A woman's first visit to see her son after he moved to Spain was put on hold after she was not able to board a Ryanair flight despite getting to the gate early.
Retired couple Margaret and John Harrop were due to fly out to Alicante on Ryanair flight FR4080 at 11am on September 28 to see their son Keith for the first time since he and partner Lynne moved out to the Costa Blanca in July 2020. However, their plans were scuppered when their flight left without them.
Margaret and John were among seven people who watched the plane taxi onto the runway and leave without them from a special assistance vehicle just "yards away". And the couple also claim that they saw their luggage being removed from the aircraft ahead of its take off.
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The couple arrived at Newcastle Airport at 8.20am, depositing their suitcases and heading through security without a hitch. They went to special assistance and were told to be at Gate 19 for 10am, but arrived 20 minutes earlier to be on the safe side.
They were then taken to board the plane and were waiting on a special assistance lift "10 or 20 yards" from the plane. But despite that, they weren't able to board - which Ryanair put down to special assistance provider's failure to "fulfil their responsibility to these passengers causing them to miss their flight".
John told Chronicle Live : "We got one of these shuttle lifts that raises you up and puts you in the plane if you're disabled, and we could see people getting onto the other side of the plane. We couldn't see their faces, but then we started to see one or two bags being taken off and Margaret said to me, 'that's our bag.' I said 'it can't be'.
"We were standing there for about 25 minutes and then all of a sudden, the plane started to move. The bloke in charge of the shuttle was mumbling and he said there's been an issue, but he wouldn't say anymore."
Margaret and John were then taken back to the terminal, where they were made to wait for "an hour, maybe more," while airport staff were "having a meeting."
After receiving apologies, the seven passengers left behind were promised places on a Jet2 flight at 6am the following morning, which had eight vacancies. John and Margaret were also offered the option of staying at a hotel at the airport, which the other five guests chose, or a taxi to go home and return for the flight the following morning.
Margaret, 76, said: "I knew my son and his partner were over there waiting for us, it's a while since we've seen them so it was very disappointing. It was so, so annoying and we were disappointed not only because we didn't get there on Wednesday, but because nobody informed us about anything.
"All my medication was in the case and I didn't know whether it was on the plane or not. We were there in loads of time, everybody was. We were just sitting in the departure lounge until they came for us. It just shouldn't have happened, if it'd been the other way and I had been able to just been able to walk up the stairs, I would have been on my holidays."
The couple are now in Spain, on a 16-day trip instead of the originally planned 17.
A spokesperson from Newcastle Airport said: "Following investigation, we can confirm that seven passengers that were assisted with their journey through the airport were unable to travel. The passengers arrived at the aircraft in advance of the scheduled departure time but were not permitted to board the aircraft.
"Newcastle Airport assisted all customers affected by ensuring they departed on the next available flight."
A spokesperson from Ryanair said: "Special assistance at Newcastle Airport is provided by a third party – not by Ryanair. We are disappointed that the third party provider at Newcastle Airport failed to fulfil their responsibility to these passengers causing them to miss their flight."
Ryanair declined to answer the Chronicle's enquiries on why the plane did not wait for those on the special assistance vehicle and why Mr and Mrs Harrop's luggage was removed from the plane.
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