Holiday cancelled after missed flight due to no-show policy

A British mother-of-three has described being left “in tears” after her family’s entire package holiday was cancelled because she and her husband missed their outbound flight. Karen Cassidy, 36, and her husband George Gale had been due to fly from the UK to Malaga, Spain, on an all-inclusive Jet2 holiday shortly after 7am on August 14, but overslept after a difficult night with their baby.

“The baby had kept me up so I don’t think I ended up going to sleep until 2am then we were supposed to get up at 4am but just slept through our alarms,” Ms Cassidy said, as reported by the Daily Mirror and The Nightly.

Rather than abandon their trip, Ms Cassidy booked alternative flights to Malaga for later that day. Their replacement flight was scheduled for around 4pm, but a delay of more than an hour meant the family only reached their accommodation at midnight. It was then that Ms Cassidy, who described herself as “exhausted,” discovered their holiday had been cancelled.

“Obviously they were like ‘we can’t find your booking.’ Then they explained ‘actually there is a booking but it’s a past booking.’ Jet2 had cancelled our entire holiday at 3pm,” she said, according to The Nightly. “After everything I felt we had gone through, I was just shocked.”

The no-show policy and its consequences

Ms Cassidy said she contacted Jet2 and spent about 20 minutes crying on the phone before being told there was nothing the travel company could do. “They came back to me and said there’s absolutely nothing they can do, they have a no-show policy, because it’s been cancelled, they can’t go back on that,” she told The Nightly.

The late-night arrival left the family with few options, and they had to pay €350 (about £300) to secure accommodation for the night. In total, the couple spent more than £1,500 on alternative travel and accommodation, on top of the £1,114 they had already paid for the original holiday, bringing the overall cost of their trip to more than £2,600.

Jet2 has explained that the couple’s accommodation arrangements were cancelled because they did not board their booked outbound flight and failed to inform the company that they intended to travel to Malaga independently. The airline’s no-show policy allows it to cancel bookings when passengers do not board and do not notify the company in advance.

Sharing the experience on TikTok

Ms Cassidy later took to TikTok to recount what happened, according to the Daily Mirror and The Nightly. She said she hoped sharing her experience would prevent other holidaymakers who were unaware of Jet2’s “unclear” policy from making the same mistake.

After the family’s story was publicised, a spokesperson for Jet2holidays said: “We’re sorry to hear about Ms Cassidy and Mr Gale’s situation. We have been in contact with them to offer our assistance.” The spokesperson added that the company’s terms and conditions are clear about the no-show policy, but that they would review the case as a gesture of goodwill.

Perspectives

Karen Cassidy: The holidaymaker believes the policy is “unclear” and that her family was unfairly penalised for a simple mistake. She described the experience as shocking and hoped that sharing her story would help others avoid the same issue.

Jet2: The travel company maintains that its no-show policy is in place for operational reasons and that customers are expected to inform the company if they miss a flight. Jet2 has apologised for the distress caused and offered assistance after being contacted.