RYANAIR passengers heading to London and Bournemouth have been left stranded in Brussels after Storm Ciara forced their flight to divert to the Belgian airport, then left without food or hotel accommodation by the airline.
After the unscheduled landing, they were then kicked out of the airport by police with no news on their next flight.
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Two flights were forced to land due to high winds – flight FR3073 travelling from Rome to London and flight FR8208 from Prague to Bournemouth.
Passengers were attempting to return to the UK, despite many flights cancelled because of Storm Ciara, when their flights diverted to Brussels instead.
Ciara Thompson, 24, who was on the London-bound flight, filmed hundreds of passengers at the airport being told to leave by the police.
She told Sun Online Travel: “We were diverted to Brussels Airport at around 1pm, and told to wait eight hours for a flight from Glasgow that would arrive at 9pm and then take us back to the UK.
“We were also told to leave the gate and go through security as the Red Cross was waiting for us on the other side because as the situation was classed as a national emergency.”
According to Ciara, airport officials told them that: “Ryanair had wiped their hands clean of us and had no accommodation, food or water and would not contact the airport back.
“However there was no Red Cross at the airport.”
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She added: “People refused to leave, so they then got the police and army up to remove us.
“One policeman grabbed an American’s woman bag to throw her out of the terminal physically, it was horrific.”
“We are 24-year-old girls and have never been to this country, never mind the people who had kids or the elderly.”
She said that they were forced to book their own hotel and pay for food, although not everyone was able to book due to money and a lack of availability.
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Ciara added that they are hoping to fly back home tonight at 9pm, according to the latest update from Ryanair – nearly 36 hours later.
Other passengers were trying to help their stranded relatives, with Twitter user Anastasia asking: “I need answers ASAP.
“My dad was meant to fly from Rome to London Stansted but the flight had to land in Belgium instead.
“He has been at the airport since 1pm and they have left all the passengers stranded with no food, drink or information and there is no staff available.”
Another woman asked: “What is going on with that Rome flight that diverted to Brussels that should have gone to Stansted as my family have not been given a new flight or a hotel to stay!!”
Ryanair passenger Luke Bale, who was on the diverted 11:10am flight from Prague yesterday said people were “screaming and crying” on board after the flight was hit by terrible turbulence, before aborting the landing at Bournemouth.
He explained to Sun Online Travel: “They aborted the landing and flew us to Brussels where it was safe to land.
“The only alternative was refuel and fly back to Prague, and a crew and plane would take us back in the morning.”
However, he said that this turned out to be untrue.
Luke continued: “When we got back to Prague no one was waiting for us and the whole plane of passengers walked around the airport until being told to report to a desk.
“The airport then said the next flight would be Thursday but it was already fully booked.”
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Luke was forced to queue at the airport for two hours to be given a hotel, but had to pay for his own taxi, as well as breakfast and dinner that night.
He is currently waiting to find out if there are any flights bringing passengers back.
Luke claimed: “They conned us into flying back to Prague when actually we’d have been better off getting off in Brussels. They lied to us to keep people from disembarking or complaining.”
Zoe Rundle, who was also on the flight, said she was forced to pay for a flight back from Prague to Manchester and then travel down to Bournemouth after being told the flight they would be put on wasn’t until Thursday.
Bournemouth lecturer Miriam Phillips, who was also on the Prague flight, tweeted that trains, planes and ferries had been cancelled at Brussels, leaving many without options.
A Ryanair spokesperson explained, in regard to both flights, that they were diverted and landed safely.
They told Sun Online Travel: “Unfortunately, due to severe weather disruptions the flight was then cancelled.
“Affected customers were provided with hotel accommodation and were notified by email and SMS text message of their options of a refund or free move to the next available flight.
“Ryanair sincerely apologised for this weather cancellation which was entirely beyond our control.”
Flights have been cancelled across the UK following Storm Ciara due to 90mph winds, leaving devastation around the country.
However, a British Airways flight from New York to London broke new records due to the Storm Ciara winds.
Sun Online Travel contacted Brussels Airport and Red Cross for comment.
