Ryanair passengers on board a Dublin to Portugal flight have described their ordeal of landing in the wrong country in the early hours of the morning.
The flight landed in Malaga at around 2am today over 400km away from its intended destination of Faro. The plane was delayed leaving Dublin, causing it to miss Faro Airport's curfew.
In a statement to Dublin Live, a Ryanair spokeswoman said the disruption was caused by the French Air Traffic Control strike which caused travel chaos throughout Europe on Friday. She said: "This flight from Dublin to Faro (16 Sept) diverted to Malaga having missed Faro Airport's curfew due to disruption from the French Air Traffic Control (ATC) strike, which was entirely beyond our control and impacted all airlines flying to/from/over France that day.
Read more: Ryanair cancels 420 flights due to Air Traffic Control strike, affecting Dublin Airport passengers
"To minimise disruption to passengers, Ryanair quickly arranged for a coach to transport passengers from Malaga Airport to their final destination. Ryanair sincerely apologises to passengers for the inconvenience caused as a result of this unjustified French ATC strike."
However, passengers on the flight seemed unaware of the change of plans and were surprised when they landed in Spain. One passenger wrote on Twitter: "Morale is low, some people are only just realising we're in Spain.
"Flight staff are trying to calm the crowd with the promise of the mystery box of answers that someone else will provide when we get in the airport."
Ryanair said a coach was arranged to bring passengers to Faro. However, not everyone made it on the bus and had to make their own way.
One Twitter user said: "My girlfriend was on your flight as well. She and her friends ended up sharing a taxi with another woman down to Faro. Absolutely shambolic."
Another wrote: "My sister in law on the same flight. They got to Dublin Airport yesterday at 4pm to make sure they were early for the flight. Currently in a taxi to Faro 20 hours later."
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