We were booked to fly from Zadar to Zagreb on 22 June 2008 at 6.45, changing planes in Zagreb to catch the 8.30 plane to Amsterdam. Our original flight would have been on 21 June, but Croatia Airlines informed us three weeks in advance the the Saturday flight had been cancelled, so we settled for Sunday.

When, after a very early start, we got to the airport on Sunday morning at 5.45, there was no one, apart from a few other passengers expecting to take the same flight. No Croatia staff, no plane, nothing. After 30 minutes or so, one of the airport staff got word that the flight had been cancelled. She could not provide any further information, Croatia Airlines did not pick up the phone, and she recommended we wait till the next Croatia flight departing from Zadar, which was eight hours later. So we sat and waited, at a small airport with no facilities, for eight solid hours. At 1400 a Croatia rep showed up, who confirmed that the flight had been cancelled. Why, he did not know. Why we had not been informed (they had my mobile number) he could not tell. The only suggestion he could make was that he would reroute us on the next flight the next day. When I asked him where we would spend the night, he said there were many hotels in Zadar (actually, there is only one) and we should find one ourselves. He could not arrange anything, and we would have to bear the cost, as a matter of company policy. Later we could then submit our bills and try to get a refund.

Rather than following this suggestion, we decided to take the afternoon flight to Zagreb and sort things out there. When we got to Zagreb, after a fair deal of pressure Croatia Airlines agreed to book us into a hotel, and we continued the next day to Amsterdam. We arrived there with 24 hours' delay.

We met with total indifference from all Croatia ground staff, and they are clearly under instruction to play dumb and avoid incurring expenses if they can help it. No apologies were made. An airline to be avoided.