A mum and her two young children were reportedly forced to sleep on the floor of the airport after Ryanair cancelled their flight.
Kelly Kavanagh and her two children, aged five and three months, were flying back to Manchester Airport after a holiday in Lisbon. The family arrived at the airport in Portugal way before their scheduled flight time of 9.15pm on May 31.
But the family didn't manage to get another flight until over 12 hours later. In between that time the three were forced to sleep on the airport floor without food and water.
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Kelly told the ECHO she'd "never had an experience like it". The 39-year-old from Dingle said people were "left to sleep like dogs on the floor" with no communication from Ryanair about what was happening and when there next flight might be.
The family experienced flight issues travelling from Manchester Airport out to Lisbon but were put in a hotel until their next flight. But on the return Kelly said Ryanair "acted like they didn't care" and people "just had to figure out what was happening".
Kelly told the ECHO : "I was just left to get through the airport carrying a baby, a five-year-old and a car seat. The treatment we were getting just felt so wrong - like there wasn't a sympathetic bone in their body.
"It felt like Ryanair were trying to avoid helping as much as possible. We were then left to sleep on the airport floor like dogs with no food or water, nothing to sterilise my baby's bottles and no communication.
"It was a good thing I brought extra diapers and baby formula with me. You think as I had a new-born baby there would be an offer of help."
Kelly said her five-year-old was "exhausted" after sleeping on the floor. She added the young girl had a "panic attack" on the flight home because of the stress of the extended journey.
Kelly finally made it back to Manchester after boarding another flight which was also delayed. She arrived back in the early afternoon on Wednesday.
The mum-of-two added: "It just made me feel sick to my stomach to see people sleeping on the floor like that with so little offers of help. There was no communication, no announcements, no information.
"It's something I never want to go through again."
Ryanair told the ECHO: "“This flight from Lisbon to Manchester (31 May) was delayed ahead of take-off as the inbound flight was delayed, causing the crew to reach their permitted daily flight hours and prohibiting them to fly back to Manchester that night. Affected customers were notified of the delay via email and received subsequent updates via the Ryanair app.
"Overnight accommodation was offered to passengers, however, due to limited availability of accommodation in Lisbon, some passengers remained at the airport and were provided with food & drink vouchers. This flight departed the following morning (01 June) at 09:30am. Ryanair sincerely apologised to all customers affected by this delay.”"
