LAST UPDATE | 22 Oct

A NUMBER OF Irish families have been left stranded in the UK since Sunday night after their plane failed to land at Dublin Airport four times on Sunday.

The passengers refused to get back on board Ryanair flight FR7031 after it was involved in a marathon ten hour journey from Portugal before landing in Birmingham Airport.

Ryanair have since issued an apology to passengers on the flight.

Many of the passengers are still stuck in the UK and are trying to make arrangements to get home to Ireland.

Their nightmare began on Sunday afternoon last as they flew from Faro Airport to Dublin during Storm Ashley.

After a very turbulent flight, the pilot tried to land the plane on two occasions but failed to do so after circling around Dublin for almost two hours before the plane was diverted to Manchester.

One of the families left traumatised was the Harvey family from Letterkenny in Co Donegal.

The family, husband and wife Darren and Dymphna as well as daughter Molly, 11, returned to Ireland during Storm Ashley after taking off from Faro Airport around 9am on Sunday morning.

Darren said, “It was an absolute disaster and people were simply terrified. Children were crying and a lot of people were using sick bags. It wasn’t nice but we appreciate these things could happen.”

After another lengthy delay on the runway at Manchester Airport, a decision was made to return to Dublin and attempt to land again some time later.

But worse was yet to come for the terrified passengers on board Ryanair flight FR 7031.

The plane again approached Dublin Airport before failing to land a third time and then taking back to the air to circle for another 45 minutes to try and land again.

A fourth attempt was then made but once again this failed and the captain informed passengers that it was a procedure not to try a third time.

This time the plane was diverted to Birmingham Airport.

The plane touched down at Birmingham Airport and Darren said by that stage they had simply had enough and himself and his wife demanded to be allowed off the plane.

From the time they got on board the plane to the time they got off, Darren estimated they had been on board the plane for more than ten hours.

“While all this was going on we were not even offered a bottle of water. We had to buy it. It was ridiculous. Our phones were dead and all the children on the plane were just exhausted. It was the worst flight I have ever been on,” he said.

Darren demanded to get off the plane with his family and estimates that at least another 30 passengers did the same.

He said that each piece of their luggage had to be taken off manually by staff at Birmingham Airport whom he had nothing but praise for.

“The Ryanair staff told us we could not get off but there was no way I was staying on that plane. They sent another flight crew to fly the plane when it eventually took off again for Dublin.

“We heard later that it made another failed attempt to land, that was the fifth failed attempt, before it eventually managed to land.

“We simply could not take the chance. We were already at our wits end and a lot of people felt the same as us.”

Darren and his family managed to book into a Travelodge in Birmingham and said the staff there were very helpful and welcoming.

He is not sure what the other families did or if they managed to find accommodation.

The couple managed to book another Ryanair flight as it was the only flight they could get and will get into Dublin later this evening.

Darren said this will be their last ever Ryanair flight after the treatment they claimed they received on board the flight.

He added: “Imagine going through all this and still being charged for a bottle of water? We were on board that plane for more than ten hours and this is how we were treated.

“I can’t put into words the fear of so many people when we were trying to land and I’ve been on many bad flights. But if that wasn’t bad enough, the way we were treated just made it worse.”

Darren said he will try to get reimbursed for his hotel bill not to mention the extra two days parking at Dublin Airport.

“We’ll be glad to eventually get back home but this journey has been a disaster and somebody has to take responsibility for it,” he said.

Responding to the claims by a number of passengers on the flight, a spokesperson for Ryanair confirmed that the flight in question from Faro to Dublin diverted to Manchester due to high winds at Dublin caused by Storm Ashley.

“The plane attempted to reroute to Dublin where it was unable to land and diverted to Birmingham for passenger safety. As this was an EU-to-EU flight, UK Border Force would not allow passengers to disembark in Birmingham. Passengers were provided with snacks and refreshments for sale from the inflight bar service,” a statement from the airline said.

“We apologise sincerely to all passengers for these delays and diversions, which were caused by Storm Ashley and our obligation to prioritise passenger and aircraft safety.

“We are grateful to our Operations teams and our Crews who worked long hours in difficult circumstances during a storm on Sunday to get these passengers back to Dublin, rather than cancelling their flights or having them stranded in UK airports.”