Aer Lingus to fly stranded passengers back from Budapest

AER LINGUS was hoping last night to have flown all of the 132 passengers who wanted to travel back to Dublin by this evening after being stranded in the Hungarian capital of Budapest since Monday.

A spokeswoman for the airline said thunderstorms in the region had prevented the Budapest-bound flight from Dublin landing on Monday evening. It was diverted to Vienna in Austria and its passengers bussed to Budapest.

As a result no aircraft was available for the return flight, which had been due to leave Budapest shortly after 8pm.

Passengers who had been waiting at Budapest airport since tea-time on Monday and who spoke to The Irish Times yesterday said they were given no information other than, at about 8.30pm, that the flight was delayed.

"Then at about 11pm they said the flight was cancelled," said Aveen Connolly, from Castleknock, Dublin, who is studying medicine at Szeged, south of Budapest.

"We were sitting in the departure lounge. People were just told to go and collect their luggage and leave the airport and come back in the morning.

"We were not given any information about what happened. There was no one from Aer Lingus. We were given no information about where we should sleep or any vouchers for food or anything to drink."

Ms Connolly said some people booked hotels locally while others slept at the airport.

She and her parents booked tickets on another airline to fly home yesterday evening. "This cost us €500," she said. "My father has a heart problem. If he was to run out of his medication what might have happened? I called Dublin airport and asked Aer Lingus to send someone and tell us what was happening. They said they were not obliged to. It was a total shambles. I am just so disappointed."

Another passenger speaking from Budapest was Peodar Codol from Romania, who was planning a holiday to visit friends.

"Aer Lingus doesn't care about anything. They gave us no vouchers, no information," he said

A spokeswoman for the airline said Aer Lingus did not have an office or desk at the airport but did have a handling agent and said information did "filter down".

She said no one should have had to book return flights themselves and said passengers were directed to their handling agent who was endeavouring to rebook passengers on to other Aer Lingus flights or other carriers.

The spokeswoman said anyone who did buy their own tickets should contact the customer service office for a reimbursement.

"We have sent a larger aircraft with more capacity for this evening," she said yesterday.

"And we have booked some passengers on to other carriers. Some people opted for a refund."

She said about 60 people would be flown home last night and "a small number" remained to be flown home this evening.

Anyone who was forced to stay last night would be provided with free accommodation.

As the circumstances behind the flight cancellation were weather-related, she said, the airline had not been obliged to provide food or water.

"We do sincerely apologise but this was outside the control of Aer Lingus."