A Ryanair flight from Athens to London Luton took off without up to 50 passengers on board, with the airline blaming Athens airport border delays for leaving travellers stranded in Greece
The budget flight from Athens to Luton left dozens stranded at the airport in sweltering temperatures(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Dozens of Ryanair passengers have been left stranded in Greece after their flight home to the UK departed without them.
The service, operating from Athens to London Luton, took off with between 20 and 50 passengers still on the ground.
Budget carrier Ryanair blamed border delays for the chaos, while the airport claimed it had been experiencing congestion linked to “additional processing requirements”.
One holidaymaker told the BBC there had been a “mega queue” of several hundred people at both security and passport control amid sweltering temperatures.
The Ryanair flight from Athens International Airport to London Luton reportedly left without 20 to 50 passengers(Image: NGCHIYUI via Getty Images)
“These poor people were pleading with the Ryanair staff to let them through – one guy was crying, another guy looked like he was about to explode,” they said.
Airport authorities stepped in “to maintain orderly operations” after “a number of passengers expressed their dissatisfaction”, officials confirmed.
A spokesperson revealed there had been “periods of congestion at passport control in the departures area due to high passenger volumes and the additional processing requirements associated with travel to non-Schengen destinations”
They further added: “As is currently the case at many European airports, passenger flows on certain routes may experience increased processing times as new border-control procedures continue to be implemented and refined.”
Another passenger took to Twitter to blast Ryanair, saying it was “utterly disgraceful you left my daughter (and half your passengers) at the gate in Athens today”.
Ryanair said in a statement that “a number of passengers” did not board in time “due to delays caused by border control at Athens airport”.
It added: “All passengers that were at the boarding gate when this flight from Athens to London Luton boarded, travelled without incident.”
Greece has scrapped its commitment to spare British travellers from the European Union’s new biometric border checks, reports the Mirror.
Brits will now be subject to the same Entry/Exit System (EES) registration as all other non-EU visitors this summer.
The Greek Foreign Ministry confirmed the U-turn, stating that it had no information that “specific nationalities are temporarily exempt from the relevant procedure.”
The reversal affects more than just UK passport holders, with all non-EU travellers passing through Greek borders set to face the biometric scanning process.
Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni stated that the government did not want visitors “burdened” by bureaucracy.
She pledged that British tourists would be “fast-tracked” through the system, describing entry and exit as taking “a minute or so.”
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here.