What was supposed to be a quick, three hour flight became 12 hours of hell for the passengers of a commercial aeroplane.
The Ryanair flight RK8288 from London Stansted to Tirana, Albania, on June 3 was diverted twice because of the weather, quadrupling the flying time, much to the surprise of its passengers.
Ahead of take-off at 4pm, several passengers allegedly appeared intoxicated as they made their way to festival season in the Balkans.
What was supposed to be a three-hour journey became 12 hours after detours to Italy and Greece.
An anonymous passenger told The Daily Mail that a “mutiny” was staged by passengers after water ran out, and police boarded the plane to help calm the situation.
“He’s a coward, the pilot needs to come out and face us like a man!” passengers reportedly yelled.
About four hours after take-off, the plane touched down in Brindisi, Italy, to the surprise of passengers.
“About ten minutes before landing, the pilot said: ‘By the way, we couldn’t land in Albania, we’re now in Brindisi in Italy’,” the passenger said.
“We were like: ‘Oh, that’s not where we wanted to go’.
“We stayed there for two, maybe three hours on the tarmac. People were getting pretty upset and annoyed.”
It was at this point the passenger said Ryanair crew stopped serving food and drinks to the weary travellers.
“They didn’t give anything out for free, and you couldn’t even buy anything,” they said.
“People were understandably thirsty and hungry. We’d already been on the flight for four hours at this point, maybe longer. You couldn’t access anything.”
The passenger shared a tub of Pringles with their friend, which they believed was “basically the only thing available”.
Other passengers were forced to share snacks with strangers.
Water was eventually made available to passengers, but they were required to pay. When it ran out, Ribena was offered instead; until it, too, ran out.
Chaos took a hold of the plane as “clearly hammered” passengers refused to stay seated and moved around the plane, despite orders from the crew.
The passenger described an incident where a member of the cabin crew had to “wrestle (a passenger) back to his seat”.
“She literally grabs him, picks him up like a child, and pushes him back down to his seat … it was mental.”
Another passenger reportedly threw up on themselves.
When the plane took off for the original destination, Tirana, there was much relief.
That was until the pilot made another announcement 10 minutes before their arrival, which caused passengers to “los(e) their mind”.
“We’re on the way to Albania, and then, again, ten minutes before landing, the pilot says: ‘We’re not going to Albania, we’re actually about to land in Thessaloniki in Greece’,” the passenger said.
After touchdown in Greece, “mutiny” reportedly began.
“People are shouting into the pilot deck, calling him a coward, and telling him to get out and face them like a man,” the passenger recounted.
Others demanded to be let off the plane, yelling “There’s no way you can keep us here”.
Greek police were forced to board the plane in an attempt to calm the situation and let the angry passengers off.
After arriving in Tirana nine hours after initially planned, passengers clapped and cheered.
However, the anonymous passenger said they were yet to be compensated for the ordeal and has had to escalate his request.
“It was an automatic rejection as soon as I put my flight number in,” they said.
“I got an automated email being like: ‘Your claim’s been rejected’.”
The Daily Mail reported that a Ryanair spokesperson told the passenger in a letter that the flight was “disrupted due to unexpected and extraordinary circumstances, which were beyond our control”.
“This flight from London Stansted to Tirana was diverted to Brindisi due to adverse weather conditions at Tirana Airport, however subsequently diverted to Thessaloniki Airport due to a thunderstorm,” they said.
“After 45 minutes, crew opened the bars on board so that passengers could access snacks and refreshments.
“Passengers booked on this flight received communications via email, SMS and PUSH notifications.
“Once weather conditions improved, this flight departed for Tirana at 4.44am local time.”