A Ryanair flight left without a couple heading abroad for their wedding - putting the big day in jeopardy. Katie Latham and David Moore were due to travel from Manchester Airport to Paphos in Cyprus when their plans turned into a nightmare.
The couple, from Moreton, near Liverpool, spent around an hour queueing to check their bags in at the airport before making their way to security with their children; Thomas, three, and Sienna, eight, on May 26. However, when they arrived at the gate around 15 minutes later, the couple heard a message on the overhead Tannoy to say Katie had left a suitcase containing her wedding dress at security.
And while they tried to sort the luggage issue, their flight took off without them - despite their pleas to delay it while they arranged for the case to be taken.
The 36-year-old told the Liverpool Echo: "As we got to security, everyone was clambering at the trays all together, rather than one family going at one time. It was so disorganised. Because of the queues at the check-in desks we were aware the gate was going to close in about 15 minutes so we were rushing through.
"We were walking towards the gate and they announced over the Tannoy that someone had left a pink suitcase with a wedding dress in at security. And we realised we missed the bag as we were grabbing all of our things. I just panicked as soon as I heard it.
"They said it had failed a security breach. We didn't even realise that a bag hadn't come through because no one told us. They didn't announce it until 15 minutes later on the Tannoy."
With the gate due to close in five minutes, Katie's fiancé David, 40, ran back to security to collect the case, while she begged Ryanair staff to hold the plane. Katie said: "My daughter was hysterically crying. The rest of our family were already on the plane.
"This one [staff member] showed no compassion whatsoever. I said to her 'we're getting married, I've got to be in Cyprus three days before we get married, we can't afford to miss this flight. Please can you just hold the gate he'll be back in a few minutes.'
"She looked at her watch and her response was 'if he's not back in the next three minutes he won't be getting on the plane.'"
Katie was then asked to make her way to security to be searched as she had packed the bag - which was checked in under David's name - and during that time the gate was closed.
Katie said: "It's my fault because obviously I didn't pick up my bag as I went through security. It's just the way they treated us. They didn't show any sort of compassion to us at all to be honest.
"They made us wait and watch the plane - it was literally there in front of us - for 40 minutes while they took everyone's luggage off and to reclaim our bags. My kids were screaming, crying looking at the plane through the terminal window."
The couple were unable to catch a flight to Paphos until three days later on Monday, May 29, During that time Katie unfortunately missed her hen do.
Thankfully though, Katie and David were still able to get married two days later surrounded by their loved ones. Despite the stress of what happened, Katie said that it was "the perfect wedding day in the end".
A Ryanair spokesperson said: "These passengers regrettably missed their flight from Manchester to Paphos as they did not present for boarding on-time. It is standard procedure that we close our boarding gates on time so that we can ensure an on-time departure and it is each passengers responsibility to ensure they present at the gate before it closes.”
A Manchester Airport spokesperson said: “Passenger safety is our number one concern and where unattended bags are concerned we have strict procedures that need to be followed, regardless of the departure time of a passenger’s flight. Having investigated, in this instance we are satisfied that all these procedures were followed and that every effort was made to try to help the passengers make their flight. Unfortunately that was not possible on this occasion.
“Our records show that queuing times at security on the morning in question were below 15 minutes. If the passengers have any specific concerns about their experience at the airport they should contact our customer service team.”
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here.
