A HALTON man has issued a warning to other travellers after he was booked onto a flight that didn't exist!

Martin Shackleton booked a flight from Blackpool to Dublin with Comed Aviation which left much earlier than stated - giving him just five minutes to board the plane.

Then, on the return journey, he arrived at the checkout desk to be told the flight he was booked on didn't exist.

Mr Shackleton and his travelling companions began to panic because the delay upset their child-minding plans.

And they were incensed that the company had not informed them of any changes to the schedule.

"We've been treated very shabbily," claimed Mr Shackleton, who had been looking forward to his long weekend in Ireland.

"Getting on the departing plane at Blackpool was pretty frantic because we arrived in good time to be told if was leaving in five minutes. But on the way back we arrived at the airport for a 11.30am flight only to be told at the reception desk that the flight we were booked on didn't exist. We had arranged our child care and were worried that the delay would create all sorts of problems.

"We didn't leave Dublin until 2.30pm. It ruined the break. We got very tense sitting in the airport not knowing what was going on or what was going to happen."

The company's operations manager explained that he could not understand what had happened and offered Mr Shackleton two free flights.

Mr Shackleton added: "How can they give you tickets containing details of a flight that doesn't exist? They explained to us later that they had recently changed their schedules but they hadn't bothered to tell us."

Despite repeated attempts, Comed Aviation were unavailable for comment.