Alex Trelinski
RYANAIR says passengers stuck on its planes from Spain and Portugal for up to 15 hours due to Storm Ashley last weekend were not entitled to free refreshments- even water- or compensation.
A spokesperson for the carrier said travellers could not get anything when delays and diversions are caused by a tropical storm, ‘which was clearly beyond Ryanair’s control’
A passenger on an Ibiza to Dublin flight on Sunday said the pilot twice attempted to land in Ireland before diverting to Liverpool.
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Alan Duncan told the Irish Times that on landing in Liverpool, passengers were told they could not get off the plane.
“We were told we would not be disembarking as border control wouldn’t allow anyone off the plane as it was an EU to EU flight, and we were kept on it for for four hours,” he said.
He stated there was no food or water, and that some women also suffered panic attacks.”
Another passenger flying from the Algarve to Dublin had to endure a 15-hour journey to get home during Storm Ashley.
Gerald Gallen said: “We boarded in Faro at about 9am and disembarked the plane at 11.55pm in Dublin.”
“We made attempts at landing in Dublin before diverting to Manchester,” he told the Irish Times.
Passengers ended up sitting on the runway for ‘hours’ and he said that ‘at no stage in this 15-hour on-board experience did Ryanair offer or provide so much as a bottle of water to a passenger free of charge’.
A Ryanair spokesperson apologised ‘sincerely to all passengers for these delays and diversions, which were caused by tropical Storm Ashley and our obligation to prioritise passenger and aircraft safety’.
Over the diverted Faro flight, the spokesperson said ‘passengers were provided with snacks and refreshments for sale from the in-flight bar service’
“Passengers were not entitled to free food or drinks on-board and nor are they entitled to compensation when these delays and diversions were caused by a tropical storm, which was clearly beyond Ryanair’s control”, the spokesperson continued.
She expressed gratitude to its ‘operations teams and our crews who worked long hours in extremely difficult circumstances during a tropical storm to get passengers back to Dublin, rather than cancelling flights or leaving them stranded in UK airports’.
