Passengers on Ryanair flight FR2017 to Lanzarote experienced a true odyssey on Thursday night to Friday after their plane, which was scheduled to take off from Madrid at 20:55 hours, suffered a considerable delay and ultimately did not take off. According to those affected, after boarding with a delay of two and a half hours, they remained inside the plane for another two hours, waiting on the runway, until the crew informed them that they could no longer fly, as Lanzarote airport closes at one in the morning.
The passengers were disembarked again at Terminal 1 of Barajas around one in the morning and, according to their complaints, were completely abandoned without information, transportation, or accommodation. "They literally told us to fend for ourselves," says one of those affected. Long queues of passengers from several flights in the same situation formed at the only information point set up by Ryanair, but after hours of waiting, the airline informed them that they could not offer them a hotel, transportation, or even food.
The only alternative that Ryanair offered travelers was to change their flight to 6:30 am this Friday or to Sunday, forcing many of them to spend the night at the airport. "We slept in a closed Burger King inside the airport," says one of the passengers, who along with dozens of people had to improvise a place to rest while waiting for the next flight.
In addition, they criticize that the complaint forms provided by the company were simple photocopies without a serial number, which even led some passengers to call the Municipal Police to report this irregularity.
This Friday morning, the airport information panels still showed flight FR2017 as pending. For its part, Ryanair sent a brief SMS to passengers indicating that they could not arrange transportation or accommodation due to "lack of availability" and that additional expenses could be claimed later through their website.
