"It was absolute bedlam": TUI holidaymakers' nightmare journey home after flight cancellation

A couple who went on holiday to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary have told how they faced a nightmare journey home after a last-minute flight cancellation. Deborah and Graham Easby's travel plans were thrown into chaos when TUI announced their flight home to East Midlands from Rhodes in Greece wouldn't be taking off.

After a two hour delay they were instead put on a flight to Manchester Airport. But when they landed in the early hours of Wednesday they say passengers were faced with 'absolute bedlam'.

Deborah, 50, said: "We got to Manchester and there were 121 of us completely stuck. There was just one TUI rep, surrounded by all these people.

READ MORE: Dad slams TUI as family holiday 'ruined' after 'horrendous' Manchester Airport experience

"There were babies crying, everyone was exhausted. It was carnage and there was just a complete lack of communication from TUI."

The couple, from Worksop, Notts, were due to fly back to East Midlands at 1.40am after the fortnight-long holiday. But shortly before setting off to the airport they received a message saying their flight had been cancelled.

They say were told alternative arrangements had been made for passengers to fly to Manchester, Stansted or Birmingham, where coaches would be laid on to take them back to East Midlands. Eventually the couple travelled back in a taxi, paid for by TUI.

Speaking on Wednesday morning, shortly after arriving back at East Midlands, Deborah said: "We have been travelling for nearly 14 hours now and we're still not home. We are exhausted.

"We were told it was an operational issue and we can accept that things happen. But it was the lack of organisation.

"Nobody knew where they were going. We've been awake for 27 hours now and we're