A couple who missed their original flight to Spain were left distraught after arriving at their hotel to find their entire holiday had been cancelled. Karen Cassidy and her husband George Gale overslept their 7am Jet2 flight to Malaga, then paid for a replacement journey later the same day, only to discover the holiday company had erased their whole booking.
Ms Cassidy, 36, was left to pay another £1,500 to rescue their five-day all-inclusive trip, which had already cost them £1,100. The mum-of-three from Bexley, southeast London, said: ‘Obviously they were like “we can’t find your booking”. Then they explained “actually there is a booking but it’s a past booking”.’
Jet2 cancelled holiday at 3pm
‘Jet2 had cancelled our entire holiday at 3pm. After everything I felt we had gone through, I was just shocked. This cannot be happening to us. I was distraught, I had been crying for 20 minutes,’ she said.
She said she had been kept up by her young baby until 2am the night she should have been waking at 4am to catch the early flight. But the events planning business owner believed she had salvaged the holiday when she found another flight departing at 4pm, which was later delayed by an hour.
No-show policy explained
However, the couple were caught out by a lesser known rule imposed by Jet2, which automatically nullifies a holiday if travellers fail to use the outbound flight originally booked with it. The ‘no-show’ policy also applies to the airline’s flight-only deals, with passengers who fail to use their outbound ticket automatically removed from their booked return flight.
To heap misery on misery, Ms Cassidy was charged £350 for her first night in southern Spain only to be given a room facing a fenced wall. The pair forked out another £350 to change to a different hotel.
‘We just felt like a number’
‘It was really sad. We just felt like a number. I just wanted to cry and continue to cry and not stop,’ she said. Sharing her ordeal on TikTok, she added: ‘I’d spent every penny making sure that the kids had a great summer and then I was like let me take two minutes out for myself, I felt like I was being punished.’
One viewer commented: ‘I never even knew this could happen thanks for spreading awareness. I hope you still have good time on your holidays.’ Others were less sympathetic, with one writing: ‘So if you had called the company the rest of your holiday would have been saved?’
Jet2 confirmed that the holiday may have been saved had Ms Cassidy contacted them after missing her original flight. A spokesperson for the package company said: ‘We’re sorry to hear about Ms Cassidy and Mr Gale’s experience and we understand how disappointing it must have been to arrive in Malaga and find that their holiday arrangements had been cancelled. Unfortunately, as the customers did not travel on their booked outbound flight or let us know that they planned to make their own way to Malaga, their remaining holiday arrangements were cancelled in line with the terms and conditions of their booking. When they got in touch with us after arriving in resort, our team offered to try to help and support them.’
