No-frills airline Ryanair has been accused of a 'lack of organisation' after a couple discovered they were onboard the wrong flight. Passengers Simon Robinson, 57, and his wife Michelle, 59, only realised they were on the error when other passengers alerted them they were in the wrong seat.
They were allowed to pass through the boarding gate for the Spain-bound jet at Manchester Airport, but somehow got on to the wrong aircraft. Luckily, for them, they managed to transfer to the correct plane minutes before take-off.
Ryanair has admitted the problem occurred, but claimed it was the responsibility of passengers to board the correct flight. The couple, from Stalybridge, said they were confident they were boarding the correct flight, reports the Manchester Evening News.
But Simon said two Ryanair flights were scheduled to depart to Alicante at similar times, and this may have caused the mix-up. He said: "When we arrived at the airport it was extremely busy. We got to Terminal Three and I put my case on the bag drop but it didn't work so we had to queue up for check-in.
"We got our printed boarding passes and that was all fine. We went through security and it was absolutely mad. We got through to departures and knew exactly what time our flight was.
"The gate went up and we arrived at gate 48. They called out the number on our boarding pass and me and my wife went up. We went through and straight on to the plane.
"Someone came over and said we were in their seat but we knew we were in the right seat. Luckily we went to the front of the plane and they told us we were on the wrong plane."
The correct flight was held for the couple and they were able to board, but he moaned he was unable to sit in the seats they had paid for and booked. He said: "The lack of organisation from Ryanair was abysmal. For some reason there were two Ryanair flights to Alicante at pretty much the same time.
"They should have told us before we were allowed to go through to the plane. Luckily our bags were on the right plane but I could have been anyone. Thankfully they held our flight for us. I would have been fuming if we had missed it. I won’t be flying with Ryanair again after this."
A spokesperson for the airline said: "It is each passenger's responsibility to ensure they board the correct aircraft. There are several touch points throughout the passenger journey which inform passengers of the aircraft's destination.
"These include: Flight number and destination are clearly printed on the passenger’s boarding card, flight number and destination are displayed at the gate, flight number and destination are called out in the standard boarding PA, flight number and destination are mentioned in the welcome PA on board.
"As these passengers passed through security control pre-boarding there was no security risk. We are working with our handling agents in Manchester Airport (Swissport) to ensure that this error doesn’t reoccur."
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