Ryanair have issued an apology after passengers were 'in tears' after facing an 'absolute fiasco' at the airport.
Barbara Watson had been to Majorca with her family and was flying from Palma to Manchester on Thursday afternoon (August 4), when a passenger got on their Ryanair flight without a ticket. The Stockport grandma has told of the moment that her 10-year-old granddaughter burst into tears during the chaos.
The 64-year-old, from Reddish, told the Manchester Evening News that a man from the previous flight had managed to sneak onto their plane. She said: "The flight that came in, everyone got off board and one person stayed on the bridge and was hiding. When we all got onto the bridge, he mingled around with us and got back on board."
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She added: "The stewardesses told us that he was hiding on board of view of them waiting to see which seat was free. He sat in the seat, we got on the runway and the pilot stopped the flight and told us we'd have to go back to the gate as the numbers weren't adding up.
"The senior steward asked to see his boarding pass but obviously he didn't have one because he'd come out on the flight and got back on, for whatever reason no one knows. Then someone came on and arrested him."
Barbara described the incident as a 'fiasco' and said that she was worried about the welfare of her 76-year-old partner. She said: "Everyone was getting a bit worried and thinking had he left anything on board. The pilot said to us all 'can everybody stand up now and take all your luggage out of the overhead boxes and put it on the seat where you're sitting'.
"Loads of kids were crying, including my 10-year-old granddaughter because she heard someone say there could be a bomb onboard. Stewardesses searched all lockers, told everyone to put their own luggage back up.
"Everyone was out of their mind with worry and stewards had to come with jugs of water for everybody stuck there with engine roaring. It was an absolute fiasco.
"My partner was at the side of me. He has terminal cancer and has had a heart attack. He was using his spray and I had to calm him down so he didn't have another.
"The captain was great, he came over and told us he'd been arrested and that they didn't know why he'd done it but he'd been acting suspiciously. It was a fantastic holiday so it's a shame that it had a bad ending."
The flight eventually departed at 6.39pm, an hour and 20 minutes after it was supposed to. Ryanair confirmed police assistance was requested and apologised to passengers. The airline also said that it would ensure the error wouldn't reoccur.
A Ryanair spokesman said: "The crew of this flight from Palma to Manchester (04 Aug) requested police assistance ahead of take-off after identifying a passenger that was not booked to travel on this flight. The passenger was removed and the crew carried out security checks again ahead of take-off, as per Ryanair procedure.
"We are working with our handling agents in Palma to ensure that this error doesn’t reoccur. Ryanair sincerely apologises to affected passengers for any inconvenience caused.”
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