A passenger was left out of pocket after they didn’t board a ‘phantom’ flight to Dublin last year, leading them no other choice but to get two buses home to Bristol.
The Ryanair ticket holder – from the UK – found themselves in a pickle during Storm Amy, which notoriously disrupted travel nationwide.
The storm came in October 2025, which left the Met Office issuing a serious weather warning as it hit parts of the UK with ‘gusts in excess of 90 mph’.
But where was it impacting the most? The Northern and Western sides of Britain – right near where the passenger was in Bristol (South West).
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Considering it had to fly northbound to get to Ireland, this meant the passenger was heading into the eye of the storm.
In a letter to the Guardian, the person revealed that they had been unable to land at Dublin after ‘two abortive attempts and was diverted to Manchester’ instead thanks to the weather.
However, it was there that they then 'sat on the plane for six hours, with no complimentary refreshments, before being unceremoniously ejected at nearly midnight’.
The person claimed: “We were told Ryanair staff would organise taxis and hotels, but no crew disembarked with us, and the terminal was deserted.”
The person said they were then ‘forced to take a taxi to a hotel for the night’ and after silence from the airline, had to take ‘two buses back to Bristol’.
Claiming that the ‘abortive trip’ cost them £900 and was not given a ticket refund and was also allegedly denied the £240 claim ‘for the hotel and transport’ as they said Ryanair had recorded the flight as having reached Dublin.
In response, the Guardian’s Consumer Champion’s columnist chased up the case and reported back.
Apparently, Ryanair had not listed the flight as cancelled or delayed, and had also told the passenger that they were rebooked on a different flight whilst they were still stick on the tarmac in Manchester.
This ‘phantom flight’ led to the airline believing the person was not entitled to expenses.
However, after an alleged back-and-forth with the columnist, the passenger was apparently refunded the ‘cost of the flight’ and also offered cover for both the travel and hotel expenses.
In October, Met Office Chief Forecaster Neil Armstrong warned ‘gusts up to 80 mph are possible within the Northern Ireland warning area, more widely 60-70 mph gusts are expected in the Amber warning areas, in what will be an impactful autumn storm for many in Scotland and Northern Ireland.’
LADbible reached out to Ryanair, with the airline stating: "On Fri 3 Oct last, all transport operators travelling to/from Ireland and the UK were heavily impacted by Storm Amy, which caused numerous flight, ferry and train delays and cancellations. This included this flight from Bristol to Dublin (3 Oct), which was forced to divert to Manchester due to Storm Amy."
"This passenger submitted an expenses claim (16 Nov) and was regrettably incorrectly advised by a customer service agent who wrongly believed that they were not entitled to a reimbursement of their expenses.
"Should this passenger contact our Customer Service Department, a customer service agent will assist him with his claim."
Britt Jones