Couple's £1200 holiday dream in shreds as tickets were booked from wrong Birmingham airport

In a surprise holiday gone awry for a couple from Sutton Coldfield, they were left bewildered when they found out that the flight they were supposed to board from Birmingham airport in West Midlands, was in fact wrongly booked from Birmingham, Alabama.

Richella Heekin had made complete bookings including hotel reservations and flights for her trip to Las Vegas along with her partner Ben Marlow. The two packed and reached Birmingham airport but found the counter of the airline closed. On enquiring they realised that their flight was booked from the wrong airport.

"Richella's face has just gone red and she's in tears now" said Marlow. "I was like we're not going to Vegas then. I was more gutted for Richella than myself because it was a surprise," he added.

The duo work as carers for young children, and Richella saved for more than two years to pay for the holiday. She kept it a secret for more than a year and revealed it in front of their friends and family on Marlow's 30<sup>th birthday. Ben revealed that some of the guests who knew about the trip gave him US dollars as a present.

"It was embarrassing because everyone was happy for us. We are just going to have to start saving from scratch again," he was quoted as saying by Birmingham Mail.

Heekin booked the tickets through lastminute.com which said that no refunds were available. A spokesperson for the website said, "While not an error on our behalf, we do feel very sorry that Richella and Ben only realised this choice of departure was incorrect once at the airport.

"This is when they contacted our customer service team, who did their best to assist on the day of travel. However there were no other flights available which could have been booked as an alternative.

"We take customer satisfaction very seriously and are committed to always finding the best possible solution."

The two used a new credit card to buy two tickets to Amsterdam instead and exchanged dollars to euros.