My dream family holiday with TUI left me in tears - I'm absolutely devastated

A 75-year-old grandmother's dream holiday to Malta was left in tatters after TUI made a major mistake with her booking. Christine Dash, who fondly remembers the island as the place where she and her late husband Peter were born and married, booked the trip for her grandchildren and close family.

She told South Wales Argus: "Peter was my husband he passed away nine years ago, and we were both born in Malata and decided to get married in Malta so it's a very special place for us." Having booked the holiday well in advance in October 2024, Christine was looking forward to creating new memories with her family. However, just one week before their scheduled departure, the family was hit with the news that their entire holiday was cancelled.

Christine explained: "TUI organised this holiday and they used Easy Jet for the flight, but Easy Jet doesn't fly to Malta on a Friday in the summer months, they fly on Saturday and Wednesday.

"They asked us if Saturday would be alright to fly, we said of course and they said the accommodation automatically transfers as well but it didn't, it was cancelled."

The family had planned to stay at the Seabank Hotel, which held cherished memories for Christine and her grandchildren.

Mere days before her anticipated holiday on May 24, 2025, Christine found out her accommodation had been cancelled. In the hope of fixing the issue, she queried whether a hotel switch was feasible - to no avail.

She recounted: "We decided it doesn't matter if it's not that special hotel we took the girls to when much younger, so they came up with the Qawra Palace.

"They suggested that we had a refund because it wasn't as expensive as the Seabank and two days later, just four days before we were due to fly and everything was packed and organised, they said that the palace wasn't available either and because it was half term there was nothing available on the island."

Christine received her money back, but remains disappointed that the special holiday could not go ahead. She said: "It's unbelievable, I was in the shop crying. We booked six months ago and I'm absolutely devastated because it was my idea.

"My two granddaughters are on the spectrum, one has special needs, it was meant to be a nice trip away."

Despite attempting to speak with both TUI and Easy Jet, Christine's remained unhappy with their responses. She even took the step of writing a letter directly to Tui CEO Sebastian Ebel.

She said: "I detailed everything about how important this holiday and nothing came back at all. There's nothing that can compensate three youngsters being so badly let down."

TUI has been contacted for comment.