Two Families Board Wrong Plane, Miss Flight — Thanks, Ryanair

Accidents happen – as the saying goes – but two mishaps and one missed flight? That’s Ryanair.

Early Tuesday morning, two unacquainted families made their way through the East Midlands Airport (EMA). The Pritchards and Housleys, respectively from Staffordshire and Rotherham, passed through multiple security checkpoints before boarding what they believed to be a flight bound for Almeria, Spain. Little did they know they were on their way to Riga, Latvia – 1,850 miles from their intended destination.

Fortunately, the error was discovered as soon as the real occupants of the families’ seats arrived. Unfortunately, by then, the pilot of the Almeria-bound flight had already sealed the cabin and would not let anyone else board.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Stephen Pritchard, a painter and decorator who was traveling with his 14-year-old son, told the Birmingham Mail. “Our boarding passes were checked three times, at the gate and the concourse and on the plane, where we were even led to our seats.”

Pritchard described what happened to him and the Housley family as “unbelievable” and a “massive security risk,” pointing out that this occurred at a time when security is supposedly heightened.

When the families brought the mix-up to the attention of Ryanair staff, they were informed that the next available flight wouldn’t depart for 10 hours. The airline, according to Pritchard, originally asked them to pay extra for another flight. They refused, but still rang up a £200 ($342.74) bill on taxis to and from the airport, an expense they had to pay out of their own pockets.

Ryanair has since apologized to both families and opened an investigation to ensure similar incidents don’t happen again, though a spokesman maintains that “it is the responsibility of each customer to ensure they board the correct aircraft.” The spokesman went on to say that both families had been “transferred onto the next available flight free of charge, provided with refreshment vouchers and advised to keep receipted expenses for reimbursement of additional transport costs.”

The Housleys and Pritchards were lucky the error was discovered before the plane departed. They aren’t the only recent fliers astounded by the disparaging state of Ryanair at East Midlands Airport. Pauline Briggs, 64, made it through two checkpoints, boarded her flight and made it all the way to Fuerteventura with her deceased husband’s passport last month.

A security officer at Fuerteventura Airport (FUE) passport control finally caught the error. When he showed Briggs the passport, she was “mortified.”

“I am an innocent holiday-maker but what if I had more sinister motives – it’s not very reassuring,” Briggs told the Leicester Mercury.

Ryanair isn’t the only airline dropping the ball. In October, a 62-year-old woman boarded a British Airways flight at Gatwick (LGW) under the impression she was on her way to Granada, Spain. Instead, she was on her way to the Caribbean island of Grenada. Thanks to the woman sitting next to her, the elderly woman was able to switch planes during a scheduled stop in St. Lucia. She was flown back to Gatwick, where apologetic BA staff made sure she was on the correct flight the following day.

Earlier this month, a woman was ushered onto a Jet2 flight by airline staff, assured it would shuttle her from the Dalaman Airport (DLM) in Turkey back home to Scotland. The 27-year-old didn’t realize the plane was heading to the Leeds-Brandford Airport (LBA) in England until the pilot announced they were nearing their destination — three hours into the flight. To make up for the mishap, Jet2 paid for her five-hour taxi ride home.

[Photo: iStock]