A Manchester Airport passenger has described the 'heartbreak' of missing his Ryanair flight to Alicante on Tuesday, October 27, after spending over two hours in Terminal 3 security queues. Matt Tudge was among several Ryanair passengers who missed their flights due to lengthy waits at security that evening.
Passenger's ordeal
Matt was flying to Spain to visit his grandparents, who are in their late 80s, and his brother and his family. He arrived at the airport at 6.20pm for his flight, which was due to depart at 9pm to Alicante. As he only had hand luggage, he went straight to security but soon found himself waiting in lengthy queues.
Matt claims it took him over two hours to clear security, resulting in him missing his flight. He said: "While we queued the staff tried to bring out passengers waiting for flights that were getting close, but this was poorly managed and many people were taking advantage of this to get closer to the front, ultimately I believe this made other people wait longer when they shouldn't have and caused them to miss their flights."
Missed the gate
Matt added: "We were told the Alicante flight had plenty of time so we were not moved forward. Eventually we made it through security at 8.40pm knowing that the gate was supposed to close at 8.30pm, and we had indeed missed the flight by time we had rushed through duty free and down the long corridors to the gates."
He described arriving at the gate as "heartbreaking", noting that staff were apologetic but nothing could be done. He said: "It had already been a long day at work for us, a rush to get to the airport, and then missing our flight was entirely out of our control despite being there in plenty of time."
Airport and airline response
Manchester Airport previously said it was in touch with affected customers. In a statement issued to the Manchester Evening News, a Manchester Airport spokesperson said: "Due to a combination of factors including staff absence and unexpected passenger arrival patterns - including passengers arriving less than two hours before their flights - we experienced longer-than-normal queues at security in Terminal 3 yesterday evening and are aware that a small number of passengers missed their flights as a result. We apologise for any inconvenience and are in touch with affected passengers."
Ryanair said the security delays were caused by airport staff shortages and were outside the airline's control. The airline added that a 'small number' of passengers did not reach the boarding gate in time for flight FR9073 from Manchester to Alicante, and that reports that "around 100 passengers" missed Ryanair flights are incorrect. Ryanair also explained that a flight cannot be held for passengers who have not reached the boarding gate on time, as a legal report of the manifest is signed and sent to the captain once boarding closes.
Matt was told he would need to book onto another Ryanair flight for a £100 fee or pay for tickets with another airline and reimburse costs with the airport. He decided to fly with easyJet the following day, meaning reaching Spain to visit his family cost £450 more than it should have.
