Bristol woman's epic journey home after cancelled Morocco flight
Left stranded in Morocco after a cancelled flight, Lara Baker, from Bristol, decided to make her own way home – by taxi, ferry, train and plane.
The 37-year-old had spent Christmas and New Year on a surfing trip with a friend, but when the time came to fly home they found their flight with budget airline Ryanair had been cancelled.
The flight to Bristol International on January 3 was cancelled when the plane travelling to the Moroccan city to pick the passengers up was diverted to Fez due to heavy fog.
Lara, a project manager from Redland, said: "We eventually managed to find out that there were no flights available from Marrakech to Bristol until January 10.
"This was not acceptable, as we needed to get home to go to work. As a contractor I do not get paid if I do not go to work. Neither of us could afford to stay in Morocco."
Lara and her friend Richard Luxton from Hertfordshire, joined couple Simon Ward and Mary Penning, from north Devon, who also needed to get home.
"We just decided we had to get on with it," she said. "Otherwise we would have been stuck there. The idea was to get to Spain – we knew we'd be able to get a flight from there."
Together, the four of them got a taxi into Marrakech, and the next day managed to get on an 11-hour train to Tangiers in northern Morocco.
After getting a taxi to the city's port, they caught a ferry to Algeciras in Spain, and found a hire car to drive the few hours to Malaga.
In Malaga, they finally were able to board a flight back to Bristol, and arrived home more than 48 hours later than planned.
"Not only was this stressful and expensive, but it ruined the memory of our holiday," said Lara.
The cost of Lara and Richard's return flights with Ryanair was about £500, and their unexpected return journey set them back £800.
Ryanair has refunded half the cost of their original flights, which leaves them £500 out of pocket.
Lara believes she is entitled to additional compensation for the expenses they incurred trying to get home, but in an emailed response from the airline to her request she was told that, because the flight was cancelled "for reasons out of control of the airline", no compensation was due.
She said: "I find it outrageous that a company can strand families, single travellers and groups in an airport and wash their hands of them.
"A flight a week later is not good enough and we had no guarantee we would get on that flight either."
Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara said: "Ryanair always works within EU guidelines. In cases where the flight cancellation is weather related and it's due to circumstances beyond our control, we offer passengers a refund or a place on the next available flight.
"Apart from that, the passengers are not entitled to anything further. We apologise for the inconvenience but we cannot provide compensation in this case."
10 Comments
by Charlotte Lyon, Southville, Bristol
Thursday, February 19 2009, 3:45PM
“I was on this flight too, and was one of the lucky ones to get a Royal Air Maroc flight back to Gatwick two days later. The flight cost us an extra £300 each and then we had to pay for accommodation, transport and living costs on top of that.
Our original flight was cancelled due to a light fog which cleared almost immediately after Ryanair took the decision to cancel it. Royal Air Maroc flights were landing, while EasyJet and Ryanair flight were cancelled to save further delays that day. Because of this fact, under EU legislation, I believe we are entitled to compensation.”
by sarah, Avon
Tuesday, February 17 2009, 9:53PM
“I faced a similar situation a while ago with a different airline. Travel insurance doesn't cover you in this situation & the airline will try not to pay up. You should be able to claim for all expenses for your journey - hotels, flights etc but not compensation (its all in the wording) Get some advice from the AUC, they will tell you your rights, but you need to be persistent, it can work I got my expenses back. If you don't complain then these companies get away with it & that is wrong - budget airline or not.”
by Reg, morocco
Monday, February 16 2009, 11:04PM
“that sucks. one has to realise that flying with ryanair is the bare minimum in every respect. you must know that you will pay for every extra and every mishap, 'unforeseen' event, basically everything. that said, it is possible to travel incredibly cheaply with them and i recommend you invest in an annual multi-trip insurance policy for from £30-40 - yes, that cheap, and enjoy some peace of mind. it doesn't excuse poor behaviour, for that I recommend posting at splagg.com, and in response to shelly from bristol, they stay in business because people want cheap and lots of abused customers who said they'll never fly with them again, do!
splagg them”
by mondeoboy, Bristol
Monday, February 16 2009, 3:14PM
“Ryanair states "Ryanair always works within EU guidelines"
So they might that does'nt help the poor customer, the phrase sod you Jack were alright, were complying with EU guidelines so were in the right springs to light. How smug we are.
Easy solution don't ever fly with them again.”
by Michael, Bristol
Monday, February 16 2009, 1:28PM
“My girlfriend and i were on the same cancelled flight. It was a nightmare. There were no direct flights back to the UK for days, even to other UK airports, they were snapped up just like that. It wasn't just the Ryanair flight that was cancelled so there was a lot of competition for the flights out of there. No internet access at Marrekesh airport didn't help either so those who had laptops sorted themselves out immediately. We were stranded just as Lara was. Of course a budget airline is budget because they don't cover these sorts of things, it's all in the smallprint. It's a case of buyer beware so we're not going to waste time pursuing something that we are not legally entitled to. Aside from this it's a shock when you suddenly you find yourself stranded 2000 miles from home, it's hard not to feel angry and betrayed. In the end we had to stay in Morocco for another three nights, we then had to take flights to Paris and then to Bristol. The total extra costs came to around £1600 between us. And yes... we did have travel insurance but once again due to smallprint we got £40 back for "delays". Morocco is a total dump too, if i wanted to get hassled constantly to buy drugs i could have wandered around certain parts of Bristol, it would have been cheaper... lol... M”
by KB, Bristol, England
Monday, February 16 2009, 12:18PM
“And people wonder why I don't go abroad !”
by julraj, brizzle
Sunday, February 15 2009, 10:29PM
“insurance?
other flight/carriers?
'act of god'?
ryan air won't do everything they possibly can to help, just what they're legally required to. They're a budget airline, be realistic. I think everyone knows she would have been far more likely to receive compensation if she flew with another carrier.
anyway, this was by no means an epic journey.”
by PC Dixon, Dock Green
Sunday, February 15 2009, 9:41PM
“There's no story here.
Move along, there's nothing to see, move along.......”
by Shelly, BRISTOL
Sunday, February 15 2009, 6:26PM
“I'm sure she must've looked into the possibility of flights to other airports. Perhaps they were full of perhaps it still worked out cheaper to do what she did.
There is no mention of holiday insurance either. If she didn't have any perhaps she IS stupid enough not to look into the possibility of other flights!
Can't say I'm surprised at Ryanair's response they are truly awful in every aspect you can think of. I wonder how they manage to stay in business...!”
by Emersonsbob, Emersons Green
Sunday, February 15 2009, 6:07PM
“Why on earth did she just not fly back to another UK airport and then seek alternative transport in the UK? Odd Odd Odd.”