Karen Cassidy portrays the episode as a costly warning about a policy she says many travellers may not understand, while Jet2 says its decision followed the terms of the couple’s package booking.

A missed early-morning flight to Malaga turned a planned £1,114 family break into a trip costing more than £2,600, after the remaining hotel and holiday arrangements were cancelled before the couple arrived in Spain.

Cassidy and her husband, George Gale, overslept after being kept awake by a crying baby and missed their 7.15am flight on August 14. They booked another flight for later that day, expecting to continue with the accommodation already included in their package.

Instead, when they reached the hotel around midnight, staff told them their reservation was no longer active. Cassidy said Jet2 had cancelled the entire holiday at 3pm, leaving the family to find and pay for a room at short notice. “After everything I felt we had gone through, I was just shocked,” she said.¹

Cassidy says the couple ultimately spent more than £1,500 on replacement flights and accommodation, including €350 for their first night. She described herself as exhausted and in tears, and said the timing left them with little practical ability to compare alternatives.

Her criticism centres on what she calls an unclear no-show policy. After sharing the experience on TikTok, she said her aim was to help other customers avoid the same outcome: “If I could save one person, I’m happy.”

Jet2 offered a different account, saying the customers neither travelled on their booked outbound flight nor informed the company that they intended to make their own way to Malaga. A spokesperson said the remaining arrangements were therefore cancelled “in line with the terms and conditions” and that staff offered help after the couple made contact in resort. The dispute highlights the gap between a traveller’s expectation that a package can resume after a missed flight and an operator’s reliance on advance notice and no-show rules.