A Ryanair passenger boarded the wrong plane and woke up in Alicante instead of Paris.
Jem Maybank, 30, arrived at Leeds Bradford Airport on Saturday to begin her short city break in France.
The property worker, from West Yorkshire, went through what she believed was the correct gate for Paris Beauvais Airport where staff scanned and read her boarding pass.
Ms Maybank made it onto the plane only to discover her seat number 34A didn’t exist.
She claims she was told by cabin crew that this could sometimes happen when the aircraft was switched over.
The flight was two hours long, instead of the usual one hour, which Ms Maybank put down to turbulence.
She says she didn’t hear the announcement and swiftly fell asleep for the whole flight.
To Ms Maybank’s surprise, she woke up and spotted the palm trees and mountains outside as they landed.
Jem Maybank, 30, arrived at Leeds Bradford Airport on Saturday to begin her short city break in France
The property worker, from West Yorkshire, went through what she believed was the correct gate for Paris Beauvais Airport where staff scanned and read her boarding pass. Pictured: A street in Paris
Ms Maybank made it onto the plane only to discover her seat number 34A didn’t exist. (Stock Image)
It was then that she realised she’d accidentally boarded the wrong flight to Alicante.
Ms Maybank admitted she had never been to Alicante before and all she knew about it was that ‘it’s Benidorm’ – as it’s the airport used for Brits travelling to the infamous holiday hotspot.
She said: ‘I had a bit of a mad holiday rush. I was looking for the gate to Paris Beauvais. I saw it was gate 6 or something, but this was from a distance away.
‘I walked towards the gate and just sort of waited in the queue.
‘The staff scanned my boarding pass, the QR code, and they did read it. They just let me straight through the gate.
‘I didn’t see the board or anything, I don’t think I was paying attention to be honest.
‘I had seat 34A and this didn’t exist. I showed it to a member of the cabin crew and I said ‘can you help me because I don’t have a seat’.
‘She just said ‘sometimes that happens when we switch the aircraft around but luckily there’s a no show’.
‘She gave me seat 27 so I thought ‘fine, I’ve got a seat, cool’.
‘I sat on the plane and I couldn’t really hear the announcement. They must have done one saying ‘this flight goes to Alicante’ but I didn’t hear it.
‘I thought it was weird that it was a two-hour flight, but I thought ‘maybe it’s because of the turbulence’.
Ms Maybank’s boarding pass from Leeds Bradford Airport to Paris pictured
Ms Maybank admitted she had never been to Alicante before and all she knew about it was that ‘it’s Benidorm’ – as it’s the airport used for Brits travelling to the infamous holiday hotspot. Pictured: Alicante Airport
‘I fell asleep, woke up and just saw mountains and palm trees and thought ‘this doesn’t look like Paris’.’
Ms Maybank waited until everyone had left the plane before speaking to a member of Ryanair’s cabin crew at the end of the plane.
Staff soon helped her to sort a flight for later that evening but she still felt confused how it happened, speculating she may have misread the gate number as six instead of eight.
The 30-year-old said: ‘I waited until everyone got off the plane and was like ‘hey, so, I’m not meant to be here, I’m meant to be in Paris’.
‘She was like ‘how did you not realise?’. The staff were really confused and they said it’d never happened before.
‘I was going through Alicante border control thinking ‘I don’t want to be here, I’ve got a hotel in Paris’.
‘I’ve never been to Alicante either but all I know is that it’s Benidorm.
‘They sorted me out a free flight which was good. I don’t know how it happened. Maybe the gate number changed while I was waiting
‘The number 6 looks quite similar to the number 8 from a distance too so I think that’s what happened.
‘Who knows? We’ll never know.’
At 11pm, Ms Maybank finally arrived in Paris, Beauvais but had to take an hour-long bus journey into the city centre where her hotel was.
She now advises other holidaymakers to pay more attention at the airport and listen to all the safety announcements – even if they find them ‘boring’.
Ms Maybank said: ‘Alicante was a lot better than I’d expected. I went to see a castle. I was there for about seven hours.
‘When I got to Paris I just wanted to make the most out of it.
‘I left the hotel and just thought I’ve got no time to lose so went to do my site-seeing and shopping.
‘I can’t believe it happened.
Staff soon helped her to sort a flight for later that evening but she still felt confused how it happened, speculating she may have misread the gate number as six instead of eight. Pictured: Ms Maybank’s printed boarding pass
‘My advice to other holidaymakers would be to just stop being on your phone at the airport. Pay attention.
‘It’s so easy to get overwhelmed and stressed in an airport but just try and chill out.
‘When you get on the plane and they do the safety announcements, just listen to what they say. It’s so boring waiting in queues and all that but that’s what gets you.
‘Try and keep an open mind as well because things can change at the drop of a hat.’
A Ryanair spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘This passenger booked to travel from Leeds Bradford to Paris on Sat, 22 June, but went through the wrong gate and instead boarded a flight to Alicante.
‘It is each passenger’s responsibility to ensure they board the correct aircraft. There are several touchpoints which inform passengers of the aircraft’s destination, including gate signage and announcements before every flight departure.
‘Upon arrival in Alicante, this passenger notified the crew that they were on the wrong flight and Ryanair immediately arranged for the passenger to be reaccommodated on the next available flight to Paris, which was scheduled to depart Alicante later that same day (22 June).’
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