It’s not uncommon for a colleague or friend to ask for a lift to work. It seems a big ask though, when you are in Norwich, about to head for Spain, and your colleague wants to get to Aberdeen, around 500 miles (815km) away. But thankfully for that colleague, it was no problem last Wednesday when TUI Airways sent a Boeing B737 full of paying passengers to Scotland instead of Spain. What a thoughtful employer TUI must be.
Of course, looking at it from a passenger’s perspective, the picture is somewhat different. After getting themselves to Norwich Airport (NWI) in time for a scheduled 06:00 departure, a feat in itself these days, it must have been a surprise they were going to Scotland first. That’s nothing against visiting Scotland, but when you have paid to go to Menorca in Spain’s Balearic Islands, you probably want to get there, not Aberdeen. According to data from Flightradar24.com, TUI flight BY5380 left NWI at 06:25 and diverted to Aberdeen International Airport (ABZ). The flight was operated on a seven-year-old Sunwing Airlines Boeing B737-800, registration C-GFEH.
Is this the scenic route to Spain?
Flightradar24.com
It left Aberdeen at 07:58 and landed in Menorca at Mahon Airport (MAH), more than two hours late at 11:45. That set off a train of dominos, with delays throughout the day, with the aircraft’s final flight from Rhodes International Airport (RHO) to Norwich also arriving two hours late at 00:16. A report in the Norwich Evening News says that a TUI spokesperson offered this non-apology:
“We fully understand customers’ frustration due to the delay of flight TOM5380 from Norwich to Mahon. We can confirm the flight had to make a short stop in Aberdeen to provide a replacement crew member for another TUI flight. Customers landed safely in Mahon and we’d like to thank customers for their patience and understanding.”
It’s unlikely there was much “patience and understanding” on Friday night when a TUI flight from Turkey to Norwich landed at East Midlands Airport (EMA) around five hours late. This was flight BY713, operated by the same aircraft that diverted to Scotland, the Sunwing Airlines B737 C-GFEH. It was scheduled to leave Dalaman Airport (DLM) at 20:55 but actually departed at 02:22, leaving it unable to land at Norwich due to that airport’s opening hours. Our TUI spokesperson explained: “Due to the evening closure time at Norwich, TOM713 from Dalaman diverted to East Midlands.”
“Due to a late arriving aircraft, caused by operational disruption, we had to delay the flight. In order to comply with the operational times of the airport, customers arrived into East Midlands Airport. Customers were regularly updated and provided onward transportation to Norwich airport. We’d like to apologize to all customers inconvenienced by his delay and we thank them for their patience and understanding.”
It seems TUI likes mystery flights
Put simply, it’s really not good enough to send out a trite note thanking people for their patience and understanding when they have neither. Airlines, including TUI, need to stop selling tickets unless they can do a lot better than this, and that’s not even mentioning another TUI flight bound for Corfu that stopped in Belfast – to pick up a crewmember. Simple Flying has contacted TUI and we will update this article with any response.
Source: Norwich Evening News.
