This is the moment a furious mother shouted at Ryanair staff after she, her three children and 10,000 others were stranded during a strike by air traffic controllers.
Chantelle Haycock was stuck in Palma, Spain, where she says passengers were left without food vouchers or hotel transfers after huge delays caused by the French Air strike.
She is filmed shouting allegations of neglect at the budget airline after being awake since 3am with her youngsters.
Chantelle Haycock was heard accusing Ryanair of neglecting its customers. Here the mother of three is pictured with three-year-old daughter Dolly-May
Miss Haycock also accused Ryanair of leaving her out of pocket and facing a 62-mile journey to another airport.
‘It’s neglect, where is your care for your customers,’ she said. ‘We’re the priority and you’re doing nothing.’
She says one member of staff responded by calling her a ‘hard-faced b****’.
A spokesman for Ryanair said the cancellations were not the airline’s fault, adding they had done everything to help stranded passengers, including offering refunds and rebookings.
The airline did not comment on the claim staff were abusive to Miss Haycock.
The mother-of-three described the experience as ‘absolute hell’ as she struggled to look after her sick five-year-old in difficult circumstances.
‘The company have just not helped us,’ she said.
‘I know there was a strike in France but the staff just said “it’s not our fault” and it had nothing to do with them.
The Welsh mother-of-three was filmed shouting at Ryanair staff after she and her family were stranded in Spain
‘My little boy is five and he has had sickness and diarrhoea – it has been absolute hell. If I hadn’t argued and shouted we wouldn’t be in Belgium now.
‘We got to Brussels at 1:30pm and we are due to fly out at 10.20pm to Manchester.
‘In Spain they put five lads onto a flight to Bristol before us and we have three young children – we told them we would have gone anywhere in the UK.
‘We asked for Ryanair’s head office number and they refused. The children have got school and I’m a carer – we have to go to work.
Thousands were stranded after French air controllers went on strike, action which the airline condemned as unjustified
‘I explained the situation and one member of staff just smirked and said “yeah you and 10,000 others”.
‘I went back again and the woman from Ryanair said she remembered me and called me “a hard-faced b****”.
‘Because the problem wasn’t caused by them they just don’t care and the only reason we got to Brussels was because I kicked off about the way they had treated us.’
Miss Haycock, 25, from Shotton, Wales, was travelling with her three children, aged three, five and seven, and her cousin Danielle-Louise Williams, 22 from Flint.
Miss Haycock had to pay a surcharge so that her family could be fed full-board and described her children as ‘starving’
The family flew from Manchester on Tuesday October 3 for a week’s all-inclusive break but problems started when they were travelling to Palma airport for their return flight home on Tuesday this week.
Just before arrival at Parma airport they were informed their flight was cancelled, then spent six hours in departures before being moved to a bed and breakfast.
Miss Haycock said they were put into bed and breakfast accommodation by Ryanair, but had to pay a €165 surcharge so the family could be fed full-board, as her children were ‘starving’.
The next day they were taken to Barcelona’s El Prat Airport.
After complaining bitterly to staff about what they called a lack of information and help, she claims they were then told to make their own way to Girona Airport.
The family were due to be arriving back in the UK on Thursday night.
A spokeswoman for Ryanair said: ‘Due to an unjustified French ATC strike, we regret we were forced to cancel a number of flights on Tuesday (10 Oct), along with other airlines operating to/from/over France.
‘We apologised to all affected customers, who were contacted by email and text message and advised of their options: a full refund, free re-booking on to the next available flight or free transfer onto an alternative flight.
‘The customers in this case were rerouted via Barcelona and Brussels Charleroi, and we are doing all we can to re-accommodate those affected by these Air Traffic Control strikes.’
Ryanair did not comment on the claim staff were abusive to Miss Haycock.