TUI changed my flight times

registereduser12

We should be flying to Turkey in June 2026 to the same hotel we stayed at last year. A couple of weeks ago, TUI contacted us to say they were changing our return flight time from 4:55pm to 9:35am which I wasn't too concerned about as we just want to get home on our return day. However, on Friday, I had another email from them to say they were changing our departure flight time going out from 10:20am to 7:20pm which means this is 9 hours later than we originally booked. I understand that TUI have given me enough notice with it being 6 months in advance and they have offered us a full refund or to change the booking to something else. However, we originally booked this holiday because of the early flights which allowed us to make full use of both the departure and return days. 

The amended flights now mean that we are losing a full day on the outbound journey due to the much later departure time and another full day on the return journey due to the significantly earlier flight home. I have looked at the rebooking options and am being asked to pay an additional £700 to retain the same hotel with more suitable flight times, which I do not believe is reasonable for an equivalent alternative. 

I have spoken to someone at TUI today who also reviewed the rebooking options and it was an extra £590 to change the flights. I am just really upset and don't know what to do. I know they are gibing me the option to get a full refund which if we was to do that and book last minute, who's to say that the holiday wouldn't of increased massively. 

Just wondering if anyone can give any advice??

la531983

Return time with TUI back to the UK at 9.35 in the MORNING from a Turkish holiday airport?

Seems strange. Is this a Easyjet or Ryanair flight they are using?

No TUI plane would leave Turkey/Greece/Cyprus in the morning as they arent based there and the time difference and distance to those countries makes it impossible.

eskbanker

I think they're going beyond their regulatory obligations by offering a full refund, in that this is generally only available where there's a significant change, which TUI define as more than 12 hours for a flight schedule alteration.  Likewise, the regulations only consider the number of nights offered, rather than the amount of daytime before or after those.

Understandable not to be thrilled about the changes, but I don't think you're actually entitled to anything other than what they've offered.

daveyjp

You will never get to the bottom of why.  Your choices are in front of you, but a 7.20pm flight out does mean a hotel arrival at some ungodly hour, but your holiday isn't shorter as you book for nights, not days.  The few hours of room occupancy you get on your arrival is still your first night.

The 9.35am departure does suggest a third party airline and TUI do use Turkish operators - Pegasus and Sunexpress to name 2.

eskbanker

Is this a rescheduling of the same flights (airline/flight number) or rebooking you from one flight to another, and if the latter, are the original flights still operating?

Westin

As Daveyjp alludes, likely to be a change to a Turkish airline such as Sun Express or Corredon.  Tui have been pulling back their own TUI Airways flying and outsourcing to other airlines. 

We actually flew on our last TUI holiday with Sun Express flights into and out of Dalaman.  I didn't much like the flight times so booked as an 8-night holiday instead of a 7-night one, that way not really losing a day.  I think it was an extra £65pp for the extra night.

For the OP, for the return perhaps look to see if there are reasonably priced Turkey-UK flights with Easyjet/RyanAir/Pegasus etc. and use a newly purchased flight back at a time that suits rather than the TUI offered one.

NoodleDoodleMan

If you accept the refund is there another package deal provider who can offer a similar holiday that is acceptable ?

Jet2 is the obvious alternative as they use their own aircraft.

TELLIT01

As Westin mentioned, TUI are outsourcing more and more of their flights to EasyJet and Ryanair. People do need to check which airline is actually operating the flight as it may well make a difference to carry on luggage, at a minimum. I have actually pretty much removed TUI from my list of options as their only carrier to the Algarve seems to be Ryanair.