The flight from Santiago de Compostela in Galicia initially diverted to Valencia, which was where around half the passengers got off; they were said to have been too scared to risk flying again. Rather than head for Palma, the plane went back to Santiago. One passenger says if they had been told from the start that they were returning to Santiago, they would have got off in Valencia like the other passengers did. Returning to Santiago was hell; the travel options were limited and the price of tickets that much higher.
They were taken to a hotel, Nekane Otero maintaining that they weren't given dinner, breakfast or anything. "The worst thing was that they (Ryanair) didn't contact us at all." She finally arrived in Palma on Monday.
Antonio Comas has a similar story: "Ryanair didn't help us at all. It was terrible." He was speaking at Santiago airport from where he took a flight to Barcelona on Monday. He got to Palma on Monday night. "The airline was no longer interested."
He explains that other passengers had resigned themselves to the same option - waiting until Monday. Travelling on Sunday would have meant paying 300 euros more. Even then, direct flights were fully booked, which meant a transfer in Barcelona (and a four-hour wait in his case).
Another passenger has a flight from Vigo on Tuesday, with a stopover in Madrid. Antonio Comas adds that some people decided to hire cars and go to Madrid in order to get direct flights to Palma. Claims against Ryanair, he says, have already been made.
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My philosophy with Ryanair has always been that if I have to choose between walking or flying Ryanair then I would could consider them. This summer they started flying from Palma to Exeter which is so much more convenient for the West Country than Bristol so i decided to bite the bullet and give them a chance. Return flight delayed eleven and a half hours. No Ryanair staff at Exeter airport. Thankfully, the airport staff were fantastic. Last flight out was due to leave at 17.00 and then the staff would have gone home. One of the bars agreed to stay open until we left at 01.30 - the manager had been on duty since 8.00 am! Food & drink voucher for 3 pounds - went to W.H. Smiths, cheapest sandwich 5.95!
Airlines generally treat their customers like ****! Surely the job of governments is to protect people from this type of abuse. But these days governments seem to be working for the corporations, not the general public.