Families were left stranded in Spain last night and children heartbroken after potentially missing out on Premier League football matches in Liverpool and Manchester due to the thunderstorms at Dublin Airport yesterday.
An Aer Lingus flight to Tenerife was cancelled yesterday evening after it had to return to the gate due to technical issues. While attempts were made to depart at a later time, the decision was eventually made to cancel the flight completely leaving those waiting on it to arrive in Tenerife stranded in Spain overnight.
The flight that was due to leave Dublin was scheduled to depart at 3pm and the cancellation was confirmed to passengers at 8pm. As a result, the flights to and from Tenerife have been rescheduled to tomorrow.
A passenger told Dublin Live: "The plane was leaving the terminal when it was diverted back and everyone was put back into the airport from the plane that was due over here. So obviously the plane we're supposed to get on hasn't even left Dublin.
"So at the minute there's nobody here at Tenerife airport who are communicating at all about the Aer Lingus flight. They just keep saying keep an eye on the board. It's a big mess, so people are starting to get anxious and the airport is quite small. But as of right now there's no representatives at all from Aer Lingus."
Eventually passengers received a text confirming the flight was cancelled and that a recovery flight would be operating today at 1.35pm. It also asked passengers to contact a member of the ground handling team for hotel accommodation for the night. Dublin Live has contacted Aer Lingus for a statement.
The Ryanair flight heading to Manchester at 10.35am eventually left its gate in Dublin after 6pm yesterday evening and arrived into Manchester just after 7pm. While those on board who were attending Liverpool v West Ham were guaranteed to miss the 7.30pm kick-off, there was some hope for the fans attending Manchester United vs Tottenham at 8.15pm.
One passenger on board the flight said that there was barely any communication from Ryanair except for a €4 food and drink voucher. After realising that they would not make it to Manchester in time to get to Anfield in Liverpool for the match, they took up the offer to depart the flight at around 4pm.
They said a staff member told them the flight would depart from its gate at 5pm at the earliest. It eventually took off from the runway at 6.26pm. When they departed the flight they received an email outlining their compensation rights.
Read more: Dublin Airport: Over 100 flights delayed departing and landing as Met Eireann issue orange warning
They told Dublin Live: "We were stuck on the tarmac for ages and there was no updates. There were about 15 kids on the flight heading to the matches, and they were not teens, they were young kids. One young boy was on his first flight ever and was going to see Manchester United and I could hear his dad saying 'sorry buddy, we might have to go home'. It was heartbreaking.
"I can't fault the staff or the pilot, they were in the same situation as us. When we got off the flight there was at least six people who decided to leave at that time. There could have been more who left afterward. If we stayed on the flight, by the time we got into Manchester Airport there was no chance we were getting to Anfield on time to even see a little bit of the match."
In a statement to Dublin Live, Ryanair said that the near eight hour delay in departure was due to the earlier thunderstorms at Dublin Airport.
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