Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Nottingham Post
Nottingham Post
National
Peter Hennessy & Jack Thurlow

Ryanair horror as pregnant mum and family left stranded in wrong country after airline mix-up

A pregnant woman and her family say they were left stranded in another country after a Ryanair mix-up.

Tia Watson, 24, from Kimberley, had flown out to Fuerteventura on Monday, February 14, and were due to return on Friday, February 18, in the wake of Storm Eunice.

However, the landing was aborted near Manchester Airport as it was deemed unsafe - so passengers got diverted to Bordeaux in the south of France, the family said.

Ms Watson, who is 23-weeks pregnant, explained she, her partner Martin Beard and their four-year-old daughter were then at the airport for two to three hours before being put in a hotel overnight.

Ms Watson said: "We received a text on Friday night to say 'we apologise for your overnight delay, your new flight time will be 7.40pm on Saturday evening local time'.

"So obviously we went to sleep, had breakfast and said 'we're not going to set an alarm or anything' as we thought the flight was half-seven at night.

"We got to breakfast at the hotel and there was literally no one at the hotel from our flight.

"We thought this was really weird because the flight we were on was full and there were hundreds of people in our hotel.

"Reception told us that they all got picked up on free coaches this morning.

"We assumed that everyone had been told the correct flight and we're the only ones that had received the error.

"So we were on the phone to Ryanair all day asking what's going on and they said 'don't worry we can see that your flight is still at 7.40pm so just get to the airport normal time and your flight will be there'."

However, when they got to the airport they realised there was no such flight on the departures board.

So they checked with a Ryanair delegate - to then be told that there was no flight going to England that day.

They were instead told that the flight was at 10am that day and they had missed it.

Speaking on Sunday [February 20], Ms Watson continued: "After being on the phone for hours all day, getting to the airport with a four-year-old, I'm pregnant myself and obviously it's very, very stressful.

"Then they said there's a flight today [Sunday, February 20] so they want us to lug all of our stuff to the airport again, three hours before the flight, go through check-in and everything, on the off-chance that three people don't show up.

"That's stressful in itself."

Ms Watson has since told Nottinghamshire Live that they eventually managed to get back home on late on Sunday, February 20.

But before the family were able to get home, she said they'd been booked on a flight on Wednesday (February 23).

They feared being stranded for a further few days, Ms Watson adding: "My partner is a reception teacher in Arnold and he's had to contact the headteacher and let him know. It's a nightmare.

"We've got absolutely nothing now.

"We were in Fuerteventura so we obviously only packed summer clothes so now we're in 8C weather in dresses and sandals with no money, no clothes.

"If I don't laugh, I will cry. Yesterday I was just crying all day."

Nottinghamshire Live has contacted Ryanair for comment.

To read all the biggest and best stories first sign up to read our newsletters here.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.