Holidaymakers returning to Dublin were left shaken and physically sick after their flight was forced to abort its landing and finally divert to Shannon yesterday.
Passengers, including an Ennis family, also claimed the crew on Ryanair flight FR-7257 would not allow them off the plane even though parents told them they did not want to fly back to Dublin with children who were left frightened by the earlier ordeal.
The flight from from Madrid to Dublin experienced severe turbulence towards the end of its journey. When the pilot attempted to land he was forced to abort the effort and prepared for a second attempt but later opted to divert to Shannon instead.
When flight 7257 landed at Shannon, passengers were told they would not be allowed off the plane as the airline had no ground handling staff to deal with them or their baggage.
Angry passengers claimed not enough was done to facilitate them especially after so many had vomited and were left frightened by the severe turbulence and the aborted landing.
One mother of two said: “We were supposed to land in Dublin at 12.20. The pilot tried to land but took off again. It was an extremely turbulent flight and there were people vomiting and absolutely terrified.”
“We were told we were diverting to Shannon and we arrived there at 1.15. We asked to get off with children as they very upset and did not feel safe going any further on plane. Our daughter was vomiting and terrified,” the passenger said.
Winds at Dublin were gusting over 90 kilometres and hour around the time the flight attempted to land. Just one aircraft diverted at the time as other flights landed without difficulty.
At around 4.00pm, about 25 people were deplaned at Shannon while others opted to remain on board and continue to Dublin. The flight took off for Dublin at 4.55pm.
A Ryanair spokesperson said: “This flight from Madrid to Dublin diverted to Shannon due to high winds at Dublin Airport. The aircraft landed normally and a number of customers requested to disembark, and did so, before the aircraft departed to Dublin. Ryanair apologised to all customers affected by the weather diversion, which was entirely beyond our control.”