Luxury TUI Marella Discovery cruise leaves without passengers after flight cancelled at Edinburgh Airport

Holidaymakers who paid thousands of pounds to go on a luxury Mediterranean cruise have seen their trips scrapped after their flight was cancelled while they were at the airport.

Passengers who arrived at Edinburgh Airport for the flight to Palma on Tuesday, July 25, were told that they faced a seven hour delay.

Some were set to board the TUI run Marella Discovery cruise for seven days which would have taken them to the ports of Livorno, Villefranche, Toulon, Barcelona and Valencia.

Despite the delay, travellers were assured that the ship would wait for them before it departed from Spain.

However, the flight was delayed for a further seven hours before TUI told the holidaymakers that the plane would not take off and the Marella Discovery cruise had departed without them.

The travel company said the flight was delayed overnight “due to technical issues which meant the flight crew were over their legal working hours”.

A TUI spokesperson said: “We’d like to apologise to customers on the Albastar operated flight AP6274 from Edinburgh to Palma, who were delayed overnight due to technical issues which meant the flight crew were over their legal working hours.

“Our teams were in contact with customers throughout the delay and all passengers were provided with overnight accommodation and refreshments.

“Unfortunately, the delay impacted some of our cruise customers due to depart on Marella Discovery from Palma. The ship did push back its original departure time, but due to the extended flight delay the Marella Discovery ship was required to depart the port.”

Customers who had been impacted will be contacted by TUI and have, or will, be offered “a variety of options including a full refund and a holiday voucher or a new holiday with a booking incentive”, the company said.

The TUI spokesperson added: “We completely understand the frustration of customers and would once again like to apologise for the inconvenience. All customers will be entitled to claim EU261 flight delay compensation.”