Dutch holidaymakers who traveled with TUI were detained in Egypt for almost four days. This concerns 180 passengers, almost all of whom had booked a package holiday to the seaside resorts of Hurghada and Marsa Alam on the Red Sea.
The Dutch were supposed to fly to Amsterdam last Saturday, but were told shortly before the flight that the plane could not depart due to technical reasons. TUI said the flight would go the next day. On Sunday evening, the problems were still unresolved and the passengers were sent back to their hotel after hours.
Also on Monday, just before departure at the airport, passengers were told that their flight would not take place. Today, on the fourth day, TUI sent a new aircraft from Amsterdam to Hurghada, so that the flight could depart. The travelers are now back in the Netherlands. TUI has arranged an all-inclusive hotel for the three extra nights that holidaymakers had to stay in Egypt.
Wait three days
“We had to wait five to six hours at the airport with no information, then were sent to the hotel,” said one duped holidaymaker. “And that three days in a row.” The 33-year-old woman from Rotterdam, who prefers to remain anonymous, was on holiday in Egypt for eight days.
The holidaymakers were kept informed by text messages. The woman finds the course of events “unbelievable”. “This is not an extended holiday. There are people here with children, and the elderly,” said the woman just before departure.
Unusual delay
TUI calls it a “particularly unfortunate sequence of events”. A spokesperson said that the technical problems appeared to have been resolved after the first day, but that technical problems were again identified on the second and third day shortly before departure. There were also problems with the Egyptian authorities.
Some of the passengers have already left earlier today on other flights. The spokesperson said that this degree of delay is unusual and that TUI will “compensate amply” for the passengers.
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