Family was forced to sit on the FLOOR for their two-hour TUI flight after discovering their seats didn’t exist
Paula Taylor with her daughter Brooke
A family were forced to sit on the floor for their two-hour TUI flight to Menorca after discovering their seats didn’t exist.
The Taylor family arrived early at Mahon airport to get their allocated seats after a holiday on the Balearic Island, as they all wanted to sit together on the flight back to Birmingham.
Paula Taylor, from Alcester, Warwickshire, told BBC One’s Rip-Off Britain, Holidays: ‘We made sure we were 3 hours early at the airport to check in early just to make sure we got seats together.
‘We went straight to the front and we were very excited the fact we had managed to sit together.’
But when tried to find their seats all they could see was an empty space.
Mrs Taylor added: ‘We all just looked at each other As if to say where’s our seats gone? There are no seats where our seats should be!’
When alerted to the problem, crew members checked the boarding passes, hoping to resolve the problem.
But after all the other passengers had boarded there was only one empty seat left on the aircraft.
The solution proposed by the crew was that for take-off and landing 10-year-old Brooke would take the last spare seat on the plane while Paula and her husband would sit in two spare flip-up ‘jump’ seats tucked into the crew station.
However, once the plane was in the air, the attendants needed access to the food and duty free supplies which were stored behind those seats.
So Paula and her husband had to move and set up camp with Brooke on the floor in the space where their allocated seats were supposed to be.
She said: ‘It’s hard and its uncomfortable and it’s just filthy.
‘It’s just not an experience I ever want to repeat.’
The Civil Aviation Authority said passengers are not allowed to be left unseated at any stage of a flight.
They have contacted TUI for an explanation about why the family were left sitting on the floor for the two-hour flight.
They are also investigating for a possible breach of regulations.
Mrs Taylor added: ‘The co-pilot came and sat with us on the floor and said he just wanted to thank us for our co-operation and understanding.’
