Two elderly British travelers have publicly slated UK-based charter carrier Jet2 after it flew them to the wrong Mediterranean island on holiday.
The pair, Linda Trestrail, aged 69, and 71-year-old Wendy Russell were said to have been left in “an awful state” after they mistakenly boarded a flight to Menorca (MAH) rather than their desired destination of Majorca (PMI) at Bristol Airport (BRS). The ladies have accused the airline of ruining their holiday following the error.
According to The Independent newspaper, the two passengers claim that they had their boarding cards checked on five separate occasions at Bristol Airport and only realized they were on the wrong plane just before it touched down at Menorca’s Mahon Airport.
Responding to the complaints raised by the women, Jet2 has apologized for the oversight, blaming human error within a third-party special assistance provider at Bristol Airport which looked after the ladies before they departed. The pair received wheelchair assistance in Bristol and were even helped onto the shuttle bus before boarding the Palma-bound aircraft. They allege there was even a headcount once onboard the plane as it prepared to depart.
“The reason we booked Majorca was because of the short flight. We knew our mobility wasn’t good so didn’t want to do much traveling – we are disabled pensioners,” Trestrail told the Daily Mirror newspaper.
“You get compensated if you get delayed or lose luggage, but they lost us, not the b****y baggage,” she added.
Recounting their ordeal, Trestrail claimed that, upon boarding the flight, a member of the cabin crew asked the pair if they were in the correct seat. The women answered yes but their boarding cards were taken away from them to be checked.
It was only as the flight began its approach into Mahon Airport that the elderly passengers discovered that they were not arriving at Palma Airport in Majorca as they had planned.
“Chaos ensued,” explained Trestrail. “I told the flight attendant we were on the wrong plane, and she simply burst out laughing. Our tickets were checked five times, even by the flight attendant twice on the plane.”
To compound the issue, the pair’s luggage had found its way to the right aircraft which had just landed at Majorca. Furthermore, the ladies allege that two other passengers had flown from Bristol Airport to Majorca in their place although Jet2 had not noticed the double error. This allegation has not been confirmed by Jet2, however.
Jet2 stepped in to save the pair’s holiday and they flew from Menorca to Majorca later that day to be reunited with their baggage. Having embarked on what should have been a five-hour journey, the ladies eventually arrived at their chosen resort hotel in Menorca 17 hours after setting off from home.
“We would like to offer our sincere apologies to Mses Trestrail and Russell for this incident,” said a spokesperson for Jet2. “This is an extremely isolated incident and although there was no security risk, we have of course investigated it as a matter of urgency, including with the third-party special assistance provider. We can confirm that the customers went through security correctly, and their luggage was also screened correctly.
“However, after these checks, the customers were taken to the incorrect aircraft, which is the responsibility of the third-party special assistance provider at the airport. Upon boarding the aircraft, the incorrect destination on their boarding passes was unfortunately not identified and we apologize for this oversight which was down to human error.”
The spokesperson continued: “We have carried out additional training with the team to ensure this does not happen again. As soon as we learned of the issue, our team booked Mses Trestrail and Russell onto the soonest available flight from Menorca to Mallorca and they also provided all the assistance they could both throughout their journey and the rest of their holiday.”
