Jet2 have warned customers that their entire package holidays will be cancelled if they miss their initial flight - as these 'distraught' holidaymakers found out when they finally arrived at the hotel.
Karen Cassidy and her husband George Gale were due to fly out to Malaga at 7:10 am on August 14 but slept through their alarms.
Not wanting the setback to ruin her holiday, the 36-year-old got 'straight on the internet' and booked a new flight to Malaga for that afternoon.
But after finally arriving at the hotel at midnight, the 'exhausted' event planning business owner claims she was left 'in tears' to discover her entire £1,100 all-inclusive package holiday had been cancelled without her knowing.
After being on the phone with Jet2 and 'crying for 20 minutes' Karen says she was told there was 'absolutely nothing they can do' and had to pay another 350 euros to stay the night in the hotel.
The mum-of-three claims that the pair ended up paying over £1,500 for alternative accommodation and travel - meaning what was supposed to be a £1,114 holiday ballooned to more than £2,600.
Sharing her experience on TikTok, Karen wants to raise awareness so that other people don't make the same mistake she did.
Jet2holidays said they were sorry to hear about Karen and George's experience but pointed out their terms and conditions state that if customers miss their outbound flight, their travel arrangements, including accommodation and inbound flight where applicable, will be cancelled.
Karen said: "The baby had kept me up so I don't think I ended up going to sleep until 2:00am then we were supposed to get up at 4:00am but just slept through our alarms.
"My thinking was, 'right, get straight on the internet and see if there are any other flights going today'
"Our new flight was around 4:00pm then we were delayed for over an hour so by the time we got to the hotel it was midnight.
"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.
"After everything I felt we had gone through, I was just shocked.
"This cannot be happening to us. I was distraught, I had been crying for 20 minutes."
As it was midnight, Karen claims she didn't have the 'luxury' of shopping around so had to pay 350 euros for the night in the hotel.
Arriving at their room, Karen says it was the 'icing on the cake' when she pulled back the curtain and the view was of a 'fenced wall'.
They were so unhappy with it that they felt compelled to find a different hotel after that, costing another £350.
Karen said: "I was exhausted and just in tears.
"They [Jet2] came back to me and said 'there's absolutely nothing they can do, they have a no-show policy, because it's been cancelled, they can't go back on that.'
"At this time, midnight, we don't have that luxury option of going to shop around.
"Our view was just like a back fenced wall and a part of the street, it was the final icing on the cake.
"I had to pay another £350 to stay in another hotel in another area plus we had to book our flight home.
"It was not a great time.
"This was only Friday to Monday, this wasn't a week or anything like that, this was a couple of days.
"It was really sad. We just felt like a number. I just wanted to cry and continue to cry and not stop."
Karen now wants to spread the word of this to others as she claims the policy is 'unclear'.
Karen said: "There was nothing that set off alarm bells in me [in the policy]. I think it's genuinely really unclear.
"Imagine I was here with my kids and the situation I could have been left in.
"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.
"If I could save one person, I'm happy.
"I just wanted to help someone else because I just thought I could have been here with my kids.
"I'd spent every penny making sure that the kids had a great summer and then I was like let me take two minutes out for myself, I felt like I was being punished."
Sharing her experience to TikTok, Karen received a mix of opinions on the incident.
One commenter said: "I never even knew this could happen thanks for spreading awareness. I hope you still have good time on your holiday."
A second said: "Jet2 need to review their policy."
Another said: "Sorry this happened to you. Stressful, disappointing and expensive. I really hope you can get some time for yourselves."
However one said: "So if you had called the company the rest of your holiday would have been saved?"
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Jet2holidays pointed out that their terms and conditions explain that if customers do not present themselves for their outbound flight, their travel arrangements, including accommodation and their inbound flight where applicable, will be cancelled.
A spokesperson for Jet2holidays said: "We're sorry to hear about Ms Cassidy and Mr Gale's experience and we understand how disappointing it must have been to arrive in Malaga and find that their holiday arrangements had been cancelled.
"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.
"When they got in touch with us after arriving in resort, our team offered to try to help and support them."
Have you ever had a holiday cancelled? Let us know in the comments.
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