Ryanair, Ireland’s low-cost airline, is in the middle of a controversy for leaving 14 of its passengers. The incident took place on Saturday (April 30) at Palma airport.
The blunder happened even after these passengers had checked in and arrived at the gate on time. According to The Independent, the mistake happened when the ground crew divided passengers in groups to be taken on shuttles to flight FR5729 to Malaga.
Quoting Spanish publication Ultima Hora, the report said that when the final bus was full, the last group (of 14 passengers) was asked to wait for another shuttle.
There was a woman among the travellers who was afraid of her scheduled chemotherapy appointment in Andalucia.
The bus, however, never arrived, and in the meanwhile, passengers waiting at the gate C55 were shocked to realise that the plane had taken off without them.
Ryanair offered all of the customers another flight at 10 pm on the same night, as well as a four-euro voucher to use at airport shops.
“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),” the airline told The Independent.
Ryanair DAC is an ultra-low-cost airline based in Dublin, Ireland. It was founded in 1984.
It is the largest airline in the Ryanair Holdings family, with sibling airlines Ryanair UK, Buzz, Lauda Europe, and Malta Air. By scheduled passengers flown, Ryanair was the leading European budget airline in 2016, and it carried more international passengers than any other airline.