Computer glitch chaos hits Ryanair travellers

THOUSANDS of Ryanair passengers faced travel chaos yesterday when they could not check-in for their flights due to the airline suffering a Europe-wide computer system failure.

Travellers complained of ‘shambolic’ scenes at check-in areas in European airports from Stansted to Rome Ciampino because luggage could not be checked in.

Angry passengers took to social media and posted pictures showing chaotic scenes at airports. Others complained that they were sitting in their grounded jets for more than 90 minutes.

Some complained that they were forced to pay £55 at airports for not checking in online beforehand, even though the Ryanair systems failure prevented them from doing so.

One, Mat McCallum, 39, from Nottingham, told how he missed his flight from Stansted to Bratislava in Slovakia because of the computer outage, and then had to spend a further £700 to get to an urgent business meeting.

Diana Bond-Smith, a passenger at Stansted, tweeted: ‘Ryanair once again you have surpassed yourselves.

‘Chaos at Stansted as the whole Ryanair system is down.’

Graeme Jolly, another Twitter user, said: ‘Confusion, chaos and absolute carnage right now at the check-in/bag-drop desks at Rome Ciampino.

‘Twenty minutes so far and no closer to desks. Totally unacceptable.’

Meanwhile, Grace O’Driscoll, who said she was due to fly from Nice to Stansted, asked Ryanair to ‘help urgently’, adding: ‘This is shambolic.’

Last night, Ryanair said in a statement: ‘This morning we suffered a brief, 30-minute system outage which caused some short delays at airport check-in and boarding.

‘The system has been restored and flights are operating as normal. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.’