Belfast couple among 60 passengers left stranded in Lisbon after passport control chaos
A couple living in Belfast were among a group of over 60 passengers who were unable to board their Ryanair flight home from Portugal after a 'hostile' passport control experience.
Mother-of-three Mairead and her husband were set to return to Dublin Airport on Friday evening (September 20) from Lisbon when they were left stranded due to large numbers trying to get to boarding gates at one time.
The flight was initially scheduled to take off from Lisbon Airport at 10pm, however, Mairead said when she and the other passengers arrived at the airport, display boards showed the flight had been delayed by 45 minutes.
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Mairead said: "Our flight was at 10pm and we arrived at the airport at 7pm and on the board it said it was going to be at 10.45pm - the minute the gate number was revealed, which was about 9.20pm, we got into the queue for passport control.
"We had no prior knowledge that we would have to go through passport control. Two other flights were also called so everyone got into the queue at the same time and it made a massive queue.
"The queue became a really hostile environment with loads of pushing and shoving and lots of people shouting and screaming."
Ryanair said the gate was expected to close initially at 9.30pm, with the couple and other passengers left wondering how three groups of boarding passengers were expected to clear passport control in under 10 minutes.
Still in the line at 9.40pm, an hour until they board at Lisbon Airport showed the flight was to depart, they approached an official to say they were concerned they would miss their flight when they were assured they would not.
"He said, 'No you are not, get back in line' so we did as we were told - subsequently, they closed the gate and there were 62 of us who were brought back through the airport to the Ryanair desk to rebook," she continued.
"We had to pay €100 each if we wanted to rebook onto another flight, as far as we understood. I was obviously quite upset but we did that."
"Ryanair said the airport had put up the wrong flight time information but physically, it was never going to be possible from the time the gate number went up to when boarding closed to get everyone through passport control."
Having received booking confirmation and boarding passes for a flight the following morning (Saturday, September 21) the couple had to book a hotel for another night and were unable to get home to their children as they had planned.
However, when they arrived for their flight, they were informed they were on the standby list and their allocated seats had been given to other passengers.
Mairead added: "There was nothing on our ticket to say we were on standby and we were never told and then said that because we are on it, we are stuck in a system where we cannot get off the list unless we further purchase new seats.
"We have three small children so this all has been a nightmare."
On Saturday afternoon, Mairead and her husband decided to get a three-hour transfer to Faro Airport to try and board a new flight home from there instead - having to pay out of their own pocket for new flights, transport and accommodation.
A spokesperson for Ryanair said: “This flight was scheduled to depart Lisbon for Dublin at 22:00 on Sept 20.
"Due to staff shortages at Lisbon Airport’s passport control, a number of passengers missed this flight from Lisbon to Dublin (20 Sept).
"The gate for this flight was scheduled to close at 21:30 – 30 mins prior to departure – but remained open an additional 22mins (closing at 21:52), at which time these passengers had still not presented for boarding on this flight.
"It is each passenger’s responsibility to present at the boarding gate before it closes (as detailed on their boarding pass). Should these passengers have presented at the boarding gate desk before it closed, they would have boarded this flight alongside the rest of passengers who did present at the gate on time.
"Passengers who missed this flight were given the option to pay a standard missed departure fee (€100) and travel on later flights from Lisbon to Dublin – which 31 of these passengers did."
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