An airport power outage caused travel 'chaos' with passengers claiming flights 'took off without them'. Manchester Airport's Terminal 3 lost power just before 8am on Wednesday, leaving passengers 'stranded' and stuck in long queues as staff scrambled to get check-in and boarding services back up and running.
Some say the delays caused them to miss their flights as 'planes took off without them', Manchester Evening News reports. One woman, who arrived at 7am for her 10am Ryanair flight to Tenerife, ended up missing it after getting stuck trying to check in her luggage.
Megan tweeted: "@askryanair @Ryanair @manairport @MENnewsdesk supposed to fly to Tenerife at 10am. Got here at 7am and waited for desk to open.
"Power cut at airport so stuck trying to check luggage in. Plane has gone. What are we supposed to do? Nobody has come to advise us. It’s my birthday today!"
Other passengers also took to social media to share their frustration. Tom McKenna said: "Absolute chaos down at @manairport just seen my Ryanair flight fly over my head as I'm queuing outside terminal 3.
"Utter disgrace…should be ashamed of themselves."
Laura Marie tweeted: "Stood at T3 bag check in since 7:30am, hundreds of people stranded, no-one in charge letting us know what is going on, flight has already left @Ryanair can someone actually help please?"
She added: "@Ryanair have told us no more flights today and we have to come back tomorrow. We have had to book new flights and a hotel which comes at additional expense we should not have to pay.
"I fully appreciate this is not anyone's fault but some communication would help."
Kate Vaudrey said: "Absolute shambles this morning. None of the ground staff were prioritising check in based on flight times.
"Only 2 members of staff available for baggage drop off. 80 passengers missed our Ryanair flight this morning."
The airport said some customers faced longer wait times but employees were doing everything in their power to ease disruption. Airport bosses also apologised for the inconvenience caused by the power cut, which was caused by a fault at an external substation and was later resolved.
The official Manchester Airport Twitter account said: "The power outage that affected Terminal 3 shortly before 8am has been resolved and we are working to return services to normal. We are aware this means some passengers are facing long waiting times than usual as our airlines recover their check-in processes and we apologise or any inconvenience.
"Passengers are advised to check with their airline for the most up-to-date flight information."
Ryanair said the issue 'was entirely beyond' the airline's control as they also apologised for the delays. In a statement, a Ryanair spokesperson said: "Due to a power outage at Manchester Airport, which was entirely beyond Ryanair’s control, some passengers missed their flights from Manchester Airport this morning (24 May).
"Where possible, we have re-accommodated affected passengers on alternative Ryanair flights departing later today and where alternative flights are not available today, we advise passengers to contact our Customer Service Team. We sincerely apologise to affected passengers for any inconvenience caused as a result of this power outage at Manchester Airport, which was entirely beyond Ryanair’s control."
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