Monarch - you could not make this up!
Discussion
Firstl, my thoughts are with the crew members involved and I do genuinely hope they make a swift recovery.
I have recently returned to the UK after a 33 hour delay in flying from Faro in Portugal back to Birmingham. 25 of those 33 hours were spent in the Airport - the other 8 hours were spent in a hotel. We were supposed to fly at 1735hrs on Saturday 27th Sept, arriving in the UK at 2030hrs - we actually took off at about 2300hrs on Sunday 28th, arriving at 0215hrs Monday 29th (this is why I missed the Sunday Service!)
We arrived at Faro airport at 3pm on Saturday in order to check in, to be told that the flight was delayed by 3hrs as it hadn't left Birmingham yet (due to the baggage handling chaos BHX were experiencing). We were given a 6 Euro voucher for refreshments at check in. The flight time got pushed back to 2130hrs and then 2230hrs. At 2230hrs we were placed on the bus out to the plane that had finally arrived. 90% of the passengers managed to board the plane, but approximately 20 of us (including a family with a 1 year old child) were made to wait on the tarmac for approximately 90 minutes as the crew had found a fault on the plane. At just gone midnight, the rest of the passengers were unloaded from the plane and we were all placed back on the bus to the terminal while they tried to fix the fault. While we were in the terminal there were no reps from Monarch - only ground crew who were being given very little information as to what was happening. At 2am we were finally told that the flight had been cancelled as the fault couldn't be fixed and that we would be put up in a hotel for the night. 200 or so very tired passengers traipsed through the (now closed) airport behind some unhappy ground staff to collect our bags, before heading out to the coaches. Unfortunately they had laid on 3 coaches, each seating 53 people, for a total of 200 passengers. Those of us lucky enough to get on one of the coaches were driven about 30 minutes down the road to the hotel, where we all disembarked and collected our bags. As we were doing this, the hotel manager came out and told us we couldn't stay there as they were fully booked! We loaded the bags bck on to the coaches, re-boarded and drove a further 20 minutes down the road to the correct hotel, where we repeated the unloading process. Of course while this is happening, the remaining passengers were left sitting in the car park outside the now closed airport waiting for the coaches to return. Checking in to the hotel we finally saw the elusive Monarch reps, and were given instructions stating that we would be picked up from the hotel at 1.30pm that afternoon. I finally got in to bed at about 4.45am Sunday morning. It transpires that some of the passengers were given hotel rooms that didn't have any bedding, were missing pillows, had no towels or loo rolls and the hotel refused to replace them.
We awoke at about 8.30am in order to have a shower, sort our stuff out and to and make sure we were able to have breakfast (as they stopped serving at 10.30). After breakfast (this was about 10.45) I went to ask reception a quick question, and was informed that the pick up details had changed and we were now being picked up at midday in order to be transferred to another hotel for lunch. Unfortunately Monarch or the hotel staff hadn't informed the rest of the passengers and seemed to be not massively bothered about doing so, so fearing that some people may have skipped breakfast in order to catch up on some sleep (thinking they had until 1.30), and that they may miss this new pick up time, two of us took it upon ourselves to try and locate as many passengers as possible to advise them of the new details.
We were picked up at 12pm as promised (everyone made it!) and transferred to the other hotel (ironically, the first one we'd been taken to earlier that morning), where we were given lunch. At 1.30pm we were picked up again and transported back to the airport to check in (again), for a 4pm flight. We all wandered through to the same departure gate we'd had the night before and waited. Boarding time came and went, and at 3.55pm (while all still at the gate - due to board at 3.15pm) it transpired that while the aircraft was supposedly fixed, all the passengers and their luggage were there, the crew seemed to have gone AWOL. No pilot = no flight (so they told me, although I've flown a plane on Grand Theft Auto - it's not that hard!). At 6pm we were told that the reason for the crew's no show was, understandably, that they'd been in a car accident on their way to the airport, with one of them being taken to hospital. Again, there were no Monarch reps around, and the ground crew were again, left to feed us tiny snippets of info. We were given another 6 Euro voucher for food and drink. Meanwhile, children had run out of nappies and milk and families were refused access to their bags to get some more, people with medical conditons needed access to medication etc. The response from the ground crew when asked about nappies was "we are not a shop!". Our departure time was pushed back again, and again, and again. At about 9pm, we were told via the Monarch social media person (who I guess stayed at work to at least try and help us) that Monarch had chartered the standby crew from Thomas Cook to fly an empty TC plane from Manchester to Faro to collect us and take us back to Birmingham. We finally took off at about 11pm, arriving back at 2.30am Monday morning.
I have recently returned to the UK after a 33 hour delay in flying from Faro in Portugal back to Birmingham. 25 of those 33 hours were spent in the Airport - the other 8 hours were spent in a hotel. We were supposed to fly at 1735hrs on Saturday 27th Sept, arriving in the UK at 2030hrs - we actually took off at about 2300hrs on Sunday 28th, arriving at 0215hrs Monday 29th (this is why I missed the Sunday Service!)
We arrived at Faro airport at 3pm on Saturday in order to check in, to be told that the flight was delayed by 3hrs as it hadn't left Birmingham yet (due to the baggage handling chaos BHX were experiencing). We were given a 6 Euro voucher for refreshments at check in. The flight time got pushed back to 2130hrs and then 2230hrs. At 2230hrs we were placed on the bus out to the plane that had finally arrived. 90% of the passengers managed to board the plane, but approximately 20 of us (including a family with a 1 year old child) were made to wait on the tarmac for approximately 90 minutes as the crew had found a fault on the plane. At just gone midnight, the rest of the passengers were unloaded from the plane and we were all placed back on the bus to the terminal while they tried to fix the fault. While we were in the terminal there were no reps from Monarch - only ground crew who were being given very little information as to what was happening. At 2am we were finally told that the flight had been cancelled as the fault couldn't be fixed and that we would be put up in a hotel for the night. 200 or so very tired passengers traipsed through the (now closed) airport behind some unhappy ground staff to collect our bags, before heading out to the coaches. Unfortunately they had laid on 3 coaches, each seating 53 people, for a total of 200 passengers. Those of us lucky enough to get on one of the coaches were driven about 30 minutes down the road to the hotel, where we all disembarked and collected our bags. As we were doing this, the hotel manager came out and told us we couldn't stay there as they were fully booked! We loaded the bags bck on to the coaches, re-boarded and drove a further 20 minutes down the road to the correct hotel, where we repeated the unloading process. Of course while this is happening, the remaining passengers were left sitting in the car park outside the now closed airport waiting for the coaches to return. Checking in to the hotel we finally saw the elusive Monarch reps, and were given instructions stating that we would be picked up from the hotel at 1.30pm that afternoon. I finally got in to bed at about 4.45am Sunday morning. It transpires that some of the passengers were given hotel rooms that didn't have any bedding, were missing pillows, had no towels or loo rolls and the hotel refused to replace them.
We awoke at about 8.30am in order to have a shower, sort our stuff out and to and make sure we were able to have breakfast (as they stopped serving at 10.30). After breakfast (this was about 10.45) I went to ask reception a quick question, and was informed that the pick up details had changed and we were now being picked up at midday in order to be transferred to another hotel for lunch. Unfortunately Monarch or the hotel staff hadn't informed the rest of the passengers and seemed to be not massively bothered about doing so, so fearing that some people may have skipped breakfast in order to catch up on some sleep (thinking they had until 1.30), and that they may miss this new pick up time, two of us took it upon ourselves to try and locate as many passengers as possible to advise them of the new details.
We were picked up at 12pm as promised (everyone made it!) and transferred to the other hotel (ironically, the first one we'd been taken to earlier that morning), where we were given lunch. At 1.30pm we were picked up again and transported back to the airport to check in (again), for a 4pm flight. We all wandered through to the same departure gate we'd had the night before and waited. Boarding time came and went, and at 3.55pm (while all still at the gate - due to board at 3.15pm) it transpired that while the aircraft was supposedly fixed, all the passengers and their luggage were there, the crew seemed to have gone AWOL. No pilot = no flight (so they told me, although I've flown a plane on Grand Theft Auto - it's not that hard!). At 6pm we were told that the reason for the crew's no show was, understandably, that they'd been in a car accident on their way to the airport, with one of them being taken to hospital. Again, there were no Monarch reps around, and the ground crew were again, left to feed us tiny snippets of info. We were given another 6 Euro voucher for food and drink. Meanwhile, children had run out of nappies and milk and families were refused access to their bags to get some more, people with medical conditons needed access to medication etc. The response from the ground crew when asked about nappies was "we are not a shop!". Our departure time was pushed back again, and again, and again. At about 9pm, we were told via the Monarch social media person (who I guess stayed at work to at least try and help us) that Monarch had chartered the standby crew from Thomas Cook to fly an empty TC plane from Manchester to Faro to collect us and take us back to Birmingham. We finally took off at about 11pm, arriving back at 2.30am Monday morning.
Piersman2 said:
Horrendous. One of my worst nightmares.
As soon as the flight was cancelled I'd have immediately been looking to re-book on to any other flight to get back to the UK, whereever it was headed. And then hire a car.
But I suppose that only works if you can find alternatives.
BH weekend, in peak season - we looked, we tried, but the only available flights were about 900 Euros each.... We had very few other options. As soon as the flight was cancelled I'd have immediately been looking to re-book on to any other flight to get back to the UK, whereever it was headed. And then hire a car.
But I suppose that only works if you can find alternatives.
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