‘Summer flight chaos meant 10 loved ones missed our wedding’

A man who had 10 key guests missing from his wedding last month has spoken out about the real-life implications of this summer’s flight cancellations.

Marcus Hansen married his partner Joanne in his native Denmark at the end of July, but a Ryanair delay which became a cancellation meant that several guests - including the bride’s father - were not in attendance.

Mr Hansen was expecting dozens of British guests at the wedding, which took place in the Hotel Koldingfjord in Kolding on 30 July. Many were due to get the same Ryanair flight, FR2800, from Manchester to Billund on the evening before the event.

He says their group had a nightmare from the moment they checked in, with the maid of honour first being told her 14-year-old daughter may not have a seat on the flight due to overbooking. She was told she would have to wait to hear if there had been any no-shows for the flight.

They then were able to check in as normal, but around the time boarding was set to start, it became clear that there was a delay.

“The flight was due to leave at 7.30pm, but when it was first delayed there was no communication from the airline,” says Mr Hansen. “At 10.30pm it still said ‘Relax’ on the screens, with no one being called to the gate. This was three hours past the departure time.”

His friends say there were no Ryanair staff around to ask for help at this point.

“At some point they found out from someone else waiting that on the Ryanair app the flight was marked as ‘delayed’,” he continued.

The wedding group “didn’t want to stress Joanne, so they were keeping me updated”, he says. “Eventually the flight was cancelled at 23.42 Manchester time.

“There was no communication from Ryanair beforehand, but then it came over the speaker system that it was cancelled.

“It was 2am Danish time when we found out they wouldnt make it, so we only got a few hours sleep before the wedding.”

The group hampered by the Ryanair cancellation included “my father in law and my wife’s maid of honour - her best friend - her brother and his partner, two bridesmaids and some other friends”, says Marcus.

Mr Hansen said the group quickly went about trying to rearrange their journeys to Denmark, with little to no assistance from the airline.

“There is a Stansted-Billund Ryanair at 6am the next morning but the group had had a few drinks in the airport, so they couldn’t drive.

“Eventually Ryanair said there would be another flight from Manchester to Billund the following day, but only offered a hotel to those who accepted it.”

The next available flight offered, Mr Hansen explains, departed at 7.30pm on the wedding day, so would not arrive in time for the event.

Some of his friends were forced to sleep in cars as they had not accepted the too-late departure, while one member of the group was able to drive a few others home.

The nightmare journey wasn’t over for one member of the group who did accept the flight the following days, Mr Hansen explains.

“One of my friends accepted that deal, he went to a hotel with his kids and was told there would be a bus put on by Ryanair at 3pm the next day. However, it arrived early at 12pm.”

When the family did get to the airport, the second-take flight was also delayed, meaning that Mr Hansen’s friend only arrived at 2am to the wedding.

“Luckily Danish weddings go on a bit later than English ones!” he jokes.

For his other friends, other last-minute flight fares to Billund were too high for them to warrant booking a different flight out.

The pair was “devastated”, he says, “especiallyJoanne with her father not being there”.

“When she walked down the aisle it was mixed emotions; there were both happy and sad tears.

“It’s still just devastating.”

Under European air passenger rights rules, airlines who cancel a flight are obligated to get the passengers on that departure to their destination, ideally the same day or within 24 hours afterwards.

This means booking them on to a rival airline’s flight if there is no availability on their own flights. In the meantime you are likely owed compensation for the delay, as well as having essential hotel and food and drink costs covered.

A Ryanair spokesperson said: “Ryanair operates over 3,000 daily flights and carried 16.8 million passengers in July alone. This flight from Manchester to Billund (29 July) was regrettably cancelled due to a minor technical issue followed by Air Traffic Control (ATC) delays which are entirely beyond Ryanair’s control. To minimise disruption to passengers, an alternative aircraft was quickly arranged for travel to Billund the following day (30 July).

“Affected passengers were notified and advised of their options and passengers who opted to take the flight the following day were provided with overnight accommodation, dinner and breakfast, and transport to/from the hotel.

“Ryanair sincerely apologises to affected passengers for this regrettable cancellation which was entirely beyond our control.”