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Bah, humbug: Flight delays cause Lapland chaos
Over 350 travellers spent an unexpected extra two days in Lapland after technical faults meant flights were cancelled.
Two Titan Airways flights due to depart Kittila in Finland for Gatwick and Manchester on Sunday left 369 Cosmos Holidays customers unable to fly home.
They were put up in a hotel and given food and drinks by Cosmos, who apologised for the delays.
Despite the goodwill from the operator, the Daily Mail reports one passenger, oncology nurse Tracy Thomas, said the ‘magical holiday’ turned to ‘hell’ for her and her family, saying the delay had left them with ‘a sour taste’.
Other passengers due to fly out to Lapland were told their trip was cancelled.
One disappointed dad, Chris Hopkinson, told the Mail he received a last-minute phone call.
"It’s ruined Christmas. How do you explain to a five-year-old? He is absolutely devastated," he said.
Two additional flights were chartered to get the passengers home yesterday afternoon.
A Cosmos Holidays spokesman said: "Although the cause of these delays is out of our control we would like to apologise to our customers for the inconvenience they have been caused."
Lisa
Lisa joined Travel Weekly nearly 25 years ago as technology reporter and then sailed around the world for a couple of years as cruise correspondent, before becoming deputy editor. Now freelance, Lisa writes for various print and web publications, edits Corporate Traveller’s client magazine, Gateway, and works on the acclaimed Remembering Wildlife series of photography books, which raise awareness of nature’s most at-risk species and helps to fund their protection.
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