TUI - stranded me alone in Morocco - beware!

[StrandedbyTUI]

Name changed as still very shaken.
Solo female traveller to Morocco yesterday. Usually travel independently but chose to use TUI as unfamiliar destination.
No info on transfers except included and info would be available on day of travel,
No info but their ‘help’line assured me the ‘rep’ would be in arrivals.
No rep, no transfer, just nothing except dozens of guys trying to get me to take their taxi.
The ‘help’line (long delay in replying) blithely told me to go into the parking area and look around for a TUI person or EasyJet person - there weren’t any! Was utterly chaotic with guys trying to help’ me with my suitcases and aimlessly wandering about the car park.
Was scary!
There was an official taxi rank so took my chances with that. I was incredibly lucky because all the drivers were heading home (Ramadan) but one kindly agreed to take me.
No idea what to do if he hadn’t -there were numerous unofficial ones.
Today I saw the rep at the hotel and he claimed to know nothing about it.
Obviously will take up with TUI but was an utter waste to book with them -would have been better to have gone independently because zI would have booked a reputable transfer. And lucky was not travelling with children or elderly mother (was intending to book a TUI cruise this year for her and me - luckily hadn’t booked it yet and won’t - she would have been utterly distressed by this.
So… if you are booked with TUI /beware -at best they really aren’t worth the premium of paying for a ‘package’ , and at worst you might be stranded in a dangerous situation.

I flew into New Delhi airport and got a bus into the city and then a second bus onwards. A while after that, there was a gang rape and murder on the same bus route that I had taken which made worldwide news.

There are serious and significant threats to women from men in lots of parts of the world.

To mitigate against a risk in a country with a very poor reputation with the engagement with women, the OP ordered a transfer with what she thought was a reputable company. It didn’t show. She has every right to feel how she feels.

Yes of course. No woman ever had a bad experience getting into an unlicensed taxi, silly her.

She was clearly upset by this, there's no need for so many posters to be so mean.

Morocco doesn't have a very poor reputation with the engagement with women. It's not India.

Nobody asked anyone to bloody fawn!

We only ask not to blame the op for a situation not of her own making. Do you seriously not see the risk of taxi's at airports, even in "safe" countries, when you are alone by yourself as a woman and it's getting late?

And yes, in some places in the world airports do close after a certain time. Not everywhere has a 24/7 economy.

The taxis weren't unlicensed though. No unlicensed taxis can tout at major airports in Morocco. She believed that the airport was closing (no it wasn't) and all the licences taxi drivers were going home for iftar (highly unlikely) but Morocco has large taxis which are licenced for out of town journeys and small taxis that are licenced for taxis within the city. Possibly she couldn't see any large taxis available and assumed the small ones were unlicensed. It's not the OP's fault she didn't know this but she was seeing risks and danger where there really were none (over an above the general every day risk that all women face all the time anywhere)

Not in Agadir

I sympathise. It’s an added level of unnecessary hassle. We once had a no show transfer in St Lucia when we flew via Virgin. We never got an explanation but I’m assuming it was because it was a package holiday but on BA flights (on a different day to the Virgin London-St Lucia and we appeared to be the only Virgin customers so no Virgin reps about). We hung around the area with all the package holiday/taxi company stands but the Virgin stand was unoccupied, we tried phoning but the Virgin office was closed. Eventually everyone else had headed to their destinations and the various reps were packing up to go so we ended up with a local taxi company who seemed to think this happened quite often and took our invoice to charge Virgin. Our hotel was a 90 minute drive from the airport so it was alarming to see the airport rapidly shut down with no sign of our transfer!

Virgin just shrugged their shoulders, had no explanation and didn’t see the problem because we got to our resort. The irony was we’d been laughing at how over the top their service had been at Gatwick- we’d been met off our connecting flight and walked to our next flight, something we were perfectly capable of doing ourselves! So to then mess it up with not showing up at the other end was pretty disappointing.

I can totally see why that would have been scary and overwhelming.

But the story doesn’t make sense. Presumably you weren’t the only person on your Tui flight…so where did everyone else go?! I suspect you’ve missed something.

Agree with this.

And actually, I find this whole narrative that women are constantly at huge personal risk of violence and always in danger really damaging.

Catching a taxi from a resort airport to a pre booked hotel is not in a hugely risky category. Yes, we should keep our wits about us. Listen to our instincts. Decide acceptable levels of risk etc. Would I get into an unmarked car on the streets of San Jose with no pre booked hotel address to get to? No. Would I book a flight to arrive at gone midnight into a small Russian airport where I have no idea of whether or not they'll be English speaking taxi drivers? No. Would I book a hotel hours from an airport after an overnight flight after likely no sleep? No. But this narrative that having to catch a taxi from a resort airport is inherently dangerous is absolutely incorrect. I'd want my daughter to have more confidence in herself, her own common sense, and the general belief that most people are not out to get us.

The op was not in danger. She dealt with the situation really capably. She wasn't stranded. She did a great job after Tui let her down. She was uncomfortable with the noise and the unfamiliar surroundings, I can easily picture the scene and yes it's a culture shock. That's all it is though. And nonetheless she sorted herself out and got safely to her hotel.

Have you ever been to an airport where there have been no reps and too many unlicensed taxi drivers trying to grab your bags, encouraging you to get in their taxi??
try being a solo female traveller then you’ll probably see where she’s coming from.

As others have stated, this is not a dangerous situation. Men touting for business is just what they do. You just ignore them and you got a taxi and that will be paid for.

If you got a flight and accommodation, then you'd have got a taxi at the airport in any case - as that is what you'd have organised

No it wasn't what you were expecting, yes you had the sense to get a taxi form the taxi rank

Yes, I travel solo

Read the thread.

Totally agree with this...

I’ve travelled independently all over North Africa ( and elsewhere) as a lone female.

If I wasn’t expecting to be met, I would make my own arrangements but I entirely get what the OP is saying.
It’s unlikely to be dangerous as such, but definitely stressful and irritating, especially if avoiding the hassle of this is why you bought a holiday of the package kind in the first place.
Also, expecting to be met (by anyone) after a long journey, and then finding they are not there is oddly distressing, even for a really seasoned traveller.

I'll reserve judgement until we know where the rest of the plane load of passengers went. It soybds like reps aren't allowed into the building so you have to go I to the carpark to meet them.

I'm sorry that happened to you. I went to Agadir just a few weeks ago. In our case there was a TUI rep as soon as we came out of arrivals and a separate desk if you had a taxi transfer.

I agree with the amount of people hassling you and trying to grab your cases to take to (in our case) the coach. There were loads of people who had got of the plane though, going to the coaches.

I would never take a taxi again arranged though the travel company! One day going back they were late and we were last to check in. Since then I've always booked the coach transfer, safety in numbers.

@SardinesOnGingerbread
Absolutely agree with you Sardine. Well said.

@Rainingalldayonmyhead

"We booked an exclusive hotel (I say this for contact as wasn’t an hole in the wall place) and were to be met by a rep and it was chaotic at best. All normal from our experience. We felt very safe in Morocco on our travels."

Yes but you are saying "we". From that I assume you weren't a lone female traveller. Morocco and Egypt are particularly known for harrassment, uncomfortable situations and scams. It's a different experience when you're entirely alone. You do feel more vulnerable and of necessity need to be more vigilant. Plus you have no-one to watch your luggage (or your back) etc whilst you're dealing with the chaos. For that very reason the OP booked what she thought would be a safer and easier option.

Agree. I never get in a taxi by myself.

Really? How do you ever get home at night if there's no buses? And no one to pick you up? How do you get about while abroad? I'm genuinely curious how you can manage if you never catch taxis?

Several have asked this question but there has been no response. It’s feasible that Tui were there but not found by the traveller. To add balance we’ve had good experiences with Tui.

I do get in taxis alone because I have to for work but I really don't like doing it. I'm very aware that I'm alone with an unknown man (who is basically in control and could take me anywhere) and all the doors are centrally locked. As a woman, I hardly think it falls into the category of "irrational fear".

Can i ask how you get private transfers with TUI please?
We always use TUI as ratethe customer service & the accessibility team are good - but never knew about private transfers and struggle massively using a coach.
Thanks!