It was not until they finally reached the top of the queue that a Ryanair staff member told them their flight had been mysteriously cancelled.
“It’s a bit of a joke the way this has been handled,” Alex Currie said some hours later, fortunately returned to his Rome hotel for the weekend, albeit in a windowless room not usually given to guests.
The 26-year-old had been on holiday for a week in Italy with his grandmother Mary (69), and now Ryanair’s unexpected decision to cancel swathes of flights has extended it.
The pair now hope to travel home on Monday but the additional few days is not necessarily a good thing, funded by an emergency credit card.
Having arrived at the airport in Rome at 8.30am on Friday, Alex and Mary said the experience of theirs and other passengers was confusing and ill-managed.
"The only way to describe it was bedlam. There was one Ryanair person trying to deal with everyone," he told The Irish Times.
Passengers appeared to have been told different things about when, and how, they might expect to get home.
However, with two alternative tickets on another airline priced at almost €1,000 in total, the pair decided to head back into the city.
“No one seemed to know why [the flight was cancelled],” Alex said, adding that he saw between 100 and 120 confused and grounded passengers at the airport.
“There was no one there to offer any kind of support that you would need in a situation like that.”
Alex said he also needs to get back to Scotland where he is studying and will probably now arrive home two days late.
“The [LACK OF]help from Ryanair has been shocking. They are just not engaging with customers.”