked a holiday with TUI to Tenerife, flying from Doncaster Sheffield Airport.
They were due to fly on October 31, returning a week later, only to realise their flights wouldn't go ahead.
This is because the airport is closing permanently - the last flight from Doncaster Sheffield took off last week, flying to Poland, with the final inbound flight taking place this weekend.
The man, who asked not to be named, told local media that it was only when their daughter realised the last flight took off last Saturday that they found out.
He said: "She looked at the flight departures board on its website and there was nothing on there. She said she thought I'd better ring TUI, so I did."
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After contacting TUI, they said the outgoing was going ahead, but wouldn't be returning to Doncaster, leaving the couple "frustrated and stressed".
He added: "We've had no information from TUI at all. If we hadn't have rang them up, we would've just rolled up with our suitcases.
"We spoke to who we thought was a manager who told us we should've been notified and that we'd just slipped through the net."
They were eventually allowed to rebook the holiday with 10 per cent off, instead flying next month from East Midlands Airport instead.
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A TUI spokesperson told Sun Online Travel: "We’d like to apologise to Mr and Mrs Hollis for their experience regarding their flight to Tenerife.
"Unfortunately, due to a system error Mr and Mrs were not advised about the change to their inbound flight.
"We’d like to reassure customers that this is a rare occurrence and the issue has been raised with the relevant team to ensure this does not happen again.
"Our team has contacted Mr and Mrs Hollis to apologise again and offer a further gesture of goodwill for the inconvenience caused."
Last month, the boss of TUI issued a travel update for Brits flying from the airport.
TUI managing director Andrew Flintham said: "Our flights continue to operate as planned until our last flight on November 4, 2022."
Doncaster Sheffield Airport confirmed last month that they would be "winding down" from October 31.
Peel Group, which owns the airport, said that it was no longer viable to operate due to a "lack of adequate forward revenues and high operating costs".
Hundreds of people marched to keep the airport open last week, following a petition campaigning to keep it open having more than 100,000 signatures.
Aviation analytics firm Cirium said it was the 26th biggest airport in the UK, recording 4,609 flights in 2019.
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It was also voted the best UK airport in 2022, according to Which?.
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But despite having flights to popular destinations such as Tenerife and Lanzarote, the airport was hit hard when airline Wizz Air pulled out, leaving just TUI flights in operation.
