Passengers were left 'crying' after a Ryanair flight accidentally took off leaving around 50 people behind at Athens airport. The budget flight from Athens to London Luton departed without dozens of passengers who were stuck in long queues at security and passport control amid sweltering temperatures.
Incident Details
The flight took off without between 20 and 50 passengers on board. Ryanair blamed border delays, while the airport cited congestion linked to 'additional processing requirements' for non-Schengen destinations. One holidaymaker told the BBC there was a 'mega queue' of several hundred people at both security and passport control.
'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. Airport authorities intervened 'to maintain orderly operations' after passengers expressed dissatisfaction.
Official Statements
A spokesperson for the airport confirmed there were '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.' They added that passenger flows on certain routes may experience increased processing times as new border-control procedures are implemented.
A passenger took to Twitter to blast Ryanair, calling it 'utterly disgraceful you left my daughter (and half your passengers) at the gate in Athens today.' Ryanair responded that 'a number of passengers' did not board in time due to delays caused by border control, and that all passengers at the boarding gate when the flight boarded travelled without incident.
Broader Context
Greece has abandoned its pledge to exempt British travellers from the European Union's new biometric border checks. Brits will now undergo the same Entry/Exit System (EES) registration as other non-EU visitors. The Greek Foreign Ministry confirmed the U-turn, stating it had no information that specific nationalities are temporarily exempt.
The decision impacts all non-EU travellers passing through biometric scanners. Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni said the government did not want visitors 'burdened' by bureaucracy, promising that Brits would be 'fast-tracked' through the system, with entry and exit taking 'a minute or so.'
