FRUSTRATED PASSENGERS expressed anger and dismay at the delays at Dublin airport yesterday, as restaurants and rest areas struggled to contain crowds created by Wednesday's cancellations.
Businesswoman Anne Stevenson had last night been waiting 34 hours for a flight to Liverpool - a journey which normally takes just 45 minutes. She arrived at the airport early after a business meeting at 1pm on Wednesday and checked in for her 4.30 Ryanair flight.
An hour after her flight was due to leave she was told to go and pick up her cases. She queued for four hours to speak to someone at the Ryanair information desk, which closed before she got there. "I couldn't leave my bags to go to the loo but luckily someone offered to mind them for me," she said.
The airline had told her she could book her replacement flight online. "How can I go online when I don't have internet access," she said, adding her husband in Liverpool stayed up late to access the website for her and book her flight, due to leave at 10.45 last night.
Christina Gonzalez, who was due in Madrid this morning to be maid of honour at her best friend's wedding, complained "there were no explanations or announcements" from her carrier Aer Lingus.
Her flight was due to leave Dublin at about 4pm yesterday but was later rescheduled until after midnight. "This afternoon the gate just changed direction to London instead of Madrid," Andrew Connell, her travelling companion said.
Ms Gonzalez added: "I had planned to buy shoes and write a speech with my friends for the wedding. Now we will also have to pay for a €100 taxi from Madrid at 3am because there will be no public transport."
One of the many UK passengers affected was English businessman Barry Goulding, from Northampton, who said he flew over on a day trip for a business meeting from Stansted on Wednesday and was unable to get out of Dublin that night. He said: "Things are calmer here now but there was pandemonium here last night and the staff just seemed to disappear," he said. "I paid £280 for a return trip with a so-called low-fare airline and the least I would expect is to be told what is going on, rather than having to work out for myself that flights are not happening."
"This is an international airport and there is no excuse for the lack of communication," he added.
The tension was clear on the face of Renata Dunauskiene, who said she was due to depart to Lithuania with her 18-month-old child at 4pm on Wednesday, but spent from midday until 9pm that evening in the airport before the flight was cancelled. "The baby was crying and I was stressed and it was very unpleasant with the crowds here," she said.
The Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) rejected reports of a safety alert in the early hours of yesterday morning when many people slept overnight at the airport. DAA spokeswoman Siobhán Moore said an alarm was accidentally set off for eight minutes at 1.27am by somebody doing work on a sprinkler system.
Airport radar not working at full capacity, says Dempsey: Page 8