Paul Henstock, 54, was hoping for the holiday of his dreams (Image: Paul Henstock)

 

He saved hard for this holiday - but now he struggled to get back home

 

A Nottingham man has been left "trapped" in Thailand after his return ticket was cancelled two weeks before the flight. Paul Henstock, a taxi driver from Mapperley Park, was hoping to have the holiday of his dreams in Bangkok.

 

But his dream holiday was ruined by a message he received on Wednesday (August 31), telling him that his flight back home was cancelled. The 54 year old, said he "woke up" to the news, and has immediately called the lastminute.com agency to arrange to get on another flight.

 

He flew from the Gatwick Airport to Thailand on July 5, and was due to return home on September 11 on a flight provided by the Singaporean low-cost airline Scoot. He has spent £524.19 on his tickets purchased on lastminute.com.

 

"I booked a ten week holiday to travel Thailand", Mr Henstock said. "I should fly home on September 11, which is just in a few days - but on Wednesday morning I woke up to a text from lastminute.com saying that my flight was cancelled."

 

Full story: https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/nottingham-news/nottingham-man-dumped-thailand-after-7549016

 

-- © Copyright Nottingham Post 2022-09-06

 

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Trapped eh ... that's what they call it these days. 

9 minutes ago, DonniePeverley said:

Trapped eh ... that's what they call it these days. 

Guess he can qualify for a Covid Extension now.....

Travel with limited funds then you need insurance, several kinds.

And Scoot said ...?

Go to the airport and go to Scoot check in and demand to see a senior representative to sort it out ..

Alternatively buy a circa £800 ticket to get home.

Lastminute.com is only a provider ..

Wizz did this to me in Spain ..email at 4 in the morning for a 10 o'clock flight on the same day ..cancelled !!!

'Trapped in Spain !!????'

Happens a lot with Jetstar too from several destinations where passengers had their flight cancelled on them twice and more and got them stranded having to fend for themselves for accommodations and other arrangements, many swore never to fly JetStar or Quantas ever again......

I just can't feel anything for this guy. Strap your boots on and get on with it. Party for 10 weeks and now wants pity. It sucks to be him, but it is not really news worthy IMHO.

49 minutes ago, webfact said:

Paul Henstock, a taxi driver from Mapperley Park, was hoping to have the holiday of his dreams in Bangkok.

 

But his dream holiday was ruined by a message he received on Wednesday

it's a bit exaggerated imo .....   I mean .. dream ruined  '      come on man !

just get back up and manage it ...   

Two troll posts and a reply have been removed, it is a good idea to read the OP before you post.

 

a message he received on Wednesday (August 31), telling him that his flight back home was cancelled.

Omg, it's the end of the world. 

 

 

1 hour ago, Rmac442 said:

And Scoot said ...?

Go to the airport and go to Scoot check in and demand to see a senior representative to sort it out ..

Alternatively buy a circa £800 ticket to get home.

Lastminute.com is only a provider ..

Wizz did this to me in Spain ..email at 4 in the morning for a 10 o'clock flight on the same day ..cancelled !!!

'Trapped in Spain !!????'

He did not buy his ticket from Scoot so they probably won’t help so much.  Buy direct gets you better service.

For all those having a pop at this guy, from the link in OP

 

''He added: "On September 18 my visa expires so I have got to be out of Thailand. The only way I managed to do it and get it at a decent price is to fly back on the 18th, the day my visa expires.

 

"And I have got to fly to Finland and change it back to the UK. And it still cost me just under £800, so £480 does not even cover this flight."

 

He said he wanted to warn others after his experience. "I am not a millionaire but I will take the hit. But others cannot afford it.''

This issue in almost at the point of normal. Thousands of flights cancelled at a moments notice and refunds taking up to 3 months!

You need spare money nowadays to travel long an/or multi port flights....money to get clothes when the bag doesn't arrive...for extra flights and hotels.

Had the same happen a month ago to someone I know.

 

Same airline

Usually airline has to provide another flight, or you find an alternate flight and charge them. That maybe just EU airlines so need to check

1 hour ago, Pouatchee said:

I just can't feel anything for this guy. Strap your boots on and get on with it. Party for 10 weeks and now wants pity. It sucks to be him, but it is not really news worthy IMHO.

Just a man wanting a holiday and he saved for his holiday.

 

No need to criticize him, he's done nothing wrong.

 

Critizize the ethics of the airline. They shoudn't take bookings/money then strand people, highly unethical/immoral.  

A post trolling about Indian people and a reply has been removed.

 

A post with abusive comments to other members has been removed.

2 hours ago, Rmac442 said:

And Scoot said ...?

Go to the airport and go to Scoot check in and demand to see a senior representative to sort it out ..

Alternatively buy a circa £800 ticket to get home.

Lastminute.com is only a provider ..

Wizz did this to me in Spain ..email at 4 in the morning for a 10 o'clock flight on the same day ..cancelled !!!

'Trapped in Spain !!????'

Nothing to do with Scoot. He bought from lastminute.com. Never buy through an agent.

What the fuss about...these things happened often...so be prepared.

2 hours ago, webfact said:

But his dream holiday was ruined by a mAssage he received on Wednesday (August 31),

Poor guy.

Not sure if Scoot are even flying that route anymore. I looked a while back and there were no available flights.

 

Booking through a third party can be a problem in situations like this.

 

It doesn't always pay to go for the cheapest flight.

 

I use Skyscanner to see what is available and then go straight to the Airline.

 

In my opinion the best 2 options for Bangkok are EVA and Thai direct, booked through the airline. Less can go wrong.

 

Emirates or Qatar not bad options as well. 

 

 

 

 

Ah, the cheapest flight, how much did you save? ????

Scoot were still advertising this route and taking bookings for flights they had no intention of operating.

Cheap and unethical operator. best avoided I reckon,

2 minutes ago, mancub said:

Scoot were still advertising this route and taking bookings for flights they had no intention of operating.

Cheap and unethical operator. best avoided I reckon,

 

Agree with that.

 

I used them earlier this year purely on price of Premium Economy when they launched.

 

Budget does not work for long haul. I will not use them again.

Curious to note that the respective airline and third party agent are never held legally/ethically responsible, as this is how the corrupted system is set up and quite acceptable within their circles. 

 

The evil dominant paradigm strikes again.

5 minutes ago, mancub said:

Scoot were still advertising this route and taking bookings for flights they had no intention of operating.

Cheap and unethical operator. best avoided I reckon,

A continuous word of mouth and bad reviews will take care of this. Comes back to bite them in the backside.

The parent, Singapore Airlines - of whom have a shining reputation as such applies to customer relations/policies should be taking shame.......even during these trying times [kind of post-COVID] where airlines are looking to balance themselves. F*** 'em all. 

7 minutes ago, zzaa09 said:

A continuous word of mouth and bad reviews will take care of this. Comes back to bite them in the backside.

The parent, Singapore Airlines - of whom have a shining reputation as such applies to customer relations/policies should be taking shame.......even during these trying times [kind of post-COVID] where airlines are looking to balance themselves. F*** 'em all. 

Scot were offering extremely low fares to the U.K , 4000 Baht from Thailand to the U.K , you cannot expect a decent service if you are paying an extremely cheap fare 

1. There are far worse places in the world to get "trapped".

2. I always book directly with the airlines. Most of the time the prices are the same, if not less. And the service tends to be far better. I all the many years of traveling back and forth, dozens of trips in all, nothing like this has ever happened to me. And if it did, I would imagine a top airline like EVA, or ANA would find another flight for me in a jiffy. 

 

 

31 minutes ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

Scot were offering extremely low fares to the U.K , 4000 Baht from Thailand to the U.K , you cannot expect a decent service if you are paying an extremely cheap fare 

There is a huge difference between non-decent service, and no return flight for which you have paid.

9 minutes ago, peterfranks said:

There is a huge difference between non-decent service, and no return flight for which you have paid.

And he will have to apply for a refund , He choose to use the cheapest airline who had a  sporadic service offering fares well below the going rate . 

    Had he paid a bit more and choose a more reliable airline , he would have been given another flight .

   Same thing happened to me BTW .

I flew with AirChina and they cancelled my return flight