More than 150 Irish tourists stranded in Greece since Saturday after flight to Dublin was canceled twice

More than 150 tourists who were due to travel to Dublin airport from Rhodes, Greece, on Saturday are stranded in the country after their flight was canceled twice.

His original TUI flight was canceled a couple of hours before scheduled departure on Saturday, and his rescheduled flight yesterday afternoon was canceled minutes after scheduled departure.

Speaking to Independent.ie this morning, Karen Ward, from Carrickmacross in Monaghan, said the lack of communication was the most frustrating part, as they were told just minutes before their rescheduled flight they had to check out of their hotel.

“When the bus arrived at the airport [on Saturday] the TUI representative got on the bus and said our flight had been cancelled,” said Ms Ward.

“They took us to the hotel that night, the hotel we were in was fine, but it’s not the vacation we booked, it’s in the middle of the country.

“Woke up yesterday morning, went downstairs for breakfast, there was no one here from TUI, no contact from them and at 10:25 some people were in the showers, some people were still in bed, we got a shout from reception saying we needed to get out of our rooms and that a bus was leaving in five minutes.”

However, the flight scheduled for 13:20 was cancelled.

“They put us on the bus, they took us to the airport, we checked in, we queued, we went through security, we got to our gate, and five minutes after we were supposed to take off, we were told our flight had been cancelled,” said Ms. Ward. she said she.

“They put us back on the buses, collected our luggage and sent us back to the hotel, and since then we have had no contact with TUI.”

As of 9am on Monday, the passengers had not received any information from TUI about their new flight, but have since been told it will be at 9:30pm tonight.

“There are people here who are on medication, there is an old lady who had a hospital appointment, people missed work, dogs are kenneled, our car is at Dublin airport so I don’t know what the story is there. said Mrs. Ward. she said she.

“There are people here and in another hotel. It was a full flight between 150 and 180, we’re not sure what size plane it was.

“Some people went and flew home on their own, they got flights to England, I know a man had to go to something so he flew to Milan and then he flew home, but not everyone is in a position to do that.”

In a statement to Independent.ie, a TUI UK & Ireland spokesperson said: “We would like to apologize to customers traveling on flight TOM1651 from Rhodes to Dublin, which was unable to depart as scheduled on Saturday 28 May due to to operational problems. problems.

“All affected customers were offered welfare vouchers, overnight accommodations and provided meals while we worked on a new flight plan.

“We have been in contact with customers and informed them of their new departure time as soon as we could.

“Now they must get bck in Dublin tonight.

“We would like to thank customers for their patience and understanding during this time.”