Students ‘mutiny’ on Ryanair flight over baggage fees
07.02.11
Spanish police were called to remove more than 100 Belgian students from a Ryanair plane that was due to fly from the Canary Islands to Belgium after a 'mutiny' over baggage fees. Most of the students are now stranded in Lanzarote because other flights are either full or too expensive.
Spanish newspaper La Provincia said airline staff had tried to charge one passenger extra for carry-on baggage and his friends on the plane ‘mutinied’. The budget airline said police were called after the university students became disruptive. It confirmed that they refused to carry out instructions after some objected to being charged a fee for excess hand luggage.
A spokesman for the Spanish interior ministry said the pilot was preparing for takeoff at Guacimeta airport bound for Charleroi, Belgium, when she radioed for police assistance.
The spokesman said that of the 168 passengers on board, fewer than 70 were allowed to re-board the flight.
Ryanair confirmed that passengers ‘became disruptive and refused to comply with crew instructions’ over a fee for outsized luggage. In a statement: ‘Following further disruptive behaviour, the police required for security reasons that this entire group be refused travel.'
The BBC reports that some of the students - from the University of Brussels - were able to find alternative flights, but about 70 were still stuck on Lanzarote last night.To book a stansted airport hotel or stansted airport car park at the lowest price, click on these links to two great stansted airport car parking and stansted airport hotel price comparison pages.
