A passenger in a wheelchair was left behind in the special assistance area (PRM) of terminal 1 of the César Manrique Airport in Lanzarote and missed her flight to the English city of Bristol. The incident took place on May 12, on a Ryanair flight.
According to witnesses who spoke to La Voz, the passenger had hired an assistance service to be helped with boarding the flight and remained at the meeting point for PRM in the terminal, waiting to be taken to the boarding gate and then to the plane. However, the assistance staff left her behind and the plane took off without her.
At the island's airport, this service is provided by the company Mitie, a subcontractor of the public company Aena. This is not the first time that problems of this nature regarding the assistance service for people with reduced mobility have been publicly reported.
As a consequence of the events, the passenger had to sleep in Lanzarote again and buy a new ticket with Ryanair for the next day, May 13.
Onlooker sources link this situation to the high number of assistance requests that Mitie workers have to handle at the Airport. According to these same sources, the workers in this service usually suffer a heavy workload due to the high volume of assistance requests and the lack of staff.
Aena has stated to La Voz that airport officials in Lanzarote are investigating what happened and that they will take "the pertinent measures if necessary, in accordance with the current contract" and the established service provision levels, with the contracting company.
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