“The children were crying; it became claustrophobic.”
As Index / The Evening Standard / Business Insider write, a Ryanair spokesperson commented that there was a “human error,” which meant passengers could not “exit the pre-boarding door” and unfortunately missed their flight. Devina Raval, one of the passengers who said she was trapped in the corridor, told MyLondon she felt like she was being “held hostage.” Insider could not immediately reach Raval for comment.
People were banging on the walls calling for help, Raval told MyLondon. “Kids were crying, and the whole place became really claustrophobic. It scares me to think what would happen if someone had a heart attack or something.”
After about half an hour, one of the passengers set off the fire alarm, alerting a member of staff who asked them what they were doing in the corridor. “At that moment, I was just shocked that they didn’t realise we were there. We were told the plane took off without us,” added Raval.
Ryanair claims human error
The passengers were sent to a nearby hotel for the night and boarded a flight to Croatia on the following day at 6 a.m.
“Due to human error by staff at London Stansted Airport, a small number of passengers were unable to exit through the pre-boarding gate and unfortunately missed their flight to Zagreb (January 2). The error was caught when the flight had already taken off,” a Ryanair spokesperson told Business Insider.
“Ryanair has provided overnight accommodation for the affected passengers and moved them on the next available flights,” the airline said in a statement.
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