![\"Plane](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/0_FILES-TRANSPORT-AVIATION-RYANAIR.jpg\")
<\/p>\nA 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<\/p>\n
The budget flight from Athens to Luton left dozens stranded at the airport in sweltering temperatures(Image: AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Dozens of Ryanair passengers have been left stranded in Greece after their flight home to the UK departed without them.<\/p>\n
The service, operating from Athens to London Luton, took off with between 20 and 50 passengers still on the ground.<\/p>\n
Budget carrier Ryanair<\/a> blamed border delays for the chaos, while the airport claimed it had been experiencing congestion linked to “additional processing requirements”.<\/p>\n One holidaymaker told the BBC there had been a “mega queue” of several hundred people at both security and passport control amid sweltering temperatures.<\/p>\n The Ryanair flight from Athens International Airport to London Luton reportedly left without 20 to 50 passengers(Image: NGCHIYUI via Getty Images)<\/p>\n “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.<\/p>\n Airport authorities stepped in “to maintain orderly operations” after “a number of passengers expressed their dissatisfaction”, officials confirmed.<\/p>\n 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”<\/p>\n 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.”<\/p>\n 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”.<\/p>\n 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”.<\/p>\n It added: “All passengers that were at the boarding gate when this flight from Athens to London Luton boarded, travelled without incident.”<\/p>\n Greece has scrapped its commitment to spare British travellers from the European Union’s new biometric border checks, reports the Mirror<\/a>.<\/p>\n Brits will now be subject to the same Entry\/Exit System (EES) registration as all other non-EU visitors this summer.<\/p>\n The Greek Foreign Ministry confirmed the U-turn, stating that it had no information that “specific nationalities are temporarily exempt from the relevant procedure.”<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni stated that the government did not want visitors “burdened” by bureaucracy.<\/p>\n She pledged that British tourists would be “fast-tracked” through the system, describing entry and exit as taking “a minute or so.”<\/p>\n![\"beauvais,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/0_beauvais.jpg\")
<\/p>\n