Glad everyone got home safe n sound, however also glad that the flights bringing new people in have restarted. Things were looking very bad here for a while with bars shutting and closing early at night, due to the people here not having the money to spend in them!!! Another few days and Benidorm would have ground to a complete halt!!!

Things here are back to normal, the bars have opened, the people are back and the sun is shining!!! Yay!

I actually fell quite lucky as I flew out on Wednesday 14th for a week with Easyjet, scheduled to fly back on the 21st which was one of the 1st flights to the UK from Alicante after airspace re-opened. Can't praise Easyjet enough and also Fincas Benidorm who were letting us keep the apartment on if needed at a reduced price. Probably the worst holiday in Benidorm as there was always the issue of getting home in the back of my mind.

A couple of things that did annoy me though..... Resort Hoppa refused us a transfer back as in they informed me " your flight status will change at midnight to cancelled as all the airlines including easyjet have told us", this I took issue with and told him with a disabled traveller with us I wanted a transfer, I was told "we have no transport booked", he told me to hail a taxi if I wanted to go the airport. This I am claiming back from them and will never use these clowns again.

That doesn't surprise me about Resorthoppa.. myself and my family have had very bad experiences with them, the latest one been 14 drop offs on the way to my hotel in Benidorm and I didn't even book with them as I gave up on them a few years ago.. booked with Shuttle Direct and because there was only a few of us, they doubled up with Resorthoppa... never to be used again, either of them.. I'll book with resortcare or the airport bus in future if travelling alone otherwise I'll use David from http://www.prestigetoursspain.com/ who is 110% reliable.

Sue

Probably the worst holiday in Benidorm as there was always the issue of getting home in the back of my mind.

Same here, and the thought of all those hours getting home by coach/boat/coach doesn't bear thinking about.

By the time we did fly home on Friday night, I was desperate to get home, I've never ever felt like that before, I love Spain and have always wanted the holiday to go on forever, but not this time.
If someone had said to me on Tuesday/Wednesday "you're not going home until Friday", then we could have gone out for the day, but the hanging around the hotel for "updates" and the "not knowing" is stressful, I feel like I need another holiday.

Sanji

I've always been unhappy when travelling back to the airport as I never wanted to go home,but this time was different, I was so happy to get to there, even the 11 hour airport stay couldn't dampen my desire to be there.I hope this doesnt happen again as we are off to Salou in less than 5 weeks .

I must have been one of the very few people who actually got the flights we planned and paid for. I was resigned to staying for longer, it wouldn't have cost me a penny since we have our own place. Having said that, there were a lot of people on our flight that were a bit frazzled because they didn't know when or how they would be getting home. That must be bad, when you don't know what will happen.

We got an email about 8 hours before our flight was due to leave. That was the first correspondence for us, and we were able to keep the same transfers etc.

I think i was very lucky and I feel for all of you that had a bad time. You all have my sympathy, for what it's worht.

Sue - I have asked the question that if I would have taken their employees word that easyjet had cancelled the flight like he insisted (which they never) would they have reimbursed me the £1,000 it would have cost to get home by coach/ferry/train. I doubt very much they would have but I await their response. First and last time in over 30 visits to Benidorm in which I've booked a transfer, back to a hire car from now on

Sanji - Glad your home and I know the feeling well that I feel like a holiday to get over it

I've always been unhappy when travelling back to the airport as I never wanted to go home

That's me all over, I always have a tear in my eye and a lump in my throat as the coach drives through Benidorm on the way to the airport. I love Benidorm so much.

Hi all
I was one of the lucky ones as well no to be in the situation that a lot where in .I flew outta glasgow on the 14th and came back on the 21st with no problems A2B was my transfer and the only problem i had was that we sat and waited for a few flights to land that morning about 45/50 minutes in total but everything else was great .Now i was like a few others on here i thought i was getting a few extra days holiday lol even so we priced everything incase we had to get home by ourselves via bus ,ferry etc but it was cheaper for us to stay in the hotel another week if need be and wait for a flight the nxt week ..We met friends who went to the airport on the 20th of april to be told they would get home on the 2nd of may and got transfers back to the calypso hotel same board (fb ) they are very happy as they are retired so no worries for them .I will say my heart went out to all that got stranded it wasnt nice to see or watch people had work etc..no money..medication ..it was hectic one lady of a friend that we have met over the years was on a wks holiday after breast surgery and only had a wks medication she was 160 pounds for tablets madness .But all in all i had a fantastic time and im back in 11 wks so im sure it will have all settled by then and back to nornmal ..Love benidorm so much mazza

Thanks to all who kept us up to date with what was happening in Benidorm regarding the delays. I don't have any holiday scheduled but was thinking about all holidaymakers stranded or not knowing what was happening. It was however much more interesting and informative to find news from the resort rather than " I'm going on the --th May/June. Will I get there ? " Special thanks to Sanji and Mazza for their posts.
P.S Sanji,
Hope Dave has recovered.

Helen

P.S Sanji,
Hope Dave has recovered.

Hi Helen, he was feeling a lot better after about 15 hours, he dosed himself up with pills and went to bed around 5 pm until the next day/evening....he was getting himself "worked up" over the prospect of the long journey home by coach/boat/coach and we could see the chaos in Calais on the TV.

He had the typical symptoms of a chill and a few brandies soon took away the shivers, it's his birthday today, so I'll tell him that you've asked about him, it will cheer him up...
thanks

Sanji

hi sanji, so glad he's feeling better, happy birthday, we go back to benidorm in 34 days and counting. that is if everything goes well at my checkup at hospital next week, its a few years now since I asked you about benidorm, but only missed once (2008)
Margaret(madmum)