Woman boards the wrong flight and arrives in Spain, not France. Photo / Getty Images
A Paris-bound tourist found herself in Alicante, Spain, after boarding the wrong flight.
In an unexpected twist, a Ryanair passenger intending to enjoy a short city break in Paris found herself in sunny Alicante instead.
Jem Maybank, a 30-year-old property worker from West Yorkshire, arrived at Leeds Bradford Airport on Saturday, ready to embark on her trip to Paris Beauvais Airport. However, due to a series of mishaps, she ended up on a flight to Spain.
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The Paris-bound tourist arrived at the airport early Saturday morning on June 22 and proceeded through security without any issues.
Maybank confessed to the Daily Mail that she was in a disoriented headspace at the airport.
“I had a bit of a mad holiday rush. I was looking for the gate to Paris Beauvais. I saw it was gate 6 or something, but this was from a distance away.”
She proceeded through the wrong gate without any issues, even having her boarding pass checked and confirmed by the staff.
“The staff scanned my boarding pass, the QR code, and they did read it. They just let me straight through the gate,” Maybank told the Daily Mail.
The first red flag was when she first boarded the plane and discovered that her assigned seat, 34A, did not exist.
“I had seat 34A and this didn’t exist. I showed it to a member of the cabin crew, and I said, ‘Can you help me because I don’t have a seat’,” Maybank said.
She raised the issue with the cabin crew, but they assured her that “sometimes that happens when we switch the aircraft around, but luckily there’s a no-show.”
The problem was brushed off, and she continued on her journey in the reassigned seat.
Maybank admitted to not hearing the announcement and not paying attention at the start of the flight.
She found the flight twice as long as expected but attributed it to turbulence and fell asleep shortly after take-off.
“I couldn’t really hear the announcement. They must have done one saying ‘this flight goes to Alicante’ but I didn’t hear it,” she said.
It wasn’t until she woke up to the sight of palm trees and mountains that she realised she was not in Paris.
Upon landing, she waited until all other passengers had left before notifying the Ryanair crew of the mix-up.
“I waited until everyone got off the plane and was like ‘hey, so, I’m not meant to be here, I’m meant to be in Paris,” she shared with the Daily Mail.
The staff, who were also confused by the whole incident, quickly arranged for her to catch the next available flight to Paris for free later that day.
She shared, “She was like ‘how did you not realise?’ The staff were really confused, and they said it’d never happened before.”
Maybank is still unsure how everything happened, though she speculated she might have misread gate 6 as gate 8.
“I don’t know how it happened. Maybe the gate number changed while I was waiting,” she recalled.
“The number 6 looks quite similar to the number 8 from a distance too, so I think that’s what happened.”
Despite the mishap, she made the most of her unexpected layover by exploring Alicante during her short 7-hour stay.
When she finally arrived in Paris at 11pm, Maybank still had to take an hour-long bus ride to her hotel.
Reflecting on her experience, she advised travellers to be attentive at airports and listen to announcements, even if they seem mundane.
She admitted, “It’s so easy to get overwhelmed and stressed in an airport but just try and chill out.
“When you get on the plane and they do the safety announcements, just listen to what they say. It’s so boring waiting in queues and all that but that’s what gets you,” Maybank advised.
Maybank eventually made it to Paris and immediately left her hotel to go sightseeing and shopping.
The incident didn’t go unnoticed by the airline, with Ryanair issuing a statement through a spokesperson, reminding passengers of their responsibility to ensure they board the correct aircraft. The spokesperson confirmed that Maybank booked a flight from Leeds to Paris, but went through the wrong gate. Fortunately, the airline accommodated Maybank and arranged her ticket for the next available flight to Paris leaving the same day.
The spokesman told mailOnline: “There are several touchpoints which inform passengers of the aircraft’s destination, including gate signage and announcements before every flight departure.”
It is the responsibility of the traveller to double-check their flight details, ensure maximum safety, and avoid detours like this incident.
However, the final outcome was a happy one. Ryanair said, “Upon arrival in Alicante, this passenger notified the crew that they were on the wrong flight and Ryanair immediately arranged for the passenger to be reaccommodated on the next available flight to Paris, which was scheduled to depart Alicante later that same day (June 22).”