The Taylor family forked out £1,300 on their yearly family holiday to Menorca, but they say they had to spend the two hour TUI flight back on the “filthy” floor!
Despite having boarding passes, the Taylor family found empty spaces where their seats should have been.
Paula, 44, and husband Ian, 55, were offered jump seats by the flight attendants for take-off and landing, while daughter Brooke, 10, was given the last spare seat.
Paula, from Warwickshire, told BBC One’s Rip-Off Britain, Holidays, said: “It’s hard and it’s uncomfortable and it’s just filthy.
Paula Taylor told the show that she, her husband and 10-year-old daughter had got to the airport early, in June, to make sure they were seated together.
Their seat numbers were 41 D, E and F. But when they got on the plane there was an empty space underneath the numbers.
“We all just looked at each other as if to say ‘where’s our seats gone?’,” Mrs Taylor said.
Once all the passengers had boarded there was just one seat left. Mrs Taylor’s daughter Brooke was given that seat while she and her husband were given flip-up seats in the crew section.
But once the flight had taken off, crew were busy serving food and other items stored behind those seats and Mr and Mrs Taylor had to go and sit on the floor, in the space their seats should have been. They were joined by Brooke as she did not want to sit alone.
The family say they were thanked by the plane crew for their understanding.
But Mrs Taylor says she was given short shrift when she raised the matter with TUI and was eventually offered a goodwill gesture of £30.
After the family contacted Rip Off Britain, TUI refunded their fares and said a “last-minute aircraft change” meant the family’s assigned seats were unavailable, as the alternative aircraft had a different seating configuration.
It said it was “sorry for the way the situation was initially handled” and will contact the family directly to apologise.
The company has been contacted for further comment by BBC Online.
The Civil Aviation Authority says while passengers are allowed to sit in crew seats under certain conditions, they must not be left unseated during any stage of the flight.
It told Rip-Off Britain it would be contacting TUI for an explanation.
Their story will be shown on Rip-Off Britain on BBC One.
