A British couple were stranded in Mallorca for four days after their Ryanair flight was cancelled and they were put on an alternative flight that went via Madrid and Lanzarote to get home.
Samantha Breen, 30, and partner Alexander Rutherford, 43, from Thornaby-on-Tees, had travelled to Mallorca for a five day vacation to celebrate Ms Breen’s birthday.
The couple were due to fly home on October 10 but were told their flight was cancelled after a six-hour wait at the airport.
They were then informed the next available flight was on October 13 and it was going from Palma to Madrid, to Lanzarote and finally back to Newcastle.
The disgusted couple said they even had to sleep overnight on a wooden bench outside Lanzarote airport while they waited for their flight to Newcastle the following morning.
Speaking to MailOnline Miss Breen said: ‘We were totally fobbed off by Ryanair. I will never fly with them again.’
Samantha Breen, 30, and partner Alexander Rutherford, 43, from Thornaby-on-Tees, had travelled to Mallorca for a five day vacation to celebrate Ms Breen’s birthday. But it took them five days to return to Newcastle
This map shows the extraordinary journey the couple had to make to return to Newcastle
The couple had enjoyed a dream holiday before their travel disaster.
Miss Breen told MailOnline: ‘We’d had a lovely time and didn’t want to come home.
‘We found out our 7.45am flight was cancelled when we got to the airport on October 10. We had to wait in the queue from 5am in the morning till around 11.30am. They were trying to get people out on other flights and they were coming down with leaflets with information about our rights to compensation.
‘We waited in the queue for so long. We finally got to the front of the queue and were told we could come back every morning at 4am to try and get on another flight, if someone hadn’t made it, but we hardly had any money whatsoever. So they put us up in a hotel for three days as the next flight was on October 13.
‘That flight was going to Madrid, with the flight arriving there at 2.10pm, and then to Lanzarote, where it was getting in just before midnight. We then had to fly to Newcastle the following morning.’
The couple had to wait for six hours at Palma airport (pictured) before being told they had been put in a replacement hotel for three days
They were told they would be entitled to breakfast at the replacement hotel but when they got there, breakfast had already been cleared away.
She said: ‘We were totally stuck with no money and no help from Ryanair.’
Miss Breen described the replacement hotel they were put in as being like ‘Fawlty Towers’.
She said: ‘There was rust all round the hotel and the balcony had cracks in it…it looked like the sort of place that was only used by people who had had their flights cancelled. We were stuck and had only about 11 Euros between us. My partner had to go and buy us some Pot Noodles just to keep us going.
‘We had no one to contact from Ryanair. I eventually managed to get through to a private chat online where we were told they wouldn’t offer vouchers. My family had to help us out and sent us 100 Euros.
‘We have claimed 124 Euros back on expenses but we haven’t got that back yet and Ryanair have said we are not entitled to compensation as the cancellation was caused by an air traffic control strike.’
The couple had to sleep outside Lanzarote airport (pictured) as they waited for their flight back to Newcastle the following day
Miss Breen, a former care assistant, said the couple’s two children, aged three and five, were missing them and asking when they were coming home.
She said: ‘We spoke to them on Facetime and they were crying as they were so upset.’
After four days in Mallorca, the couple flew to Madrid on October 13 and then onto Lanzarote where they landed just before midnight.
‘There was no one in Lanzarote airport when we got there’, she explained. ‘We were supposed to be put up overnight but there was no one on the Ryanair desk and so we had to sleep on a hard wooden bench outside the airport. It was such a long night.’
They had to wait until 7.45am the next day to finally board their return flight to Newcastle.
She told MailOnline: ‘All we want is some feedback from Ryanair. We were dumped in a hotel and then forgotten about. I am never flying with Ryanair ever again and I just want to make people aware about them.’
The couple were told by Ryanair they were not offering vouchers after finally getting hold of someone from the company on the online chat service
A Ryanair spokesperson said: ‘This flight from Palma to Newcastle (October 10) was cancelled (due to a French ATC strike) over 16 hours before the scheduled departure of 07:45 local time and these customers were sent text messages and emails at 15:12 (on Oct 110) – again over 16 hours before departure – advising them of this ATC cancellation and of their options of a full refund, or free rebooking on to the next available flight or free transfer onto an alternative flight.
‘The customers were provided with accommodation in Palma and were rerouted back to Newcastle (via Madrid and Lanzarote).
‘The customers were advised to keep and submit vouched receipted expenses and a cheque of €124.17 has been authorised.
‘We apologise sincerely for this flight cancellation which was caused by a French ATC strike.’