UK family sleeping on camp beds told British Airways ‘can’t fly them home until August’
A British family of four are sharing two camp beds in a hotel conference room in Rhodes after being evacuated in the wildfires, saying British Airways told them there were no flights home until August.
Jessie Wales, 45 and from Epsom, Surrey, said she had spent ÂŁ7,500 on the trip and was now stuck in a hotel on the north of the island packed with more than a hundred tourists sleeping on sun loungers and beds set up around the pool.
The mother of two told i she rang BA but was allegedly told there were no flights back to the UK until 2 August, more than a week away â the date when their return is booked.
Ms Wales, who runs a PR and communications agency, flew to Rhodes on a BA flight on Saturday morning with her husband and children, aged nine and 13, unaware of the wildfires that were spreading through the Greek island.
Upon landing, they boarded a minivan to their hotel, the Mitsis Rodos Maris Resort & Spa, in the south. Halfway through the drive, a hotel representative told passengers they would need to stop because of the wildfires.
A few hours later, the representative came back âin tearsâ saying it was not safe to proceed and guests would be taken to another Mitsis hotel up north.
Ms Wales said every family was given no more than two camp beds to share in the hotelâs conference room. âThatâs all they had and even then there were families sleeping in the corridor, on beds around the pool and sun loungers.â
The next day, more people arrived, meaning she was sleeping âhead to head with people you have never metâ.
![Jessie Wales stranded in Rhodes with her family (Picture: Jessie Wales)](https://wp.inews.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/SEI_165275280.jpg?w=760)
She said that staff at the hotel were âdoing everything they canâ, but when she asked about the likelihood of getting a room in the coming days: âThey just looked at us and said âif I was you, get yourself home.’â
A video captured by Ms Wales shows children splashing in the pool before the camera pans 180 degrees to show beds set up beside it. âThey are all around the pools, any spare space is taken up with beds,â Ms Wales said.
She added that while she tries to put on a âbrave faceâ for her children, it is sometimes hard âto shield them from whatâs happening.â
Ms Wales said she got in touch with BA to see if they could get an earlier flight back as âthey are all a bit broken from it allâ but was told nothing was available. âNo one has slept and we just want to go home,â she said. âItâs been a lot. The power keeps going off and people keep arriving, itâs awful and itâs a shame [for tourism] as itâs so beautiful here.â
![Jessie Wales stranded in Rhodes with her family (Picture: Jessie Wales)](https://wp.inews.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/SEI_165275283.jpg?w=760)
The power cuts and limited number of outlets meant tourists at Ms Walesâs hotel struggled to even charge their phones to book alternative travel.
Ms Wales praised the âlife-savingâ efforts of her friend and travel agent Zoe Ray, who managed to find a way home for many of those stranded. The family were able to book a Tui flight on Tuesday, although it cost them an extra ÂŁ763.50.
Ms Wales said if anyone is to be held accountable for the chaos it is the airlines, who she claimed carried on flying people out despite knowing wildfires were spreading in the popular tourist destination.
![Jessie Wales stranded in Rhodes with her family (Picture: Jessie Wales)](https://wp.inews.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/SEI_165275281.jpg?w=760)
âAnyone who flew out after Saturday afternoon knew that the south of the island was being evacuated⊠When youâre on a plane you donât know what is happening, the pilot does.â
She said the failure to suspend flights brought âso many people on the island who are now wanting to get off the island⊠We are quite cross that they kept flying people outâ.
Asked whether she had sought compensation or a refund for their ordeal, Ms Wales said she doesnât have the energy to think about it yet.
âNo one has a fight left in them, some people have been walking for six hours, they were sunburnt, children were coughing up as they breathed in the smoke from the fires â now a camp bed sounds like luxury.â
BA told i in a statement: âWeâre doing everything we can to help our customers and introduced a flexible booking policy within hours of the news of evacuations on Saturday to enable them to change their flights to come home early from Rhodes or move their booking to a later date if theyâre travelling from London.
âThis is a fast-moving situation and availability on our flights continues to fluctuate as customers choose what they want to do. Our teams will be in touch with the customer to provide assistance.â