A British mother-of-three has described being left in tears on the phone to her travel provider after her family's entire all-inclusive holiday to Spain was cancelled — all because she and her husband slept through their early-morning alarm and missed their outbound flight.
Karen Cassidy, 36, and her partner George Gale had been booked on a Jet2 package holiday to Malaga departing just after 7am on 14 August. The couple had set a 4am alarm to make the flight, but after a sleepless night caring for their baby, neither woke in time.
"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.
Family books replacement flight — only to find holiday wiped
Rather than abandon the trip altogether, Ms Cassidy quickly found an alternative flight to Malaga departing around 4pm the same day and booked it independently. The family made it onto that service, but a delay of more than an hour meant they did not arrive at their Malaga accommodation until midnight.
Exhausted from the ordeal, the family went to check in — only to be told their reservation could not be found. Staff at the accommodation then broke the news: Jet2 had cancelled the entire holiday booking at 3pm, hours before the family even landed in Spain.
"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," Ms Cassidy said. "After everything I felt we had gone through, I was just shocked."
Jet2 points to no-show policy in its terms and conditions
Ms Cassidy said she spent around 20 minutes crying on the phone to Jet2 that night, but was told nothing could be done. The airline and package holiday provider later confirmed in a statement that the family's remaining arrangements had been cancelled because they did not board their original booked flight and had not informed Jet2 they planned to make their own way to Malaga.
"Unfortunately, as the customers did not travel on their booked outbound flight or let us know that they planned to make their own way to Malaga, their remaining holiday arrangements were cancelled in line with the terms and conditions of their booking," Jet2 said. "When they got in touch with us after arriving in resort, our team offered to try to help and support them."
Stranded at midnight with three children and no confirmed accommodation, the family had little choice but to pay €350 (approximately A$566) for a room that night. "At this time, midnight, we don't have that luxury option of going to shop around," Ms Cassidy said.
Total cost blows out to more than A$4,900
The financial damage proved significant. On top of the £1,114 (around A$2,105) already paid for the original Jet2 package, the couple spent a further £1,500-plus (approximately A$2,840) on replacement flights and accommodation. Ms Cassidy said the overall cost of their trip climbed to more than £2,600 (approximately A$4,913).
After returning home, Ms Cassidy shared her experience on TikTok, saying she hoped the post would warn other travellers who may be unaware that missing an outbound flight on a package deal can trigger automatic cancellation of all remaining bookings.
"Through loads of rubbish comments from people calling me an idiot or people saying 'what grown up can miss a flight', there's hundreds of people that don't know," she said, arguing that the policy was "unclear" to many customers.
The case serves as a stark reminder for anyone travelling on a package holiday: if you miss your outbound flight for any reason, contacting your tour operator immediately — before seeking an alternative — may be the only way to protect the rest of your booking.
