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ARCHIVED - Flight fiasco as Ryanair passenger manages to sneak on board at Spanish airport
Palma to Manchester flight branded a “fiasco” following huge delay and passenger chaos
It’s not been the greatest of summers for Irish airline Ryanair, with its pilots threatening industrial action over pay, its cabin crew in Spain staging ongoing work stoppages and the unions threatening legal action. The carrier’s reputation is unlikely to be improved by the fiasco experienced by travellers on August 4, when a passenger managed to sneak on board at Palma de Mallorca airport without a ticket.
According to 64-year-old grandmother Barbara Watson, who was returning to Manchester after a family holiday in Spain, an air steward informed her that the man had actually disembarked from a previous flight but had hidden on the bridge as all the other passengers left. He then ducked back onto the plane and took an empty seat.
The Ryanair plane was already on the runway before the pilot spotted the mistake on his flight manifesto; he told passengers over the intercom that his numbers weren’t adding up and that they would have to return to the gate.
"The senior steward asked to see his boarding pass but obviously he didn't have one because he'd come out on the flight and got back on, for whatever reason no one knows. Then someone came on and arrested him,” Ms Watson explained.
"Everyone was getting a bit worried and thinking had he left anything on board," she added. "The pilot said to us all 'can everybody stand up now and take all your luggage out of the overhead boxes and put it on the seat where you're sitting'”.
The cabin crew checked all of the overhead bins and passengers were eventually allowed to stow their belongings, and the flight departed one hour and 20 minutes after schedule.
"Everyone was out of their mind with worry and stewards had to come with jugs of water for everybody stuck there with engine roaring. It was an absolute fiasco,” she added.
A Ryanair spokesman said: "The crew of this flight from Palma to Manchester requested police assistance ahead of take off after identifying a passenger that was not booked to travel on this flight. The passenger was removed and the crew carried out security checks again ahead of take-off, as per Ryanair procedure.
"We are working with our handling agents in Palma to ensure that this error doesn’t reoccur. Ryanair sincerely apologises to affected passengers for any inconvenience caused.”
Image: Archive
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