Daniel Laws accused Ryanair of abandoning his family after a special assistance bus at Alicante Airport took them to the wrong plane on Friday, 31 July. Mr Laws, 47, was flying back from the Spanish city of Alicante to Bournemouth, Dorset, with his three children, aged ten, 14 and 16. His eldest daughter is brain damaged, and Mr Laws, a former teacher, works as her full-time carer.
The special assistance bus at Alicante Airport, operated by the airport, picked up the family but drove them to a Tui plane instead. Staff ignored Mr Laws' pleas that it was the wrong airline. By the time the bus took them back to the terminal, their scheduled Ryanair flight to Bournemouth had departed on time at 10.20am.
Following the missed departure, airport staff took the family to the Ryanair help desk where they were left sitting on the floor for two hours. Ryanair staff told Mr Laws he could be rebooked onto a flight to Stansted Airport, 125 miles away from Bournemouth. When he asked if they could help get the family back to Bournemouth from Stansted, he claimed staff "seemed to laugh at that and walk away from the window."
Rerouted to Stansted Airport
The family caught a replacement Ryanair flight from Alicante to Stansted at 2.15pm. Upon arrival at Stansted Airport, Mr Laws went straight to speak to Ryanair staff to ask for help reaching Dorset. He said they waited another hour before staff told them they must organise their own way home.
"We were abandoned in Stansted," Mr Laws said. "We were told that Ryanair believed it had nothing to do with them and we must organise our own way home." He added: "We were the most vulnerable people on the flight."
Mr Laws spent £167 on train tickets to take his family into London. They faced further delays on the London Underground before catching an onward train down to the seaside town of Bournemouth. His children were in tears because they had not eaten since breakfast, and the family did not get home until 9.30pm.
Demands for Refund and Compensation
Mr Laws strongly criticised the treatment his family received from Ryanair. "I don't understand why there aren't regulations in place to hold them accountable," he said.
"I want a full refund for our flights because we didn't even get on it," Mr Laws added. "I want compensation for the experience and the money spent on trains and food."
A spokesman for Ryanair said special assistance services at Alicante Airport and all other airports are provided by the airport but paid for by Ryanair. "We regret that Alicante Airport’s special assistance provider, Alyzia, failed to bring these passengers to the aircraft prior to this flight from Alicante to Bournemouth departing on 31 July," the spokesman said.
"Following Alyzia’s error, Ryanair reaccommodated these passengers free of charge onto the next available flight from Alicante to Stansted, which departed later that same day," the spokesman added. "We are working with Alicante Airport to ensure this does not recur."
