A FAMILY’S dream holiday to Disney World was ruined after they were blocked from boarding their plane.
Sheldon Miller had to fork out over £2,600 to salvage the trip after an airline blunder forced them to miss their flight to Orlando, Florida.
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The Miller family had excitedly arrived at Birmingham Airport on May 30, ready for the scheduled flight, only for KLM staff to block them from boarding.
The airline informed them they had been booked onto a return flight instead of the outward journey following a booking error.
They claimed the change had not been registered on the system, leaving the distraught family stranded at the airport.
In a bid to keep the dream trip alive, dad Sheldon was forced to shell out a further £2,600 on an alternative flight with Aer Lingus as well as an overnight hotel.
He labelled the ordeal an “utterly ridiculous saga,” as his devastated kids were left in tears.
He told Birmingham Live: “After queueing for an hour we got to the check in desk and they told us we weren’t booked in to fly out but we were booked in to fly back and there was no way we would be able to board.
“At that point, our seven-year-old daughter burst into tears and our 13-year-old son wasn’t best pleased either, neither were we.
“We then spent three hours trying to speak to someone at KLM only to be told finally by a call centre rep we had to sort it out through social media as they couldn’t do it.
“I’ve never heard anything so ridiculous in all my life when it comes to business.”
Sheldon had originally changed the family’s outbound flights, initially scheduled for April 3, after his dad had been diagnosed with cancer.
But despite getting confirmation of the change on email and a check in link with affiliate airline Delta, the family were told at the departure gate they were not registered to fly.
Sheldon was reportedly advised to issue his complaint on Twitter following “dozens of requests from on the phone and in writing”.
He suggested that nobody was willing to help after the family were left out of pocket.
Making matters worse, the family were later met with more travel woes as they were denied boarding on their return flight home.
Already tired and weary from their previous ordeal, the family were forced to embark on a ludicrous journey back to the UK with Virgin Atlantic – snaking from Florida to Heathrow, to Amsterdam and finally to Birmingham.
Sheldon said he’s still awaiting compensation from the airline, claiming nobody has taken responsibility for the family’s ordeal.
He said: “No one has stepped up in any way. The whole experience felt like one massive pass the parcel, with no one at KLM remotely interested in our customer issue, let alone willing to take responsibility for it.
“We still not have had any communication from KLM about the refund of our Aer Lingus flight and airport hotel stay.”
He added: “You cannot charge people return full fare and only deliver one half of a journey and continually keep customers in the dark, passing them from pillar to post and expect them to put up and shut up.”
KLM has been approached for comment.
