We spent our honeymoon in Turkey, and since we'd never taken a package holiday before, we thought we'd fly with a big company from St. Petersburg. Unfortunately, our choice fell on TUI. We spent two weeks researching their website, reading reviews online, and finally settled on a hotel. We didn't book online, though - we wanted to talk to an agent in person, since we had a lot of questions. The office visit went smoothly, and we got our answers, so we paid the deposit.

That's TUI for youThe day of our flight was approaching, and we'd chosen a special 4:45 AM flight with Azur so we could arrive and make the most of our first day. But a week before we were due to leave, things changed: our flight was rescheduled to 12:35 with Ural Airlines. When I asked why we couldn't fly on the earlier flights, I was told that they were 'regular flights', and we were on a charter. Okay, I get it - don't ruin our honeymoon on the first day.

But our flight drama wasn't over yet. The flight time kept changing, but eventually it settled on 12:50. I was getting a bit anxious by this point, and my wife was too. What if they changed it to 6 AM at the last minute? We woke up at 7 AM, just in case, and checked the flight board at Pulkovo - it had been changed to 13:50. We waited for two hours, and then it was changed to 15:50. We waited a bit longer, and then it was changed to 16:50. Meanwhile, all the other flights were taking off on time, with a maximum delay of 30 minutes. I mean, we're young, but what about people from the suburbs with kids?

Thanks, TUI, for choosing the most unreliable airline for us. In the end, we took off around 19:00, a bit frazzled but relieved to be airborne at all.

Bonus: after takeoff, the flight attendants offered us 'refreshing drinks'. I'm guessing you're thinking of something like juice, soda, or iced tea. Nope - it was just tap water, poured into a 2-liter bottle and served in a mini cup. That's what I call a refreshing drink!

We're flying back, literallyAfter we landed, we went through passport control, waited in line for the TUI desk, and finally got our voucher. It had the bus number and a note to pick it up at a nearby parking lot. We managed to find it within 10 minutes and waited for it to take us to the hotel. About an hour later, we were joined by a lost tourist who was supposed to be with us, and we finally set off (without him). The driver struggled to understand English, and the girl from the tour operator tried to communicate with him in Russian, which was pretty funny. Along the way, we made a 'technical' stop at a shawarma shop, and everyone got a discount card for 10% off their purchase. We arrived at the hotel around 3-4 am, and the guys checked us in pretty quickly. Finally, we made it.

The hotel view was amazingOverall, our trip was going great until we were about to leave. And let me tell you, it was a total disaster that I didn't see coming, and TUI's handling of it was absolutely appalling. I mean, they're supposed to be responsible for getting us to the airport on time, but they completely dropped the ball.

Here's what happened. The day before our flight, around 6 pm, the hotel staff put up a notice with the transfer times. We looked at it around 8:41 pm (I took a screenshot), and our flight was at 8:30 am, with a check-out time of 3:50 am. We thought, 'No problem, we'll just go to bed.'

GoodnightThe next morning, at 2:50 am, we were woken up by a knock on the door. The hotel guy told us that the transfer was coming soon. We thought, 'Okay, no big deal.' But then things took a turn for the worse.

The receptionist proudly told us that our transfer had already left an hour ago. We were like, 'What do you mean it's left?' He showed us the papers, and sure enough, it said our flight had been delayed, and the transfer was earlier. We were stunned. We looked at the papers again, and there was a new one with a new flight time of 6:45 am and a transfer time of 2:05 am.

Good morning, tour operator dumped youI'm still trying to wrap my head around this - did they even warn us? Nope. We're still trying to figure out what kind of intelligence it takes to have a receptionist who's aware of the flight change and a transfer guy who's supposed to be accompanying us, but neither of them could be bothered to get off the elevator and open the door, or even just call our phone?

Meanwhile, two more people showed up, and we were all in shock. Apparently, the tour operator just left without taking anyone from the hotel? Yeah, that's right. And this is from a big, reputable operator? Mind blown.

So, the enterprising receptionist offered us a taxi for $70. We took it, knowing we had no choice. While we were waiting, we called the TUIC hotline, and they started stalling, saying that flights weren't being changed and bla bla bla. Long story short, they couldn't get their act together. And to top it off, they charged us roaming fees. We hailed a taxi, and we were at the airport in no time - it was a quiet night, and the streets were empty. We managed to scrounge up $66.50 and 3.5 euros for the four of us. We paid up, and guess what? The flight was delayed, and it took off at 8:45.

When we arrived, we went to our tour agent and filed a complaint. She was shocked, apologized, and said that if flights are changed, they always warn passengers, sometimes multiple times. We sent it off. What do you think the outcome will be?

What do you need, you disgusting tourist? Get lost.We didn't even bother to follow up. Seriously? Yeah, that's right. A big company like that just brushes off complaints. Okay, if we were alone, maybe we'd let it slide, but they didn't take anyone from the hotel, not a single person.

THE VERDICT:

If you're thinking of flying with TUIC, forget about a smooth ride in both directions. Forget about anyone being responsible for anything. They didn't take us from the hotel? Who cares? Warn us about the flight change at night? Not their problem. Even apologize for their mistakes? Not on their radar. We're just tourists with money, and they've already got our cash - so, who cares about the rest? In short, we're extremely disappointed, even shocked, by the utter disregard TUIC shows to their customers, both on the ground and after we filed a complaint. Shame on them.

TUIC's whole operation feels super clunky, and it's all because they're trying to do too little with too much. I mean, their whole thing is just pick up, drop off, and transport, but they can't even get that right. We booked a package with them, expecting a smooth ride, but what we got was a constant headache. They kept changing their flight schedules, and to top it off, they never showed up to pick us up from the hotel. Needless to say, I wouldn't recommend this tour operator to my worst enemy.