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Date Published: 19/09/2022

ARCHIVED - Ryanair flight from Dublin to Portugal winds up in Spain

ARCHIVED ARTICLE

Most passengers didn’t realise they were in Malaga rather than Faro until the flight landed

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Ryanair flight from Dublin to Portugal winds up in Spain

At first glance, this might seem like another amusing case of a bewildered passenger somehow managing to get on the wrong flight, but over the weekend an entire plane-load of people wound up in the wrong country.

The Ryanair flight left Dublin heading for Faro in Portugal after a slight delay but, much to the confusion of its 157 passengers, touched down in Malaga in southern Spain instead.

One traveller, Barry Masterson, created a storm on social media by posting a hilarious blow-by-blow account of the debacle, which involved the passengers being herded onto a coach and bussed 5 hours across the border into Portugal.

Mr Masterson wrote: "Flight staff are trying to calm the crowd with the promise of the mystery box of answers that someone else will provide when we get in the airport.

"We're on a five-hour bus to Portugal now and we've stopped for petrol and pee stops within five minutes.

"Got to the Dublin airport 12 hours ago and now I'm in a petrol station in Malaga at 5:41am, send help."

Once they arrived at the Spain-Portugal border, the passengers suffered yet another delay as they had to switch to a new coach.

"Had a taxi booked from Faro airport to the hotel last night and their receptionist sent a furious text about us landing in Malaga,” the traveller quipped.

"I'm sorry we didn't call to warn you from literally thousands of feet in the air that we were being taken hostage to the wrong country".

Got on a @Ryanair flight to Faro and I'm in Malaga lads, you couldn't make this up 😂😭😭
— Barry Masterson (@BarryMasterson) September 17, 2022

Ryanair blamed the blunder on the ongoing air traffic controller strike in France, which resulted in numerous delays and cancellations in Spain and around Europe over the weekend.

A spokesperson said: "This flight from Dublin to Faro (September 16) diverted to Malaga having missed Faro Airport's curfew due to disruption from the French Air Traffic Control (ATC) strike, which was entirely beyond our control and impacted all airlines flying to/from/over France that day.

"To minimise disruption to passengers, Ryanair quickly arranged for a coach to transport passengers from Malaga Airport to their final destination."

Image: Archive

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