‘Distraught’ couple placed on mistaken Ryanair flight and flown 1,500 miles from journey

A couple were left “distraught” as they found themselves on an incorrect flight, ending up 1,500 miles away from their dream holiday spot.

Andrew Gore and his spouse Victoria had planned to enjoy Andrew’s 47th birthday in Costa Brava, Spain. However, whilst the rest of their party touched down in Barcelona, they found themselves in Kaunas, Lithuania.

The spouses from Mountain Ash, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, were shocked at the realisation that they had boarded the wrong Ryanair plane. Andrew, an amputee due to an accident, together with Victoria who has autism, rely on special assistance at airports during their travels – believed to be the root cause of this blunder.

READ MORE: Dine and dasher pictured eating fried breakfasts, chips and cokes before fleeing

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Bristol Airport has launched an investigation into the incident, promising improvements in the future. Ryanair specified that multiple announcements were made prior to lift-off.

Andrew recounted how they were escorted to boarding gates and repeatedly reassured that their party was already aboard the plane. He said: “We were told they were definitely on the flight and they said ‘just relax’, so we had a sleep as we’d been up early. When I woke up, it didn’t look like Spain out the window, I turned my phone on and it said ‘Welcome to Lithuania’.”

They hopped off the plane and informed Ryanair crew they’d landed in the wrong country. They were rebooked on the next flight to Barcelona, but that wasn’t until the following morning.

To add insult to injury, the departure was from Riga, Latvia, not Lithuania, a whopping 150 miles away by Uber. Ryanair coughed up for both the taxi fare and a night’s stay.

After finally touching down in Barcelona and reaching their Costa Brava hotel, their luggage took an extra two days to catch up.

“It was surreal, and an experience I never want to have ever again, our family were worried sick and we were exhausted when we did eventually arrive,” said Mr Gore.

“Even though they took us to the right place eventually, the experience had already happened, the damage had been done, and we can’t forget those worrying moments.”

A Ryanair rep said Bristol Airport’s special assistance provider boarded them onto the wrong flight to Kaunas despite gate signage clearly displaying the flight’s destination.

“Before departing, crew make several announcements advising passengers of the flights destination. Upon arriving at Kaunas Airport, these passengers notified the crew that they were on the wrong flight and Ryanair immediately arranged for both passengers to be reaccommodated on the next available flight to Barcelona,” they added.

Bristol Airport said they are investigating.

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