TUI passenger furious after nearly losing £1,300 after easy booking mistake

A TUI passenger was close to losing out on a staggering £1,300 when he booked a holiday with the travel provider, as a result of an easy mistake.

Retiree Alan Straughan was looking forward to a relaxing trip away to Tenerife in Spain with his wife in June, but was left battling with the airline for weeks thanks to a simple error which saw his flight time change, Birmingham Live reports.

He intended to book flights from Newcastle Airport to Tenerife on June 11 and flying back the morning of June 22 to arrive at midday. However, upon receiving his booking email confirmation, he saw that his return flight was actually set to leave Tenerife at 9:05pm, meaning he'd get back to Newcastle at 1:30am.

This wasn't a viable option for Alan, who told The Sun he does not like driving at night and does not live near Newcastle Airport. While Alan was certain he clicked the correct flight, he didn't double check and his story is a cautionary tale for flyers to triple check their tickets before hitting that booking button.

Reaching out to TUI to see if he could change his return flight to his original time, which had seats, he was shocked to learn that he would either have to keep the booking or cancel his £1,340 trip outright with no refund and lose 70 per cent of the cost - amounting to £910.

Speaking to The Sun, Alex explained: "I'm at my wits end with this issue, it seems as though TUI is trying to fob me off and hope that I'll just accept the booking. "I don't live close to the airport and can't possibly drive there and back at that time of night."

TUI escalated Alan's complaint after the Sun newspaper got involved on his behalf, the publication reported this weekend.

TUI, which flies from all major Scottish airports and is rivalled by the likes of Easyjet, Ryanair, British Airways, Wizz Air and more, also reached out to him directly to apologise for the poor customer service. The Sun reports TUI has now refunded him the full £1,340 so he can rebook his trip abroad, the tabloid has also reported.

A spokesperson for TUI said in a statement: "Our team has now contacted the customer and has resolved this directly with him."

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