More travel misery for airline passengers after thousands left stranded
FURTHER flight cancellations are expected at airports today after thousands of passengers were left stranded due to heavy snow yesterday.
Hundreds of flights fell victim to the weather at Dublin and Cork airports.
By 4.30pm yesterday, almost 440 flights to and from Dublin Airport had been cancelled.
Aer Lingus cancelled its short-haul operations to UK and European airports.
By lunchtime yesterday, Ryanair had cancelled all its flights to and from Dublin for the rest of the day. It said further flights had been cancelled today.
A spokesperson for Dublin Airport said: “When the snow is falling quicker than it can be cleared with zero visibility on the airfield it’s a major challenge.”
It was closed for 45 minutes at 10am yesterday so the runway could be cleared of snow and sprayed with de-icing fluid.
Cork Airport was forced to suspend flights until noon yesterday to allow the runway and taxiways to be cleared of snow.
Meanwhile, 14 flights were diverted from Dublin to Shannon, which remained fully operational.
With hundreds of customers left stranded, many queued for hours to rebook their flights. Others decided to leave Dublin Airport altogether.
Stephen Forsyth (28), from Dún Laoghaire, was left disappointed when his dream of emigrating to Australia was delayed due to the heavy snow.
He said an emotional goodbye to his family yesterday morning only to find out that his flight had been cancelled.
“There are six of us travelling together and to hear that our stopover flight to Helsinki had been cancelled is very disappointing,” he said.
“There’s no way I can go back home now, we’ve already said our tearful goodbyes and can’t do it again. Maybe it’s a sign for us not to go to Australia, but hopefully our luck will change tomorrow.”
Sinéad Halligan travelled from Co Mayo with her group of friends in the hope of seeing her beloved Connacht rugby team play in South Africa.
“We’ve just found out that our flight has been cancelled and have already booked our flights for tomorrow, but there’s no guarantee that we’ll be going anywhere. The weather is actually supposed to get worse.”
Nursing student Róisín Keaveney, from Co Galway, was another disappointed passenger with nowhere to go. “My flight to Aberdeen was cancelled and nothing has opened up, so I don’t know what to do.”
“I’m even thinking about getting on a bus back to Galway because I don’t think the weather’s getting any better,” she said.
Meanwhile, three of Ireland’s 2018 Winter Olympic stars arrived in Dublin after a lengthy delay at Manchester Airport.
Brendan ‘Bubba’ Newby, Thomas Westgaard and Seamus O’Connor said they were delighted to be home and are claiming credit for bringing the snow back to Ireland.
The majority of flights to the US and Canada departed, although with some delays.
However, there were a few cancellations by US carriers.
One group of travellers had reason to be particularly disgruntled. After their flight was cancelled they were told to proceed to the baggage area – but not before they stopped at duty free to return all the items they had already bought.