SCREAMS AND TERROR WHEN FLIGHTS FAILED TO LAND SAFELY
ONE shattered passenger has told of her ordeal on a day in which passengers screamed in terror on planes that struggled to land in gusting winds – and were eventually sent to British airports.
It was ‘the most terrifying flight of my life’, Irish beauty blogger Rosie Connolly-Quinn posted on Instagram.
Some 75 flights were cancelled at Dublin Airport yesterday, with a further ten diverted following mass disruption by Storm Ali.
One Ryanair flight, which was shaking in the wind, was filmed aborting landing just metres from the runway and taking off again.
According to the Dublin Airport Authority, most of the diverted flights were sent to Manchester and returned to Dublin after winds calmed down.
Ms Connolly-Quinn was on a flight from London Gatwick to Dublin that was diverted to Liverpool, after two failed attempts at landing. She posted: ‘Our flight had two failed attempts to land in Dublin.
‘Terrified, screaming passengers, everyone throwing up. Never experienced anything like it. We are now in Liverpool but unable to leave the plane due to the airport being full.’
A Ryanair flight from London Stansted, which was due to land in Knock at 9.25am, was diverted to Shannon because of gusts of 111kph in Mayo. Winds at Shannon Airport were gusting at 107kph at the time and after two attempts at landing, the flight was forced to find another airport. The crew had to rule out Kerry and Dublin airports and so went on to Liverpool.
Ryanair apologised to customers affected by this weather diversion, which they said was entirely beyond their control.
As a result of flight cancellations, the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) is reminding passengers that airlines must offer passengers a choice between re-routing as soon as possible, re-routing at a later date at the passenger’s convenience, or a refund. However, compensation is unlikely to be payable to passengers affected by flight cancellations or delays as a result of Storm Ali as weather conditions are exempt under passenger rights legislation.
Meanwhile, passengers travelling from Belfast to Dublin were stuck on a train for more than eight hours. Glyn Roberts, chief executive of Retail NI, who was on the train that left Belfast at 10.30am, said passengers were first stopped at Lisburn for two hours, and Newry for another two hours.
He told the Belfast Telegraph: ‘It has been a fairly nightmarish day. I fully appreciate the emergency services are working very hard but in nearly eight and a half hours on this train we have been offered one free cup of tea, no food.
‘The staff have disappeared and we got extremely poor information. Most of the time we were not told anything.’
‘It is appalling to treat passengers in this way. This is the major rail link between Belfast and Dublin and I understand there is not a lot you can do about storms but the customer service has been appalling. What I have seen today is the worst I have ever seen.’
Iarnród Éireann later put on bus transfers between Dundalk and Belfast for its Enterprise services. The line was cleared and reopened after 7pm. ‘Bus transfers in operation until further notice between Dundalk and Belfast for Enterprise services due to fallen trees and debris on tracks near Newry,’ it said.
‘My most terrifying experience ever’