Apology as Mayo passengers left behind in Lanzarote airport

Up to 66 Ryanair passengers who were due to fly to Ireland West Airport on Wednesday last were left behind in Lanzarote.

They had booked to fly from César Manrique Airport in Lanzarote into Ireland West Airport at 1 p.m. on Wednesday - but were left behind in the airport.

According to a report in the Irish Independent, this was due to delays at the passport control station on the popular holiday island.

As a result many of the passengers were forced to book alternative flights for Wednesday evening, while a small number of passengers were unable to fly home until Thursday evening.

This resulted in an extra night in accommodation.

One of the passengers who contacted The Connaught Telegraph said all the passengers in question were there in time.

She stated: "We were queueing while priority passengers were boarded. Once priority were let through, and a few non priority, the gates were closed. Everyone was on time.

"Boarding was incredibly slow. I am down €1,000 in total as I had to pay €600 to get a flight to Dublin, then another €400 in total for a hotel for the night so we could travel home in the morning.

"We could not book the last bus to Ballina as the Expressway website announced this journey was full. Presumably with diverted passengers.

"It is very upsetting to see the blame placed on passengers. Some people were left in Lanzarote an extra day without vital medications.

"There were extremely sick passengers also, including myself and my child who had food poisoning."

Ryanair told the Irish Independent the issue arose as passengers missed their flight due to delays at the passport control station.

It is understood the border control desk was short staffed at the time of the flight.

A spokesperson for Ryanair said the issue was beyond the airline’s control.

“Due to passport control delays at Lanzarote Airport on September 11, a number of passengers missed this flight from Lanzarote to Knock.

“Should these passengers have presented at the boarding gate desk before it closed, they would have boarded this flight alongside the 114 passengers who did present at the gate on time.

“We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused as a result of these passport control delays at Lanzarote Airport, which are entirely beyond airlines’ control.”

According to local news outlet La Voz, a complaint filed by a National Police officer stated: "There was a delay in flight control, probably due to having only 50% of the staff at that boarding gate, to give priority to arrivals, in addition to a possible failure of the passport verification systems, which is becoming common.”

Donal Healy, Head of Aviation Business Development, Marketing and Communications at Ireland West Airport, told the Irish Independent: “We are aware of the situation – whilst we don’t have all the information to hand surrounding the exact circumstances of what caused the issue, the airport has no control unfortunately over what happens at other airports.

"We don’t have access to passenger details who travel with Ryanair so we are extremely limited in what we can do to assist.

“We are of course assisting all passengers who have parked vehicles at the airport ensuring they can collect them when they return and no extra charges will be imposed for any overstays."