A RYANAIR customer has claimed he and several other passengers boarded a flight only to find their seats on the plane didn’t even exist.
After realizing their row of seats had been lost, Gerry Harrington and eight other passengers in confusion were left behind at Stansted Airport in London.
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Holidaymakers were scheduled to fly to Dublin for a Subbuteo tournament on October 21st. They were to be seated in row35 of the plane.
Gerry, 62 years old, said that they soon realized that the plane had only gone up to row 33.
Gerry, from Haverhill in Suffolk, took a video that showed him and others being crammed into an area at the back of the plane while they waited to see what was happening.
Footage shows the man wearing a hivis vest asking for assistance and suggesting that passengers be put on alert.
The camera then pans to Gerry who says: “Everyone here has paid for seats.
“We’re stuck at the back of the plane as they have overbooked, no they’ve sent a smaller plane.”
Speaking today, Gerry said: “It happened to a few people and suddenly we were all standing at the back of the plane with no seats and everyone wondering what might happen.
“Everyone was showing their boarding passes and it was clear there had been a mistake somewhere.
“We were told by Ryanair that if we got off we could have £250 each and that they would put us up that evening and get us a flight in the morning but we would’ve missed the tournament.
“People on that plane were needing to get home and we weren’t so we did get off of the plane.”
Many people posted comments to the clip. Others even had the same situation.
One person said: “Ryanair only operates two types of aircraft. The Boeing 737-800AS, which is gradually being replaced with the Boeing 737-800 max, was retired.
“I’m guessing (and it is just guessing because I have had enough info to find your date and routing) that you were scheduled to fly on a Max, that has 197 seats, but were sent an old 800, which has just 189 seats.”
Another wrote: “This is typical of Ryanair. There was never any communication.
“They know full well that the replacement plane won’t have enough seats. You won’t get a peep out of them.”
A third comment: “Happened to me in July. Can’t believe this is still happening!”
Ryanair spokeswoman said that “Due to an airplane change, a very limited number of passengers on the flight from London Stansted (21 Oct) to Dublin were moved to other flights the next day.”
“Affected passengers were given overnight accommodation and will receive compensation. Ryanair sincerely apologises to these passengers for any inconvenience caused.”
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