Posted online: May 10th, 2010

By Ciaran O’Neill
coneill@derrynews.net
A group of Derry friends caught up in the recent volcanic ash drama have hit out at their treatment at the hands of Ryanair.
The friends had all travelled to Spain on holiday together last month.
They were due to return from Alicante to City of Derry Airport on April 15 but their flight was cancelled and they were forced to stay in emergency accommodation for a week.
However, their subsequent attempts to get compensation have ‘hit a brick wall’, according to one of the group, Kathleen Nash.
“It was a nightmare at the time and the way Ryanair have treated us isn’t much better,” said Mrs Nash.
The group were actually sitting in the plane for their return flight when they were told the flight had been cancelled.
“This was the first day that the volcanic ash problem emerged so we didn’t know anything about it until the pilot said the flight had been cancelled and we would have to get off the plane.
“When we went back into the airport, a lot of the airlines had staff sorting passengers out with vouchers for food and accommodation.
“However, the Ryanair desk was shut and there was no one around to help us.
“We had to organize our own accommodation which we ended up staying in for six days before we managed to get a flight home.
“We all had to get money transferred over to us and some of our group had run out of medication and this was a big worry.
“It was an awful situation to be in but Ryanair done nothing to help us.”
Mrs Nash said she regularly flies with Ryanair from City of Derry Airport, but claimed that she would now think twice about using the airline.
“We are getting nowhere with them in terms of getting any compensation for what we had to go through and I don’t think it’s a very good way for a business to operate.”
No one from Ryanair was available to comment.