A Ryanair flight to Gran Canaria was diverted and instead flew passengers to Lanzarote, where they were told to take two ferries and a bus to reach their destination in Gran Canaria. The ordeal ended with passengers travelling for two days before arriving on Monday, 26th September.
Getaway Hell
Tricky storm conditions described as “impossible” by the pilot meant the plane could not land in Gran Canaria. Spanish airport operator AENA informed that by the afternoon, there had been 141 cancelled flights due to storm Hermine. Despite the 6.50 am Ryanair flight setting off, it was unable to land for an hour.
Holidaymakers were left disappointed after being stranded at Lanzarote Airport, where they had to board a boat first to Fuerteventura and then to their desired destination in Gran Canaria. Barry and Emma Etherington from Gateshead, UK, voiced their frustration after their romantic getaway got off to a terrible start. Once at the airport, they were left to soak in the rain for two hours. Despite acknowledging that Ryanair couldn’t have done anything to prevent a storm, law firm worker Emma expressed her annoyance at the fact that there was little communication from Ryanair once they were at the airport. She has since promised never to travel with the airline again.
Beyond Their control
A Ryanair representative has defended the airline, saying that the flight was diverted “due to weather conditions which were entirely beyond Ryanair’s control… We sincerely apologize to customers for any inconvenience caused due to these weather disruptions.” However, it is unlikely that their apology will be received well as Barry and Emma are not currently expecting compensation for the trip. Despite all of this, the couple is now safely in the comfort of their hotel and determined to enjoy the rest of their holiday.
Do you have any nightmare travel stories? Let us know in the comments!
Same happened to us we go dumped in Hannover told there was a bus to take us to Berlin we had to make our own way hundreds of people no bus no information just a empty airport and angry passengers
Stressful! Let’s hope that airlines start improving on this kind of service.
The Ryanair flight that was diverted to Lanzarote was the flight we were booked on to travel home. After waiting at the gate well passed our flight time we were told the flight was cancelled. After getting our luggage back we were in a long queue to speak to someone on the help desk. Hours later we were told they were putting on a emergency plane the next afternoon so again we had to go to stand in another queue. We never got near the help desk by the way ! We were not even given a bottle of water and were told we had to arrange a hotel room ourselves and be back to the airport three hours before our new flight time.
Some people went to hotels before the emergency flight was announced to find another flight home because the travel sites were just crashing and they were never going to get to the help desk for hours hence all the empty seats on the plane coming we found a room 150 euros for the night and arrived there at 10pm exhausted. Some people had to sleep at the airport and we’re offered nothing, they had no money to pay for a hotel as once the hotels realised that people wanted rooms they bumped up the prices some going as high as 900 euros. We were up early the next day to arrive in plenty of time but again in a big queue to hand in our bags. We eventually landed in Newcastle at again exhausted. I was personally in a lot of pain having Fibromyalgia and had real trouble with swollen feet. I and a lot of people who went through this experience have vowed never to fly with Ryanair again.
We were on same flight ryanair don’t reply to emails nor do on the beach holidays we been fobbed off 7 day holiday turned out 5 days in resort two days travelling and no response ryanair cowboys
I’m sorry that you had to go through this!