A mother who missed her Jet2 flight to Spain was left “in tears” after being told her entire £1,100 all-inclusive package holiday had been cancelled, even though she booked a second flight out.
Karen Cassidy and her husband George Gale were due to fly to Malaga at 7.15am on August 14 but slept through their alarms after being kept up by a crying baby. When she realised what had happened, the 36-year-old searched online and found an alternative flight that would get them to Malaga late that evening.
Arrival at hotel brings shock
After Karen and George walked up to the reception desk of their hotel at midnight, they were told there were no rooms for them. “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 had cancelled our entire holiday at 3pm. After everything I felt we had gone through, I was just shocked,” Karen said.
After calling Jet2 and “crying for 20 minutes,” Karen says she was told there was “absolutely nothing they could do” and she had to pay another €350 to stay the night in the hotel. In total, the couple ended up paying over £1,500 for alternative accommodation and travel, meaning the holiday that was expected to cost £1,114 cost them more than £2,600.
Jet2 responds to complaint
A spokesperson for Jet2holidays 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.”
Karen shared her story on TikTok, saying that even though she had received critical comments from some users, she wanted to make others aware of what she called Jet2’s “unclear” policy. “Through loads of rubbish comments from people calling me an idiot or people saying 'what grown up can miss a flight', there's hundreds of people that don't know. If I could save one person, I'm happy,” she said.
