On Monday morning, German tourists returned to the Balearic island of Mallorca for the first time since the outbreak of the corona pandemic. Kai-Jörg K. and his wife are also among the "test vacationers". But instead of cheering, the couple is greeted with a nasty surprise: they are denied entry.
A computer breakdown by the tour operator TUI is to blame. Kai-Jörg K. from near Trier, together with his wife, is one of a total of 10,900 sun-hungry "test tourists" from Germany who are allowed to return to the island as part of a pilot project before Spain opens the border. But unlike the tourists, who are enthusiastically received by the locals on the same day, the couple experiences a nasty surprise when they arrive in Mallorca. Police officers refuse entry to the 40-year-old and his wife – the beginning of a real odyssey.
The morning of June 15th starts well. Kai-Jörg K. and his wife are delighted to be part of the TUI test group. Already at 4:00 a.m. they make their way to Frankfurt Airport.
"Everything as usual, just a lot of emptiness," says Kai-Jörg K. in a Facebook post. The Lufthansa flight, on which the couple had been booked by the tour operator TUI, starts punctually at 9:00 a.m. After a stopover in Zurich, the plan continues. At 3:00 p.m. the Germans land at Palma airport.
The longed-for trip comes to an abrupt end at the immigration control in Mallorca
There is also a yawning emptiness at the Mallorcan airport. Only three other machines were seen on the apron, says Kai-Jörg K. But before they can take buses to the baggage claim area, travelers have to go through a control point of the Spanish border police. Kai-Jörg K. and his wife are well prepared: They declare that they are part of the pilot project and prove this with their TUI booking documents and ID cards. The two have already completed the health survey of the Spanish authorities on the plane.
But when the border guards asked which country the couple was traveling from, the trip that had been going so smoothly suddenly suddenly came to an end. The Spanish police refused entry. The reason: you entered Switzerland. There are still restrictions on travel between neighboring Germany and Spain. Kai-Jörg K. and his partner are shocked: "TUI booked us on a package tour with a stopover in Switzerland, which we shouldn't have entered at all."
All attempts to explain the two to the officials fail. You cannot reach anyone on the number given on TUI's booking confirmation. The local tour guide cannot help either. And so it is back to Zurich after only 70 minutes on Spanish soil – on the same plane with which Kai-Jörg K. and his wife arrived.
"We are an experience richer and almost 2,500 euros poorer"
“We are now in Zurich, 500 km from the departure airport. No flight, no train or something like that in the direction ”, the German exhorts. His wife and he finally rent a car and drive it to Frankfurt Airport, because their own car is parked there. Physically exhausted from the now 18-hour journey, the couple checked in at a hotel near the airport at one in the morning. All contact with TUI was unsuccessful the next day – as was a rebooking for a flight two days later. Kai-Jörg K. sums up disappointed: "Too bad the experiment Mallorca was definitely not successful for us! Ultimately, we are an experience richer and almost EUR 2,500 poorer ”.
Read also: Tui flight from Düsseldorf – Mallorca: German vacationers return and are greeted with applause
TUI apologizes – and blames system errors for the horror trip
When asked by FOCUS Online, TUI explains the couple's odyssey with a computer breakdown: “Individual travel services such as flights and hotels were put together in the electronic booking system for a package tour. The system automatically searches for the cheapest option. Unfortunately, an incorrect flight combination has occurred ”. TUI assures that they are very sorry for what has happened and will take care of the corresponding compensation.
Meanwhile, Kai-Jörg K. has updated his post on Facebook. This shows that the tour operator has contacted the couple and wants to handle the case "promptly and benevolently". The couple now spends their vacation in Cologne instead of Mallorca.