A misadventure lasting nearly 24 hours, 18 of which were spent at the airport in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. This was the ordeal experienced by approximately 150 passengers on a Ryanair flight bound for Bologna, which was supposed to depart yesterday morning at 6:55 but ultimately took off only at 1 a.m., arriving in the Emilian capital two hours later. One of the passengers, Giangiuseppe Grassi, a regional official with a past career as a travel agent, recounted the episode to ANSA. "No one gave us any assistance, neither from the airport nor from the airline," he said. "We tried to get in touch with the call centre and with airport management but received no response regarding our flight. Around early afternoon, only some of us received notification of a new flight that would depart at 11:45 p.m. But nobody at the airport knew anything about it. It wasn't even shown on the departure boards. It was a genuine ghost flight. And it was departing from a different gate than the one originally scheduled."
Many of the people stranded at the airport, according to some passengers, never received the notification and left the terminal waiting for official information. "At gate closure we saw two young women running towards the desk in an attempt to board," Grassi continued. "They had found out about the flight by chance while talking to other waiting passengers." "I would like to emphasise that none of the tourists waiting ever raised their voices or let tensions escalate," the passenger concluded. "We were all very calm and kept our composure, despite the nearly 20-hour wait. Among us there were also children and elderly people. We will obviously be filing a reimbursement claim, but we also expect an apology from both Ryanair and Palma de Mallorca Airport."
"The flight," the airline explained, "was delayed due to a minor technical issue and subsequent storms at Palma de Mallorca Airport. Passengers booked on this flight received communications via email and push notifications, as well as subsequent updates through the Ryanair app, and during the delay meal and drink vouchers were distributed. To minimise disruption, we arranged a replacement aircraft to operate the flight to Bologna, which took off at 00:30 local time."
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