A family returning from holiday found they had no seats once they had boarded their plane and spent have of their flight sitting on the floor.
Paula Taylor // BBC
Despite having boarding passes, the Taylor family found empty spaces where their seats should have been. The family were travelling from Manhon, Menorca to Birmingham with TUI airlines and paid £1,300. The Civil Aviation is looking into the matter.
Paula Taylor told the show that she, her husband and 10-year-old daughter had got to the airport early to make sure they had a seated together. There numbers were 41 D, E and F but when they got onto the plan here was an empty space below the numbers. Once all the passengers had boarded there was only one seat available. Mrs Taylor’s daughter Brooke was given the seat whilst she and her husband had to sit on flip up seats in the crew section. Once the flight had taken off, they were forced to sit on the floor as the crew had to get the food and other items which were stored behind their flip up seats. They were then joined by their daughter who did not want to sit alone. The family say they were thanked by the plane crew for the understanding.
Shutterstock.com
Mrs Taylor says she was given a short confession when she raised the matter with TUI and was given £30. After the family had contacted BBC’s programme Rip Off Britain: Holiday, TUI had refunded their fares and said a “last-minute aircraft change” was the reason of the family’s assigned seats were unavailable, the new plane that was assigned did not have the same seating plan as the one that was meant to be doing the trip. The Civil Aviation Authority says while passengers are allowed to sit in crew seats under certain conditions, they must not be left unseated during any stage of the flight.
TUI said: “sorry for the way the situation was initially handled” and they will be contacting the family.
The episode featuring this situation will be broadcasted on BBC One at 9.15am on January 15th, 2019.
