More than 40 Ryanair passengers were denied boarding while the plane was apparently still in the airport.
A video posted on social media appears to show a huddle of holidaymakers in Budapest Airport battling with a worker.
They are stood at gate B26 but seem to be refused entry onto the plane heading to Tirana.
Various disappointed shouts are made from the group and the employee exclaims, ‘I know, I am not happy about it either!’
‘If anyone checked in a luggage, your luggage will be at the baggage reclaim,’ he continues, attempting to answer people’s queries.
The disgruntled passenger, @xeozor21, who posted the video, claimed ‘the aircraft was still there’ while the chaos unfolded.
He penned: ‘Stupid @Ryanair and @budairport did not let 40+ people in at flight FR6887 to Tirana, closed gate and denied boarding, while the aircraft was still there, unloaded luggage and said gtfo [‘get the f**k out], refused to give official paper on boarding refusal.
‘Not much hopes, but now gonna chase ’em.’
More than 40 Ryanair passengers were denied boarding while the plane was apparently still in the airport (stock)
A video posted on social media appears to show a huddle of holidaymakers in Budapest Airport battling with a worker
He explained in a comment how he had spent an hour queuing at passport control and claimed there was no last call for the flight.
What’s more, the passenger revealed the plane had to wait more than 30 minutes for the bags to be unloaded before taking off.
‘Took 1h queue at non-EU pass control due to slow handling. No L Call for Tirana flight scheduled on time at 14:20,’ he wrote.
‘Arrived at 14:00 at the gate 26 (while app had gate 14, but w/a). Gate closed, boarding denied to 40 people. Plane waited +30 min for luggage unload.’
A spokesperson for Budapest Airport told the Daily Mail: ‘During the period in question, higher number of flights departed simultaneously than usual from the non-Schengen zone, causing congestion at passport control.
‘Budapest Airport and the Airport Police Directorate did everything in their power to ensure that passengers passed through controls on time, but unfortunately, not all airlines waited for their passengers. Passengers who missed their flights were assisted to rebook their flights. For more information, please contact the airlines concerned.
‘We apologize to affected passengers for any inconvenience caused.’
Ryanair told the Daily Mail: ‘Due to passport control delays at Budapest Airport (15 Dec), a number of passengers missed this flight from Budapest to Tirana.
‘Should these passengers have presented at the boarding gate desk before it closed, they would have boarded this flight alongside the 137 passengers who did present at the gate on time.’
It comes after Christina Finn, her husband Cameron and their five-month-old son travelled to London from Belfast for a CBeebies event on 27 May without any issues.
On their return journey from Stansted Airport, they experienced a series of problems, beginning with technical issues while checking-in online.
Speaking to Belfast Live, she said: ‘It wouldn’t let me click through to our booking at all and I thought the issue was with my phone so when we got to the airport, we had to check in at the desk where we then had to pay a fine for not checking in online.’
Should airlines be held responsible when airport delays cause passengers to miss their flights?
Various disappointed shouts are made from the group and the employee exclaims, ‘I know, I am not happy about it either!’
Things took a turn when Ryanair asked for the couple’s passports – an Irish one for Cameron and a British one for Christina, which were both expired.
The pair had been waiting for their son to arrive before renewing their passports, and in the meantime were able to use their driving licences as a valid form of identification for their outbound flight on easyJet.
However, Ryanair staff allegedly refused to accept the documents, stating that Christina, a UK citizen, needed a visa to fly to Dublin because the Republic of Ireland is in the EU.
Christina said she tried to argue that under the Common Travel Area agreement between between the UK and Ireland, no passport or visa is required for British or Irish citizens to travel between the two countries.
The mother also explained that they lived in Northern Ireland and regularly travelled through Dublin.
But she claimed Ryanair insisted she would stopped at passport control in Dublin and the airline would be fined ‘between £500 and £1,000’ for letting her fly without a valid passport.
Christina added: ‘I decided to ring the British embassy in Dublin who directed me to call the Irish embassy in London and the woman on the phone was horrified. She said there was no need for a visa.’
However, the couple were warned by the embassy worker that airlines are allowed to impose stricter ID requirements as part of their own policies.
The disgruntled passenger, @xeozor21,who posted the video claimed ‘the aircraft was still there’ while the chaos unfolded (stock)
Ryanair has since defended its actions, saying the couple had not checked in online as required and had presented expired passports at the airport.
In a statement to the Irish Mirror, the airline said: ‘These passengers failed to check-in online before arriving at London Stansted Airport (5 June).
‘Therefore, these passengers were correctly asked to pay the required airport check-in fee (£55 per passenger), however refused to do so, and became aggressive towards the agents at the check in desk at London Stansted Airport.’
The airline also stated that all passengers must carry a valid passport when flying between the UK and Ireland, as per Ryanair’s terms and conditions agreed to at the time of booking.