Right seats, wrong plane. Families board Ryanair flight to Latvia instead of Spain!
Two families, set to depart from East Midlands Airport spent a long 10 hours at Birmingham Airport after they were allowed to board a Ryanair flight to Latvia instead of the flight to their intended destination 3,850km away in Almeria, Spain!
Amazingly, even after their boarding passes were checked three times by East Midlands Airport staff – at the gate, on the concourse and then on the plane, Stephen Pritchard and his son, together with Jo Housley and her three young children, were allowed to board the flight. The error was revealed once the rightful passengers for the seats to Riga, Latvia arrived and the families realised that they were in the right seats but on the wrong plane. But it was too late to join their correct flight as the pilot had sealed the doors and would not allow any more passengers on board.
The families were told that the next available flight to that region of Spain was later in the day from another airport Birmingham Airport and to Murcia, 107 miles from Almeria their original destination. Both families – who had not met before – spent £70 on a shared taxi from East Midlands Airport to Birmingham Airport, where they waited 10 long hours for the flight.
The confusion is said to have arisen when two queues for the flights to Latvia and Almeria formed closely side by side at Gates Four and Five at East Midlands Airport. A spokesperson form Ryanair said: “While it is the responsibility of each customer to ensure they board the correct aircraft, we have asked our handling agent at East Midlands to investigate this incident and ensure it does not recur. Ryanair sincerely apologises to the customers in question, who have been transferred onto the next available flight free of charge, provided with refreshment vouchers and advised to keep receipted expenses for reimbursement of additional transport costs.”
At EUclaim we’ve come across a few other stories like this in the last few months. With heightened security at all airports we are amazed that this happens. Anyway did you hear the one about…
- The British female passenger who had to take a 300-mile trip from Leeds to Edinburgh when she was instructed onto the wrong Jet2 plane at Dalaman airport in Turkey.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/10955744/Jet2-flies-Briton-to-wrong-country.html
Or
- The American dentist who is suing British Airways for putting him on the wrong flight! He tried to book a flight to Granada, Spain, but ended up in Grenada in the Caribbean. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/25/american-couple-sue-british-airways-grenada-granada
- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/10955744/Jet2-flies-Briton-to-wrong-country.html
