MORE than 40 Ryanair passengers were left stranded in Budapest after being denied boarding their flight – despite the plane “still being at the airport”.
Social media footage showed a group of fuming holidaymakers quarrelling with a staff member after being refused entry for no apparent reason.
In the dramatic footage, several tourists are seen at gate B26, seemingly unable to board their flight, bound for Tirana, Albania.
Some are heard yelling in frustration, before the employee is heard saying: “I know, I am not happy about it either!”
The airport worker adds: “If anyone checked in a luggage, your luggage will be at the baggage reclaim.”
The outraged passenger who posted the video claimed the “aircraft was still there” at the time of the chaotic altercation.
They wrote on social media: “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.”
The disgruntled traveller added: “Not much hopes, but now gonna chase ’em.”
Explaining that they had spent an hour queuing up i passport control, the holidaymaker claimed there was no last call announcement for the flight.
He also said he had to wait over 30 minutes for the bags to be unloaded before take off.
The passenger said: “Took 1h queue at non-EU pass control due to slow handling.
“No L Call for Tirana flight scheduled on time at 14:20.”
They continued: “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 Budapest Airport spokesperson 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.”
The airport also said: “We apologize to affected passengers for any inconvenience caused.”
Meanwhile, Ryanair told the outlet: “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 hundreds of Brit tourists were left stranded in Faro, Portugal, after a series of strikes.
To make matters worse, the majority of travellers were reportedly not told about strike action before they set off in the morning.
