Ryanair passengers furious after flight leaves them behind at airport

‘I don’t understand how it could have happened,’ says traveller

A Ryanair Boeing 737-800 (Getty Images)

A group of Ryanair passengers were in disbelief after the airline appeared to forget about them on Saturday, leaving them behind at the airport.

The 14 travellers were abandoned at Palma airport in Mallorca on 30 April, despite the fact they had checked in and arrived at the gate on time to board flight FR5729 to Malaga.

The mistake occurred when airport ground crew put passengers on airport shuttles to reach the aircraft, reports Balearic Islands newspaper Ultima Hora.

There was no room on the final bus, so the last group of travellers was told to wait for another shuttle.

However, the bus never returned – and in the meantime, the passengers were horrorstruck to realise the plane had taken off without them.

“I don’t understand how it could have happened,” said one.

“We have passed the QR code at the security check. In the system it should appear that we were on land.”

Although the airline accommodated the abandoned customers on a flight at 10pm the same day, some had missed onward connections in the meantime, while one woman was flying to Malaga for cancer treatment.

Susana Guerrero said she was anxious about missing her chemo session.

Speaking to Ultima Hora, she said: “At this point and after all this, I still don’t know if I’m going to spend the night at the airport or if they’ll let me go home.”

Passengers were given a voucher for €4 by Ryanair to spend at the airport.

A Ryanair spokesperson told The Independent that the mistake had been made by the airport’s ground crew.

“The airport handler who operates the airport shuttle bus at Palma De Mallorca failed to collect this small group of passengers awaiting their bus at the airport gate to bring them to their plane, causing them to miss their flight to Malaga (30 Apr),” they said.

“Affected passengers received refreshment vouchers and were reaccommodated on a later flight, with one passenger opting for a refund. Ryanair apologises sincerely to passengers for this inconvenience.”