An apology from TUI - but who wrote such waffle.

Westin

So just had an email from Andrew Flintham, managing director of TUI.  Obviously not a personal one but around-robin type email to I guess all on their data base. A sort of belated apology.

So can anyone tell me - what marketing waffle is “an complex ecosystem of services”.   Has someone from BA’s marketing team moved to Luton?

Quote:

A message from TUI Managing Director, Andrew Flintham

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Dear Customer, In recent weeks, you will have read in the news, or seen on social media, that the travel industry as a whole has been affected by delays and cancellations. I know that our customers work hard for their valuable time away, which is why we always do everything in our power to deliver a fantastic holiday. TUI holidays rely on a complex ecosystem of services. This includes our own pilots and cabin crew, as well as operational partners that cover things like check-in, baggage and catering. Alongside that, we work closely with air traffic control and airport security teams. Our planes cannot take to the skies when the ecosystem is not working as it should be. Over the first weekend of the May half term, the ecosystem experienced capacity issues that impacted some of our customers. In some instances, customers were subject to delays and – in rare cases – cancellations. These customers had a poor experience – for that, and the distress caused by the cancellations, I apologise. I would like to assure you that we have learnt from what happened, and we’re working closely with our partners to address the issues that caused the delays and cancellations. I’d also like to reassure you that situations like this are rare – this week, the vast majority of our flights have operated normally, and over 200,000 customers took off to enjoy their TUI holiday as planned. Our teams have been supporting customers who were affected in finding alternative holidays and processing any refunds due. And I can assure you that TUI would never leave you stranded overseas.  I hope this gives you the confidence to look forward to your holiday with TUI this summer, or next time you travel with us. We can’t wait to see you soon.  Best Wishes Andrew Flintham  Managing Director

[Deleted User]

Low grade business buzzword speak is the hallmark of a crap manager.

IvanOpinion

I have seen worse although the use of 'complex' is redundant since by definition 'ecosystem', used in this context, is 'a complex network or interconnected system'.

Pollycat

I received the same email.
How can TUI say "we always do everything in our power to deliver a fantastic holiday." when they have boarded people for their departure and then told them their holiday is cancelled?
Angry scenes at Cardiff Airport as TUI cancels flight while plane full of passengers is still on the runway - Wales Online

Alan_Bowen

This appeared last night, 12 hours before a House of Commons Committee is due to sit and hear evidence on the flight delay situation? Coincidence, I think not. If you are truly desperate you can watch live from 1030 this morning at parliamentlive.tv, it is the BEIS committee, the first witnesses are a certain Simon Calder and Which? magazine

tightauldgit

Pollycat said:

I received the same email.
How can TUI say "we always do everything in our power to deliver a fantastic holiday." when they have boarded people for their departure and then told them their holiday is cancelled?
Angry scenes at Cardiff Airport as TUI cancels flight while plane full of passengers is still on the runway - Wales Online

I imagine what they would/are saying is that wasn't in their power to control - hence the 'ecosystem' comments. How true that is I have no idea.

Pollycat

tightauldgit said:

Pollycat said:

I received the same email.
How can TUI say "we always do everything in our power to deliver a fantastic holiday." when they have boarded people for their departure and then told them their holiday is cancelled?
Angry scenes at Cardiff Airport as TUI cancels flight while plane full of passengers is still on the runway - Wales Online

I imagine what they would/are saying is that wasn't in their power to control - hence the 'ecosystem' comments. How true that is I have no idea.

Yes, but they found out that late...?
After people had checked in, gone through security, through the boarding gate...?
Did they then just realise that there was nobody in the Cockpit?
Or nobody to go down the aisle to sell stuff that most people don't want?

daveyjp

The report states the aircraft had a fault.  This may not be evident until the pilots are in the cockpit.

I once had a flight from Montenegro, but engineers had to fix a fault before we could leave. We were delayed, took off, but it was just a flight to Belgrade to swap cockpit crew as they were out of hours.

tightauldgit

Pollycat said:

tightauldgit said:

Pollycat said:

I received the same email.
How can TUI say "we always do everything in our power to deliver a fantastic holiday." when they have boarded people for their departure and then told them their holiday is cancelled?
Angry scenes at Cardiff Airport as TUI cancels flight while plane full of passengers is still on the runway - Wales Online

I imagine what they would/are saying is that wasn't in their power to control - hence the 'ecosystem' comments. How true that is I have no idea.

Yes, but they found out that late...?
After people had checked in, gone through security, through the boarding gate...?
Did they then just realise that there was nobody in the Cockpit?
Or nobody to go down the aisle to sell stuff that most people don't want?

It's entirely possible. I think what we are seeing now is that all of these different cogs have been cut and cut and cut to the bone and when the system is stressed what it used to have the resilience to handle is just breaking under the strain. 

Doesn't excuse the stories of horrendous customer service though.

bagand96

Pollycat said:

I received the same email.
How can TUI say "we always do everything in our power to deliver a fantastic holiday." when they have boarded people for their departure and then told them their holiday is cancelled?
Angry scenes at Cardiff Airport as TUI cancels flight while plane full of passengers is still on the runway - Wales Online

I'm not defending TUI, there are plenty of horror stories about customer service or lack thereof. But in the example you link to perhaps they were doing everything in their power to make the flight go - and they clearly thought they could do it if they boarded the passengers.  The article states it was a technical fault, maybe a replacement part didn't fix the issue or it became more complex and at that point they couldn't get a part/engineer/replacement aircraft.  At some point they will run out of options and it's obviously happening far more often in 2022 than usual.

It's no different in the orange airline or the "flag carrier" airline or the purple airline that don't believe in pilot fatigue.  Not hearing so much about that little outfit with the gold harp on their tailfins though.

Brie

"the ecosystem experienced capacity issues" ?????

why do images of too many rabbits or cane toads in Australia spring to mind?