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British passengers stuck in Spanish airport for 24 hours due to Ryanair delay
A technical issue with the plane forced the flight to return to Tenerife after just 30 minutes in the air
Holidaymakers flying home to Manchester from the Canary Islands on Saturday December 16 had hardly reached cruising altitude when their Ryanair plane had to return to Tenerife airport due to a “minor technical issue”. But this was only the start of their troubles as the tourists had to endure a chaotic 24-hour wait before eventually being put back on a flight to the UK.
Passengers on the evening flight were originally told they would be delayed until 8am the following morning while engineers worked on the aircraft but as the fault proved more and more difficult to resolve, the travel time was pushed out further and further: initially, to 1pm on Sunday December 17, then 4pm and finally 7pm.
Speaking from Tenerife airport at the time, Briton Michelle Hamilton said that most of her fellow travellers were “upset and angry” at the lack of communication from Ryanair.
“In all fairness they got us back to Tenerife rapidly – but from then it was shocking. There are so many people here, including a young couple with a 10-month-old baby on special milk and they are running out,” she said.
“It’s so poor, we have been in the airport all day. I am young and fit enough to manage but people have no money and have been left all day from morning until now.”
Ryanair eventually made a call to put passengers on alternative flights, but many were forced to fly to Liverpool and face a coach ride from there to Manchester.
A spokesperson for the airline apologised for the inconvenience but said that it was entirely beyond their control. He also said that passengers were notified of their new estimated departure time via SMS and offered overnight accommodation and transport to and from Tenerife airport.
Image: Archive
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