Thomas Cook says sorry for 23-hour delay
Thomas Cook has apologised to 273 holidaymakers who were left stranded in Cyprus when their flight was forced to turn around due to a fault with the air conditioning.
Passengers took to Twitter to vent their frustration, claiming the operator had left them without proper information and not enough to drink.
Wednesday’s Flight TCX1017 took off from Larnaca an hour late at 11.30pm local time but turned back an hour into the flight due to the technical problems.
It landed back in Cyprus at 2am local time and customers were put up in hotels.
The holidaymakers finally arrived home last night after a delay of nearly 23 hours.
"We’d like to sincerely apologise for the delay to this flight," said Thomas Cook in a statement.
"The captain made the decision to return to Larnaca due to a fault with the air conditioning system. Customers would have felt the cabin become much warmer as a result – this is due to the body heat of that many people in an enclosed space.
"Subsequently, we’ve pulled out all the stops to ensure the customers were taken care of really well. All customers were put up in hotels overnight – mostly in the Hilton – and provided with all meals and drinks."
The operator said passengers were also given vouchers for food and drink at the airport and complementary food and refreshments during last night’s flight.
"Any additional charges, such as parking, that have been incurred at Gatwick as a result of the delay, will be refunded," said Thomas Cook.
But passengers had earlier tweeted about the lack of reps and complained that they were only given one drink for the long delay.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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