The Spanish airline Vueling has contacted Luuk Hoogervorst. De Enkhuizer thought he would fly to Lisbon, Portugal, together with Max Haakman from Wervershoof last month, but landed about 1,000 kilometers away, in Alicante, Spain. The duo have been offered compensation of 200 euros per person, but the West Frisian men do not agree to this.
The bizarre flying adventure earned Luuk the nickname Aluukante on. Last month, Luuk and Max left for Lisbon on flight VY8435, to work for a Dutch farmer. At least, that’s what they thought. They had checked which gate they needed to go to at Schiphol and were able to board the plane of the Spanish company Vueling without having to check their boarding passes.
Only hours later, in a taxi at the airport, did they discover that they were not in Lisbon, but in Alicante, Spain. “The gate was probably changed just before departure, but we did not hear that,” Luuk said last week.
The Spanish airline quickly arranged a flight to Barcelona, so that they could fly to Lisbon from there. But things also went wrong in Barcelona. Luuk and Max were not taken care of by anyone from the company, as had been agreed, and the Vueling counter was already closed. So they spent the night at the airport. “We lay there among the bums, on a cold floor. It was a barre conflict. You don’t really feel good.” It wasn’t until the next day that they flew to Lisbon.
Vueling acknowledged last week that a broken scanner was the cause of the misunderstanding. “The boarding gates and handheld scanner were both malfunctioning, forcing the handling team to manually complete the boarding process. This extraordinary situation led to the unfortunate confusion.”
400 euros compensation
19-year-old Luuk complained afterwards, but received no response. Until last weekend. “We have been offered an amount of 400 euros, so 200 euros per person. We do not agree to that, because it does not outweigh the costs incurred and the inconvenience we have experienced. In Barcelona, for example, we already had to pay an additional 60 euros for luggage. We also missed a day in Portugal and had to sleep at the airport.” He doesn’t yet know what kind of compensation Luuk has in mind.
The Enkhuizer has been bombarded with reactions in recent days. The story of his flight was picked up by Hart van Nederland and De Telegraaf, among others, and he also told his story on Radio 538. “My phone was ringing off the hook. Some reactions are not so positive, like: ‘how stupid can you be?’ I’ll quickly read about that. Someone just shouted at me: “Hey, world traveler!” So he already knows the story.”