Ryanair passengers due to fly from Glasgow Prestwick Airport to Malaga on Sunday morning were told their flight would depart from a different airport 37 miles away, with only two hours before the scheduled departure. The change was caused by Storm Boelo, which battered the UK over the weekend.
Airport announces last-minute change
Shortly before 5am on Sunday, October 25, Glasgow Prestwick Airport posted an update on X and Facebook. The X post, since deleted, said: “Flight Update - Malaga FR655 Due to adverse weather, the 07:00 Ryanair flight FR655 to Malaga will now depart from Glasgow Airport (GLA). Passengers should travel directly to Glasgow Airport and check in there. Please check with Ryanair for updates.” The post received more than 3,000 likes and 126 shares.
A similar Facebook post drew a flood of confused comments. One user wrote “that’s quite a gate change,” while another commented: “Well I’m gonna assume that the flight is going to depart mostly empty.”
Passengers question travel arrangements
Many Facebook users wondered how passengers would reach the other airport. Marilyn Mckie wrote: “Lot of people get dropped off at the airport and won’t even have a car to try to drive to Glasgow. It would have been a very daunting drive during this storm too, so as Ryanair is diverting flight they should bus passengers too!!!”
The post also caused confusion over the new departure time, with some believing they needed to be at Glasgow Airport for 7am. According to FlightAware, the flight departed Glasgow Airport at 1.39pm and landed in Malaga at 5.24pm.
Passenger Anna Joyce said on Facebook that she learned of the change at 3am via an email from the airline, but the email was blank. She added: “App was updated to say GLA at 4.30am.”
Weather conditions cited
One Facebook user pointed to the extreme weather. Jilian Coubrough wrote: “What else can they do? There's been a time change, a mental storm that's left the Ayrshire coast severely flooded, the plane maybe had to divert to Glasgow last night. Can't predict widespread chaos.”
According to the Scottish Sun, Ryanair said passengers were informed at 1.43am of the airport change via email, SMS and push notifications, and that they can claim back transport expenses to Glasgow Airport via the airline’s website. Ryanair and Glasgow Prestwick Airport were both contacted by the Manchester Evening News for comment.
