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31st May 2022

150 Irish tourists stuck in Greece after flight cancelled three times

Ellen Fitzpatrick

Airport chaos for Irish passengers continues…

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, 28 May but was cancelled only hours before it was due to depart.

After the passengers were 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.

Passengers 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”.

The airline also noted that it was in contact with customers and was working tirelessly to support those affected.

In a similar incident over the weekend, as he was heading from Manchester on Friday to Turkey for his sister-in-law’s wedding, passenger 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 the first since Rob had undergone cancer treatment.

TUI has apologised for those impacted by the cancellation and has offered compensation.

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