[video_popup width="805" height="454" video_link="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASDuLY3F4v0" video_image_link="https://www.tnooz.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Ryanair-flight-690x300.png"]
A YouTube video is making waves with a claim that passengers on Ryanair flight were delayed for more than 11 hours, with no food/water were served.
Flight FR 8437 was scheduled to depart on February 14 at 8:25 pm from London Stansted Airport to Oporto in Portugal.
A passenger created a video-diary of the entire incident by explaining that Ryanair made multiple announcements about the weather, refueling status and apparently let passengers board the flight only at 12:15 am.
Then for more than three hours passengers were inside the flight, they weren't served food/refreshments, and the air conditioning wasn't switched on, claims the YouTube video.
Finally, at 3:15 am, police arrive at the scene to help the passengers move to a restricted area in the airport.
The video has crossed over 1.2 million views in the five days since it was posted on YouTube.
However, Ryanair has an entirely different version to this incident.
The airline says the delay was caused due to strong winds across the South of England and over 20 airlines were forced to divert into Stansted from Heathrow and Gatwick Airports, and this significantly disrupted handling and fuelling operations at Stansted.
The aircraft's captain asked ground handling company Swissport to allow passengers into the airport terminal, with the aircraft finally departing for its destination the following morning at 7.50 am.
Ryanair adds:
"Ryanair sincerely apologises to all passengers on this flight who were affected by this delay. Ryanair wishes to correct several false claims in relation to this incident;
The claim that passengers had to call the police is untrue – the Captain called the police.The claim that the air conditioning was not switched on is false – the Captain switched on the air conditioning.The claim that passengers were held by Ryanair against their will is false – the Captain made every effort, first with the handling agent (Swissport) and then with the police, to arrange for passengers to be allowed into the terminal which was locked.The claim that passengers were not provided with refreshment vouchers or water is untrue – Ryanair crew provided water to passengers on board and refreshment vouchers were issued to passengers following disembarkation."
A related incident occurred in India recently when an musician Raj Pandit tweeted a picture claiming that Jet Airways ground handling staff opened his checked-in bag at Mumbai airport.
This incident occurred when Pandit was travelling from Goa to Mumbai on a Jet Airways flight 9W 2385 on February 9.
The picture was retweeted 439 times and inevitably did the rounds across social media. Multiple questions were raised by users in social media - do the airline have the rights to open a checked-in bag? Was something missing from the bag?
Corporate communications and public relations officer at Jet Airways, Neha Lall, told Tnooz:
"The bag was received in an open condition on arrival at Mumbai. As per standard operating procedure, the baggage handler immediately informed the ramp duty manager and the security manager about the condition of the bag.
"The said bag was then checked under supervision and closed in the presence of both the managers at the aircraft and released along with the other bags into the arrival lounge. The guest confirmed that no items were missing and all the contents of the bag were intact.
"Jet Airways staff were only diligently following protocol and were not rummaging with the intent to pilfer the contents of the bag."