Co Antrim Ryanair passenger baffled by Storm Boelo 'gruelling ordeal' which left fans missing match

A Ballymena man has voiced bafflement over a Ryanair “ordeal” which left him and fellow passengers missing a Manchester United game.

David Torrington said he could not understand why the airline attempted to proceed with the flight from Belfast International to Manchester on October 25 amid stormy conditions when other airlines had cancelled theirs.

placeholder image — Generally a flight lasting one hour, the Belfast Ryanair passengers did not end up arriving in Manchester until about 11 hours after takeoff (photo by Jaime REINA / AFP via Getty Images)

The News Letter has sought to get answers.

The flight had departed at 7.50am then tried twice to land at Manchester before diverting to London Gatwick, about 180 miles away, where it didn’t land until 10.20am.

Upon landing, he said the complement of passengers – which included many Liverpool and Manchester United fans – had to wait outside in the grim conditions for a bus that did not arrive until 1.15pm.

Then it took around five hours by bus to reach Manchester.

Kick-off was at 2pm.

Normally, the trip from Belfast to Manchester takes about one hour.

Mr Torrington said: “When I arrived at Belfast International Airport, I noticed that a number of flights were delayed or cancelled.

"What particularly stood out was that many of the affected services appeared to be operated by EasyJet, while Ryanair flights were continuing to depart…

"I was left questioning why different airlines serving the same route appeared to adopt significantly different approaches under what seemed to be the same circumstances."

He added: “Given the choice, I would have vastly preferred an outright cancellation over the grueling ordeal I actually endured.”

It was put to Ryanair that the customer could not understand why it had insisted on the flight going ahead.

"This flight from Belfast to Manchester diverted to London Gatwick due to adverse weather conditions at Manchester Airport as a result of Storm Boelo,” it told the News Letter.

"Like all airlines, operations to/from the UK during this period were disrupted, which is outside of airlines’ control.

"Passengers booked on this flight received communications via email, SMS and PUSH notifications.

"To minimise disruption to passengers, we arranged alternative transport from London Gatwick to Manchester, which departed at 13:43pm local time.”