Stranded family ‘forced to pay £1,000’ to get home

A FAMILY stranded in Alicante after Ryanair cancelled their flight say they only found out after their boarding passes were rejected at security.

The airline axed 2,000 flights because it ‘messed up’ pilots’ holidays.

Passenger Stephen Smith, 33, from Great Moor, Stockport was marooned at the Spanish airport with wife Helen, 34, and her parents Steve and Debbie Luckett after their return trip to Manchester on Saturday was one of those cancelled.

He says he ended up having to pay out £1,000 to get his family back home.

Stephen discovered the cancellation only after their boarding passes was rejected at security. Ryanair offered to fly them home – seven days later. He claims he was forced to booked alternative flights to Edinburgh. They flew later on Saturday with Vueling, after spending all day at the airport.

Arriving late into Scotland, and staying at a hotel before driving a hire car back to Manchester, it ended up costing around £1,000 – when their original flights were £240 for the return leg.

Stephen, an operations manager for an energy firm, said: “Ryanair did nothing for us. The only thing they could offer was a flight seven days later. We couldn’t afford to stay another seven days and we had to get back to work. We found the quickest way of getting back.”

Ryanair said over the weekend that 2pc of their flights were cancelled due to the backlog of annual leave to be taken by pilots and cabin crew.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday afternoon, Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary said: “Clearly there’s a large reputational impact for which again I apologise. We will try to do better in future.”