Edinburgh Ryanair flight from Tenerife delayed for 15 hours leaving passengers fuming

Passenger hits out at lack of communication from Ryanair

An Edinburgh-bound flight from Tenerife scheduled to leave at 8.45pm on Friday night didn’t arrive in the Capital until 4.15pm on Saturday, with passengers left furious about a “lack of communication” from Ryanair staff.

Around 200 passengers suffered the “gruelling” 15-hour flight disruption at the weekend, after sitting on the plane on the runway at Tenerife South Airport for around three hours before being told to get off due to a fault on the aircraft. Passengers were then ferried to hotels an hour and a half away, with some staying in the airport to await the rescheduled flight on Saturday morning at 8.45am, which never left until after noon local time.

One of the passengers, 61-year-old housewife April McNair from Corstorphine, told the Evening News about the “nightmare” end to her holiday in the sun.

April McNair from Corstorphine (left) went to Tenerife with her friend, and the pair had to wait more than 15 hours before their flight left the Canary Island bound for Edinburgh.

She said: “What a nightmare. Fifteen hours is a wee bit too much for people. It was horrible, and not getting told what was happening by Ryanair made things worse. We got aboard on time on Friday but the doors were never shut. People were coming back and forward then half an hour later the captain said we were having technical problems and unfortunately they didn’t have a Ryanair engineer on the ground. Shouldn’t these checks been done beforehand?

"We were left for another hour and it was roasting on the plane. People were starting to get annoyed. Then after two hours the captain said they were waiting on a part and we needed to head back to the airport terminal. Kids on the plane were screaming and we were never offered a drink or anything.”

The passengers disembarked the flight and headed back to the terminal to then queue at the Ryanair desk to be sent to a hotel, with April and her friend choosing to remain at the main airport on the Canary Island.

She said: “I asked a Ryanair person at the desk for water as we hadn’t had access to any for four hours, and she came back with bottles. Then people went away to the hotels while others including myself stayed at the airport. It was brutal, just so cold and horrible. But I didn’t fancy travelling another hour and a half on a bus to a hotel, so I just stayed at the airport. I had to go through check-in again, then we were put in a corner to wait. Then the flight kept getting delayed.”

April, who complained to Ryanair on its Facebook page about her experience, blamed a lack of communication from staff for making the situation worse.

She said: "There was no information. Which annoyed people even more. If someone had come out and explained what was happening that would have helped. We were then told the plane was still getting fixed. By 11am tempers were not very good. Then they started to give our food vouchers worth four Euros. It wasn’t really enough, as we couldn’t go back to the main shops, so most people didn’t even use the vouchers as they couldn’t really.

"One woman was crying as her baby was on its last bottle of milk. She was frantic, as her baby was on granules but staff could only offer her normal milk. It was parents mostly that were going mental. It was a real shame for them. When they told us at about 12.15pm that we would be boarding now, everyone was cheering. We got on the plane and the captain never even spoke. He must have been too embarrassed.

"Everyone on the flight was raging, particularly at the lack of communication from Ryanair. These things happen, but if they had kept us updated we would have worn it a bit better.”

A Ryanair spokesman said: “This Tenerife to Edinburgh flight was delayed overnight due to a minor technical issue with the aircraft. Affected passengers were notified and subsequently updated via email, SMS and their Ryanair app. Passengers remained onboard the aircraft for less than one hour, during which time they were provided with water, before being disembarked and offered overnight accommodation. However, as there was limited hotel availability in Tenerife, some passengers remained at the airport and any passengers who arranged their own accommodation were advised that they can claim reimbursement on Ryanair.com. We sincerely apologise to affected passengers for any inconvenience caused as a result of this delay.”