British travellers have revealed how they splashed up to €800 on taxis after being diverted from Malaga to Alicante over the weekend.
The eye-watering costs came after dozens of Ryanair passengers were told they would have to make their own way home after landing very late on Saturday night.
At least 24 flights were unable to land at Malaga due to fierce storms that sparked a feared red alert by state weather agency Aemet.
Ryanair said passengers would be able to reimburse their travel costs as long as they were ‘reasonable’.
British expat John was flying back to Malaga with his wife and children and said the plane attempted to land three times at Malaga ‘in hurricane wind and rain’ but ‘had to divert and land in Alicante.’
In a Facebook post he said there were ‘no Ryanair staff to be seen’, adding: ‘Eventually an airport worker said coaches would be laid on, waited until 2am and message came through on mobile “no coaches available please make your way to Malaga Airport at a reasonable cost which will be refunded to you”.’
John said he got in a taxi with two other travellers and arrived at Malaga Airport at 6.40am ‘and €780 lighter.’
Speaking to the Spanish Eye today, he said he was preparing to make his claim for reimbursement.
He added: ‘The problem was 180 Ryanair passengers trying to get taxis at 2am to Malaga.
‘Only 1 in 4 that arrived at the taxi rank were prepared to accept the transfer.’
John said that he didn’t want to bash Ryanair as the weather was out of their control.
‘Ryanair since Covid are a much improved company,’ he said.
Others echoed his sentiment, with fellow traveller Katie commenting on John’s post: ‘I saw some women screaming at a Ryanair check in girl, absolute disgrace the young lady was doing everything she could to help.
‘People forget they are there to do their job and don’t get notified of anything until pilots and assistant members are informed, be respectful to the Ryanair staff!’
The Spanish Eye contacted Ryanair for comment but received an email to say their press office is currently closed.
