A Scots teenager said that he was left sleeping on the floor of an airport while other delayed passengers were given hotels after his flight home was cancelled. Archie MacColl-Smith, from Inveraray in Argyll and Bute, had travelled to Dublin from Glasgow for a day trip on Monday, December 12.
Archie was then told his return flight was cancelled. However, he claims that he was told that since he is under 18 he couldn't book a hotel for the night.
He explained to the Record: "Ryanair were providing rooms free of charge, but I was not entitled to one because they didn't have the legal responsibility to put me up.
"I ended up sleeping on the floor of the airport on the night of December 12 into the morning of the 13th. I've had no compensation whatsoever.
"I was lying outside a disabled toilet on the floor of an airport, which is obviously not comfortable. I felt unsafe, it was degrading really. I was just left to queue up on my own, no staff about."
Archie reportedly has been offered no compensation so far and on a limited budget, he said that he was feeling the cost of having to stay the extra time at Dublin City Airport, eventually flying back out to Glasgow at 7.30am on December 13.
"I'm saving up to go to uni and planning to take a gap year too, so every penny counts," said Archie. "I was exhausted by the end of it but had to pay for my own food and drink while I waited on the next flight.
"Part of the worry was having to stay even longer. If I never got on that early flight I would have been there until around 6pm, so another 11 hours."
Archie claimed he was later told by Ryanair that he "should be" entitled to 250 Euros as compensation, but said unclear when he would receive this, saying he had called three times by Wednesday, but had gotten nowhere.
"It's just left me very stressed," he added. "I don't know why there isn't a system in place for people booking flights who are under 18. I was just abandoned, then left to queue up.
"I was even struggling to find somewhere to charge my phone. I just can't believe an airline would leave someone with nowhere to stay like that."
A spokeswoman for Ryanair said: "Due to adverse weather conditions in the UK and Ireland, we have experienced a small number of delays/cancellations to our flights to/from Dublin Airport, incl. this flight from Dublin to Glasgow.
"Overnight accommodation was offered to passengers, however due to the volume of passengers at Dublin Airport, there was limited availability of accommodation in Dublin and some passengers remained at the airport. Passengers can claim reasonable receipted expenses back on Ryanair.com.
"As adverse weather continues across the UK and Ireland, our teams are working hard to minimise disruption to customers and Ryanair advises all customers flying to/from Ireland & UK to check the Ryanair website/app for flight status updates before travelling to the airport.
"We sincerely apologise for these weather-related disruptions which are beyond our control.”
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