Several hundred Ryanair passengers were left stranded in northern Spain yesterday after their incoming aircraft diverted to a different airport.
Monday's 9.55am flight from Vitoria to Dublin was cancelled due to heavy fog in the Basque airport. The inbound flight diverted to Santander and returned to Dublin with no passengers on board.
Passenger Séamus Fingleton told The Irish Timesthey were offered flights from Girona yesterday evening, 36 hours after their scheduled departure and six hours' by road, or Madrid this evening, 60 hours after their scheduled departure and four hours by road.
Mr Fingleton said passengers were told they had to make their own way to these airports. "When I asked how to get to either, I was told that I could drive. There were no car hire companies open in Vitoria."
Passengers queued for four hours to get this information and were not provided with refreshments or assistance, he said.
Ryanair apologised to passengers but said the safety of crew and passengers was its main priority. A spokesman said the flight was diverted due to unsafe weather conditions and passengers on the inbound flight were bussed from Santander to Vitoria.
"It was not possible to bus passengers from Vitoria to Santander for the return flight. The aircraft was forced to return empty to Dublin because the crew would have exceeded their safe flying limits for the day had they waited for the Vitoria passengers. Flight FR 7153 was cancelled as a result.
"All passengers were offered transfer via the next available flight from Vitoria or a transfer via an alternative Ryanair airport or a full refund. The majority of passengers returned home yesterday and today via Vitoria, Madrid, Biarritz, Reus and Girona airports."
All passengers were notified of their rights to compensation under EU legislation and Ryanair would review any claims, he said.
Mr Fingleton said he got a taxi to Bilbao and flew to Barcelona, where he spent the night before flying with a different airline to Dublin, all at his own expense.
