Furious passengers at Dublin Airport have berated Ryanair for delays of up to nine hours to flights following Sunday's snowfall.
Many passengers were forced to sleep in Terminal 1 overnight after the airline cancelled 17 flights.
Dublin Airport said the flight cancellations were as a result of de-icing which is the responsibility of the airlines.
Staff on the ground are having a great time laughing and joking at people’s expense of being stranded in Dublin... customer service closed so no one can actually deal with the issue! Nothing open and no willing staff to help. You are the definition of a joke
— beth (@bethk97) March 4, 2019
A small number maybe but you left over a thousand stranded and decided to close the desk in the airport at 1.30am. No announcement and 4hour que No other airline failed @IrishTimes @radionova100 pic.twitter.com/1pg4cs6iQF
— Allen Mongey (@allenmongey) March 4, 2019
When asked as to the breakdown of flight cancellations on Sunday, he said 23 flights were affected.
The others were five Aer Lingus flights and one from British Airways.
In a statement, the airport added: “Dublin Airport’s runways, taxiways and parking stands were clear of snow and ice throughout yesterday.
“Unfortunately some airlines had an issue with de-icing their aircraft that the resulted in delays to some departures and also had a knock-on impact on the availability of aircraft parking stands for incoming aircraft.
“We regret the impact that airline de-icing issues had on passengers’ travels plans.”
One Ryanair passenger, Michael Skelly, who was on his way to Edinburgh tweeted that the pilot had informed passengers there was only one wing de-icer for the whole airport on Sunday.
Ryanair responded to the chaos by stating: “Weather has regrettably caused a small number of Dublin cancellations . . . All those affected were advised of their rebook/refund options.”
Many passengers who were stranded at Dublin Airport responded with incredulity to the Tweet.
Allen Mongey tweeted photographs of long queues of passengers: “A small number maybe but you left over a thousand stranded and decided to close the desk in the airport at 1.30am. No announcement and 4hour que (sic).”
Another user, @bethk97, responded: “Staff on the ground are having a great time laughing and joking at people’s expense of being stranded in Dublin . . . customer service closed so no one can actually deal with the issue! Nothing open and no willing staff to help. You are the definition of a joke.”
Expectant mother Hayley Keenan tweeted: "@Ryanair @DublinAirport 27 weeks pregnant. Waited for 2.5 hrs to be told flight was cancelled. Moved from gate to gate, incl 117 where it was freezing! Queued another 2 hrs to be told no flights left for Monday! Great way to treat customers who are clearly struggling!"
The flight delays would appear to have had a knock-on effect on Monday morning with one passenger tweeting: “So. Latest saga. Boarding pass says on a flight this morning at 730 . . . not on the boards. There is a flight at 830 on the boards. Your staff say it shows 730 on your systems. No-one knows what is happening or where we should be.”
