Imagine, for a moment, paying for a flight and then finding out the seats you paid for don’t exist after boarding the plane. Well, that’s exactly what happened to at least eight London passengers heading to Dublin on Ryanair.
In a now-viral online video, the passengers are seen standing in the back of the plane, confused about their seats.
“So, everyone here has paid for seats… And we’re stuck at the back of the plane,” Gerry Harrington says in the video.
Harrington says airline staff told the seatless passengers the flight was overbooked, but he didn’t buy the excuse.
“No, they’ve sent a smaller plane,” he adds.
Canceled Trip
Instead of heading to Ireland for the weekend, the 62-year-old was forced to cancel his trip because there wasn’t space for him on the plane.
Harrington was seated in row 35, but the plane only went up to row 33.
The passengers were reportedly offered about $450 for compensation, accommodations, and a seat on the first flight the next day. Harrington believes a complete refund and compensation are due after missing a soccer game.
“There was no point in traveling the next day as we’d missed the tournament we were playing in,” he says.
This Isn’t A First For Ryanair
After his viral posts, more people started coming out with either similar situations or different Ryanair horror stories.
“[This] happened to me in July,” one person wrote. “[I] can’t believe this is still happening.”
“This is typical of Ryanair,” said another. “Never any communication.”
In a statement to Daily Mail, Ryanair confirmed that passengers were left behind because of an airline change and moved to an alternative flight the next day.
“Affected passengers were provided with overnight accommodation and will receive compensation, “a spokesperson for the airline told the outlet.
“Ryanair sincerely apologizes to these passengers for any inconvenience caused.”
As for Harrington, he says the chaotic incident could’ve been avoided if the airline had communicated properly.
Related: Ryanair Passenger Left Shocked After Arriving In Portugal Rather Than Spain