A Dundee father stranded abroad with his two young daughters has described the travel chaos caused by the Icelandic volcano as an “absolute nightmare.”
Dundee businessman Jim Patterson (39), who had been due to return from Spain on Thursday with daughters Emily (13) and Sally (11), first found out about the situation from a friend’s text message.
He said, “I thought it was a wind-up at first volcanic ash in Iceland stopping us flying home from Spain.
“But it was an absolute nightmare, there was just no information whatsoever at the airport.”
Mr Patterson, who owns a house in Torrevieja, was initially told by Jet2 staff at Murcia Airport that he faced a wait of a week for replacement flights to Edinburgh.
He eventually secured flights home on Sunday from nearby Alicante with a rival operator.
He said, “I’m hundreds of pounds out of pocket, but it was either that or wait until next Thursday to get home.”
He said tour operators seemed “out of their depth” at the situation.
He said, “I got a number for a call centre and was offered another flight next Thursday. I asked them that, if I hadn’t had a house nearby, how I was supposed to have been able to live in an airport for a week with two kids.”
“All they said was they could offer me a refund.
“I don’t have the credit card I booked the flight with, so even if they did refund it, I couldn’t use the money.
“The stock answer was that I could get a refund. It was like talking to a computer. Unless you have access to other money while you are here, you’re totally stuck.”
Mr Patterson said Craigie High School pupil Emily and Sally, who goes to Craigiebarns Primary, were “doing well” despite the delay.
He said, “The kids are all right, they’re just a bit fed up. They’ve got school on Monday and they want to get back and see their mum.”
Mr Patterson said the mood of his fellow travellers was one of glum acceptance.
He said, “They look pretty dejected but they’re okay. They had to queue up to find when they would be reassigned to another flight because the weekend flights to Edinburgh are full.
“The next available flight is Thursday and there was no guarantee it was going to be available by the time they got to the front of the queue.”If your travel plans are being disrupted The Courier would like to hear from you. Phone 01382 575291 or email online@thecourier.co.uk