Passengers on a Ryanair flight to Birmingham had to sleep on an ’empty’ airport floor after their flight time was pushed back several times. Passengers claim they were ‘abandoned’ at the Agadir–Al Massira Airport, Morrocco, after checking in around at 7pm on Sunday (January 5) for their flight 9.40pm flight to Birmingham Airport.
But the flight kept getting pushed back, and passengers claim they ‘were not offered accommodation’. They were left having to sleep at the now deserted airport, leaving ‘kids crying’ and people missing their return to work the next day.
Passengers received updates saying their flight would leave at 12.40am, then 2.10am, 2.50am, 3.35am and then 10.30am, before it actually left at 11.36am. It arrived back in the UK on Monday (January 6) afternoon at 2.34pm, 14 hours after it should have.
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One angry passenger, who asked not to be named, contacted BirminghamLive and said: “All the passengers on the Agadir flight to Birmingham were stranded at the airport. We just had regular delayed emails.
“No one was saying anything. The crew, bags and stairs were all taken away. Kids were crying, people were missing work and people were lying all over the airport floor. We were there since 7pm and they made us check in at the same time even though the flight was delayed.
“It felt like we were in a film scene in some hostage movie; anyone who got any piece of information or the update first was surrounded to find out what was happening. The Birmingham passengers were the only ones left at the airport. Even most of the airport staff had gone home, apart from a few.”
Passengers had to sleep overnight at Agadir airport in Morocco and faced a 14-hour delay after an issue with an inbound Ryanair flight due to ‘adverse weather conditions’ at Birmingham Airport according to the budget airline
(Image: Nick Wilkinson/Birmingham Live)
He continued: “I had enough at 5am and asked if I could leave the airport and go to a hotel to sleep. So, my flight, I believe, was automatically cancelled.
“They did not give us a hotel or offer any options. At 5am we received an email, that we could rebook for free because it’s been delayed more than five hours or ask for a refund.
“All night, they treated us badly and shared no information, just updating how long the delay was.”
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The passenger said no one at the airport shared any information and there were no Ryanair representatives around to ask. He said the airport shut down around midnight. He did say some people on the flight got a four Euro voucher for food but the cheapest meal was 10 Euros 80.
He added: “I was sitting on the recliner opposite, just watching the madness unfold. You had to queue up one queue to order food, then another queue to pay and then another queue to collect food.
“But they were not doing it by ticket number, just shouting what item it was so the person who just heard and just ordered it goes he will get it first even though someone has been waiting for over 40 minutes. I saw this happen to a fellow passenger.” He said his manager was ‘understanding’ regarding having to delay returning to work.
He said the reason for the delay was the ‘mandatory de-icing of the aircraft earlier today’. But Ryanair confirmed the outward bound flight from Birmingham to Agadir was held up due to the weather conditions at Birmingham Airport.
A number of airports were hit by snow overnight on Saturday (January 4) into Sunday (January 5). Birmingham Airport closed for several hours early on Sunday morning. But it did say after the snow was cleared from the runway, it remained ‘business as usual’ on Sunday (January 5).
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Ryanair blamed the long delay on issues at Birmingham Airport on Sunday, which delayed the flight leaving BHX. A spokesperson for the budget airline said: “This flight from Agadir to Birmingham on January 5 was delayed overnight due to adverse weather conditions at Birmingham Airport, which prevented the inbound aircraft scheduled to operate this flight from departing Birmingham on time.
“Passengers booked on this flight received over 10 communications via email, SMS and PUSH notifications, and received subsequent updates via the Ryanair app. Passengers were notified of the delay and issued with refreshment vouchers.
“Despite Ryanair’s efforts to arrange accommodation for passengers, availability was limited in the area. This flight departed at 11.36am local time the following day (January 5). We sincerely apologise to passengers for any inconvenience caused as result of this delay, which was entirely beyond Ryanair’s control.”
The firm said passengers are entitled to claim back ‘reasonable receipted expenses’ via its website. Birmingham Airport confirmed that Ryanair holds a contract with the de-icing company, and the issue has nothing to do with them.