Families lose 48 hours of half-term holiday as hurricane hits Mexico
Families heading to Mexico and Tenerife at the weekend lost up to 48 hours of their half-term holiday when flights were delayed by a major hurricane in the Pacific.
Thomson was forced to delay the departure of its flights to Puerto Vallerta from Manchester and Gatwick on Friday and Saturday as Hurricane Patricia battered the west coast of Mexico.
TOM194 from Manchester, which was due to depart on Friday morning at 09:16 didn’t take off until Sunday morning, by which time customers had already missed two days of their holiday.
Flight TOM032, due to leave Gatwick at 10.15 on Saturday, left 24 hours later.
Meanwhile, customers in Puerto Vallerta waiting to fly home on Friday afternoon and Sunday waited out the force five hurricane in safe accommodation.
The flight delays also had a knock on effect on Thomson’s fights between Gatwick and Tenerife yesteday, which were delayed by 15 hours.
In a statement on its website Thomson said: "Thomson and First Choice can confirm that Hurricane Patricia has now passed the Puerto Vallarta area. Customers and staff are safely back in hotels.
"We’d like to reassure everyone that although Hurricane Patricia brought with it heavy rainfall and high winds, there has been minimal disruption to the area with all services remaining operational and electricity and water supplies being unaffected."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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