I was taken to the WRONG country by Ryanair – my girlfriend and I are furious

A COUPLE were left furious after they claim they were taken to the WRONG country by Ryanair.

Simon Forster and Emma Schofield had planned a festive trip to Copenhagen – but they were shocked when their flight actually landed in Paris.

MEN MediaSimon and Emma were forced to spend their time in Paris after they claimed Ryanair took them to the wrong country[/caption]

MEN MediaThe pair took their seats on the plane and only realised they weren’t in Copenhagen when they landed[/caption]

The couple were faced with “horrendous” queues at Manchester Airport during pre-Christmas chaos as they tried to head to Copenhagen.

They sprinted to their departure gate – where they say Ryanair staff checked their passports and boarding passes.

Ushered down some stairs, they made their way to the only waiting
plane on the runway and boarded.

Simon claims they tried to show their boarding passes to a member of
the cabin crew who he claims said “oh don’t worry about it” and asked
them to take their seats.

It was only when they landed and were greeted with a cheerful
“bonjour” at passport control that the couple realised they were in
the French city of Beauvais – 750 miles from their intended
destination.

Ryanair say it is each passenger’s responsibility to ensure they board
the correct aircraft and there are several ‘touchpoints’ telling passengers the aircraft’s destination.

But Simon says he heard no such announcement on the PA system in English.

He said: “The shock of landing somewhere near Paris when you’re supposed to be going to Copenhagen was ridiculous.

“I would like to understand how on earth this happened.”

Simon now wants an apology from Ryanair – and he’s asked the company to reimburse his flights, hotels and taxis after being forced to fork out more than £930 during his time in Paris.

The furious man, who runs Leeds-based Robot Food, says he waited for more than two hours to pass through security in Manchester Airport on December 17.

He added: “The queue for security was absolutely enormous and we were all crammed in like cattle. It seemed as though we were going to miss our flight.

“As soon as we got there I said ‘we should have just got a train up to Edinburgh instead’.

AIR HEAD

“When we got past the shampoo police we got out into the airport and there was a last call for Copenhagen.

“It was already past the departure time so we just legged it to the gate.

“We got there and three Ryanair staff asked if we were there for Copenhagen.

“There was a red plastic link chain directly ahead and to the right, so we turned to the left and to the plane that was there.

“We got on and there were only about six other passengers, which was not surprising because so many people were missing flights.

“I did show the stewardess my boarding pass and she said “oh, don’t worry about it”. I was dripping in sweat.

“Our seat numbers were free so we sat down.

MEN MediaThe couple were shocked when they arrived in Paris[/caption]

MEN MediaSimon said the entire ordeal was a ‘shitshow’[/caption]

“We landed in less time than we expected and as we walked into the airport I thought I didn’t recognise it and I go to Copenhagen quite a lot.

“We were greeted at passport control with “Bonjour” and it became apparent that we were in France.”

Emma and Simon had landed in Beauvais, a city about an hour outside of Paris.

They added: “We went through security and found a guy who spoke English who told us where we were.

“He was heading into Paris so we asked if we could share a cab.

“It was now after 11pm and France wasn’t letting UK travellers in from midnight so we were advised to book a hotel quickly. I had no 4G so one of my colleagues booked us in to a hotel near the Eiffel Tower for the evening.

“We had a lovely weekend and on the way back we kept getting messages from Ryanair about the return Copenhagen flight being delayed.”

HOLIDAY CHAOS

He says he spent €1,108 on the original flights to Copenhagen and a hotel in the Danish city, a taxi from Beauvais, a night in a Paris hotel and return flights from France to the UK.

Simon said: “After spending hours calling Ryanair and filling in online forms, my complaint is showing as ’solved.’

“I was told on Monday that I would be contacted in three days. Today (Friday) I called again and someone hung up on me.

“It really was a s*** show.

“Just the fact we tried to show our boarding passes and were told ‘don’t worry about it’, You wouldn’t think that could happen these days.

“If you put passengers on the wrong plane to the wrong country, you expect an apology.”

Ryanair did not provide a comment, but for background stated: “It is
each passenger’s responsibility to ensure they board the correct
aircraft.

“There are several touchpoints throughout the passenger journey which
inform passengers of the aircraft’s destination, these include:

“Flight number and destination are clearly printed on the passenger’s
boarding card, flight number and destination are displayed at the gate, flight number and destination are called out in the standard boarding PA, flight number and destination are mentioned in the welcome PA on board.”