When the Coray family boarded their plane bound for the Canary Islands, they were looking forward to a relaxing break in the sun.

But their dream holiday turned into a nightmare trip after the air hostess on landing announced "Welcome to Turkey".

An extraordinary mistake at airport check-in had put the family on a six hour flight going 3,000 miles in the opposite direction.

First Choice: The Coray family flew to Turkey instead of the Canary Islands because of an airport blunder

Charlie Coray, 47, and his wife Tania, 44, a teacher, from Llanishen, Cardiff, had booked the all-inclusive five-star hotel break with First Choice and were due to fly out of Cardiff Airport last Sunday morning with their daughter Phoebe, nine.

They queued at a First Choice check-in. But instead of being given boarding passes for Lanzarote they were issued ones for Turkey.

Incredibly, no-one - including the family - noticed the error and they got on the charter plane without realising where it was going.

The first they knew of the mistake was when the hostess announced "Welcome to Turkey" as they landed at Bodrum airport.

Mr Coray, who works as a gas engineer, said: "It was unbelievable - I've never heard of anything like it. I know they send luggage to the wrong places but not people.

"It was about 6.30 in the morning when we arrived at Cardiff airport and we were directed to the check-in desk.

"We did not realise that more than one flight was being checked in there. We were half asleep and didn't realise that the girl on the desk had put us on the wrong plane.

"When we were called to the gate we gave them our boarding passes, got on the plane and fell asleep. It wasn't until the hostess said 'Welcome to Turkey' that the penny dropped.

"My daughter is absolutely shattered. She saw her mum and me panicking when we realised what had happened and she was very upset by it. We're supposed to be having a nice time on our holiday."

Once in Turkey, the family had to pay £10 each for a landing visa, hang around at the airport for several hours and endure an exhausting six hour return flight back to Cardiff.

First Choice had offered them a replacement holiday in Turkey but the family refused and flew back to Wales.

However, as there are no more available flights to Lanzarote from Cardiff this week, they have accepted the offer of a similar trip to the Spanish island of Ibiza.

They were due to arrive on holiday last night.

Mr Coray added: "I'll make sure I check the boarding passes so we don't make that mistake again!

"I feel sorry for the check-in girl who looks like she will lose her job. We're now booked on a like-for-like holiday in Ibiza. It looks very nice but it is not what we wanted.

"It is the best they could offer us because they couldn't get us to Lanzarote from Cardiff airport - although it would have meant an even long journey to Luton instead."

A spokesman for Cardiff Airport handling agents Servisair apologised for the "upset caused".

She said the passenger service agent who accepted them onto the wrong flight had been suspended from work pending a disciplinary hearing.

A First Choice spokeswoman also apologised for the mistake and said the Coray family would be refunded for all their additional expenses.

She said: "We are currently carrying out an investigation with Servisair to ensure this mistake will not happen again."