To think TUI are shit?!

[Wineislifex]

First world problem and mega rant warning!

Booked a holiday last year, specifically chose flights that offer extra leg room and booked our seats at the time of booking, happy days. Then a few weeks ago I got an email asking me to reselect seats, I logged on and saw the seats I chose had been removed and were now occupied by someone else. Rang TUI and they asked for additional money for extra leg room seats, I paid it but still on the flight plan all extra leg room seats were blocked off. So after three hours on the phone, speaking to five different people, been hung up on and told different stories by different advisors someone finally says it's a change of aircraft no extra leg room seats we'll refund you the money. No answer to why they charged me again today! Anyway not ideal as my OH is a giant and we have a baby but fine nothing they can do so we'll just have to get on with it.

Then today another email, our flights have now been changed from early evening to after midnight! We booked these flights to coincide with DD bedtime for minimal disruption to her and the other passengers, but they've changed it to after midnight now! So we have to be out of the room at midday the hotel is always fully booked so minimal chance of extending the room (we've stayed before) and we've 10 hours to kill before pick up with no where for the baby to nap! Oh and we've paid for a hotel room at the arrival airport which is non refundable that is now pointless having!

Currently I'm on hold again and I'm just fuming! Oh and you can't formally complain about your booking until after your holiday? How helpful is that! I will never ever ever book with TUI again!

[drinkygin]

It does sound totally shit tbh! Terrible customer service. I know it’s not ideal but try not to let it spoil you holiday. DD will nap in her pushchair. It would put me off booking with them tbh...I usually book holiday components separately and fly with easyJet or jet2 and I’ve never had my flight time changed

[Wineislifex]

TUI have been surprisingly helpful and changed my flights for no additional cost, so I suppose I should take it all back haha

[jakeyboy1]

They annoy the crap out of me but unfortunately have a lot of resorts I like!

Last year we went to Italy with them had paid reserved seating they switched the plane to something like Air Egypt (wtf?!) and we had no seat reservations yet had paid for them. Complained. Got nowhere.

Today I have been trying to deal with them on a matter that has gone on a few weeks. My parents brought us a gift card for them to apply to our holiday balance. It is so bloody difficult to use it! After 2 calls and emails eventually they have done it.

My main gripe though is the charging for reserved seats. You are a family airline and everyone wants to sit with their kids. I resent an extra £70 for this privilege!

Yep they annoy me. After this year hoping to switch to Jet2 who I am going on a city real with this week!

[Cheeserton]

Nope. You do NOT have to pay to sit with your kids as a family. Stupid occasional failures aside, the industry rules on this are clear.

[MissCharleyP]

We went a couple of years ago to Cyprus on the Dreamliner; only flies Sunday from our airport. Still advertised as doing so. DH goes to book and told “Dreamliner not used anymore on short haul.” He asks why they’re still advertising it, they don’t know. He books fights and holiday anyway but if I’d have been there I’d have told them not to bother and gone somewhere I could’ve flown premium. Oh, when he said (initially) he didn’t want the holiday due to no Dreamliner, they threatened him with a cancellation fee in the shop. At this point he had given them no money or details!

[MargotMouse]

We actively avoid TUI because their customer service is absolutely shocking. There’s a Facebook group full of customers who have had awful experiences and TUI literally couldn’t give a shit.

[Troels]

I can say I've never had a problem with TUI, I usually book pretty late before the holiday, worse thing was getting delayed for 3 hours once. Other than that, no drama at all. We got our seats we booked every time.

[GladAllOver]

Lots of flights have had to be changed due to the grounding of the 737 Max. If they are substituting the 737 NG the seating plan is different. You can't blame the airline for that.

[MissCharleyP]

In fairness, they sorted it out and DH got an apology. Our last holiday with them was lovely so fingers crossed for this one!

[BookMeOnTheSudExpress]

Always use them for package holidays, never had a problem. Unfortunately, sometimes flight schedules change.

[JustDanceAddict]

We holidayed with them last year and they were great. I hadn’t done a package holiday for years and it went v smoothly.

[Bringbackthebill]

Most extra legroom seats are at emergency exits and children aren’t allowed to sit there.

[Travis1]

You can’t normally have a baby in extra leg room seats though

[Alyic]

My son is currently battling with Tui, over an all inclusive Tenerife holiday, he will get exactly nowhere with them, vote with your feet and don't use them.

[Wineislifex]

@Travis1 you're thinking of the extra space seats they are usually bulkheads or emergency exits and children can't sit there extra leg room they can

I've flew with them for the last few years and not had a problem before, I just think it was the customer service that annoyed me the most with the first issue, but the holiday change team have been really helpful and understanding this time and I'm happy with the outcome

[DontPetTheSweatyStuff]

There's a Facebook group called tui - holiday complaints group. They have really good advice on there and also a lawyer. I know you said its it's sorted now but I'd join it as a just in case.

[heartsonacake]

Nope. You do NOT have to pay to sit with your kids as a family. Stupid occasional failures aside, the industry rules on this are clear.

Cheeserton Yes, the rules are very clear. The airline will seat you “next to” your children. However, “next to” can be the aisle in front or behind, or across the aisle.

Most people would not be happy with that, so if they aren’t they need to pay to guarantee actually sitting literally next to their children or just hope that’s what they end up with (and if not, just accept it and not expect anyone to move for them).

To be honest, airlines put the planes passengers will likely be travelling on online so they can pick their seats, but if that plane isn’t available for whatever reason, that’s out of their hands and they need to switch the aircraft.

[StarlightLady]

You are going to see a lot of this during 2020. There are lots of grounded 737 Max aircraft, when schedules were put together they were expected to be flying.

Hence, this year you will see lots of equipment changes, and some airline changes as aircraft are chartered in to cover.

Having said all this, l still think that with the likes of airline booking sites, Expedia and the Rough Guide the traditional short haul package will become part of history.

[StonedRoses]

TUI fly a lot of 737MAX which have been grounded. So there has been a lot of changes, hiring in of different planes and so on.
Also there is absolutely nothing special about the ‘dreamliner’. It’s just a plane, like any other with a fancy name. A triumph of marketing. I’ve been on one several times, no noticeable difference. I can’t see why anyone would change a whole holiday over that.

[Wineislifex]

Yeah I think that is the cause of change of plane, looking at the seat plan it’s the old style 2-4-2 seating which suits us better anyway

Aw I liked the Dreamliner, but mostly just for the complimentary drinks (pre-baby of course)

[lilmisstoldyouso]

You get what you pay for.

TUI are cheap, for a reason. They just don't give a shit about their customers. If anything goes wrong on your holiday, you can't speak to anybody, they don't have a phone number that they actually answer, you're on your own. Once they get your money you may as well not exist.

I don't know why people insist on using them. I wouldn't risk having my holiday ruined for the sake of saving £80. But people are obsessed with the idea of getting something for nothing. They want it cheaper than last year and they want it now. Its a race to the bottom with those companies.

We use the smaller independent companies and agents. They cost more but you can't compare the service. When I'm away I can literally Watsapp the lady who sorted out my holiday if I have any issues, she always gets back to me. Last time we were in Mauritius we wanted to hire a speedboat for a trip but the prices were crazy. I messaged my agent and within an hour we had a private boat for half the cost of what we would have paid from the resort.

Pay peanuts, you get monkeys.

[GladAllOver]

I have a lot of sympathy for TUI and similar operators. They have to draw up their schedules a year ahead based on the planes available to them.

When the 737 Max was grounded the operators had to search around, all competing with each other, to find replacement planes to carry their customers. You can be sure it's costing them a lot of money to find replacement seats, so I doubt they are making any profit this year. Remember the operators that have gone bust recently and left passengers stranded.

And then they have to deal with passengers complaining about leg room. Would you rather they flew the Max again, gave you the leg room and you took the risk of being in the next plane to dive into the ground?

[Wineislifex]

@gladallover If you correctly read my OP you will see I wasn’t complaining about the leg room, I was complaining about the customer service in regards to the withdrawal of the extra leg room seats eg been on hold for hours, cut off mid conversion and been asked for more money for seats that did not exist

[GladAllOver]

I understand where you are coming from OP and I'm sure they should have been more helpful, but those staff would have been overwhelmed with calls like yours. In a cheap operation like TUI they will have minimal staff to help.

[planningaheadtoday]

This happened to us a few years ago when they had faults with their planes.

Our extra legroom seats we had booked and paid extra for were occupied by someone else.

After a lengthy phone call it transpired they had to switch planes without warning and the new seat booking had been first come first served, free for all.

What they did was wait until 24 hours before the flight was due to leave and allocate us the reserved seats for priority passengers with mobility issues. They can only be reserved by people who need them. 24 hours before the flight, if they have not been Booked they can be allocated. They all have extra leg room.

Worth knowing.