Ryanair passenger hit by 26-HOUR delay left trapped on tarmac after finally landing in Manchester

A passenger stuck in 26-hour long delays returning from Rhodes arrived in Manchester only to be trapped on the tarmac after his flight finally landed.

Andrew Barlow, from Reddish, Stockport, faced a battle to get home after an 11-night holiday on the Greek island with his wife and friends. He said passengers were getting ready to board the Ryanair plane at Rhodes airport on Friday night, before then being told their flight would not go ahead that evening.

It was not until 11.30pm on Saturday that the FR9077 Ryanair plane eventually took off, 26 hours after the initial flight time. Once it finally landed back in Manchester, in the early hours of Sunday, Andrew then claims passengers were left on the tarmac for an hour due to a ground staff shortage. He eventually arrived home in Stockport shortly before 6am.

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Speaking after landing, he told the M.E.N : "There was no stand for us to get off, you'd have thought after such a delay we would have been given priority.

"We were stopped in the taxi stage and they told us there was no gate for us to go to, so we were sat there for around an hour. Then we were told there was no ground staff to open the doors and let us off.

"Eventually we got off after a tug came to pull us to the gate at Terminal 3, about an hour later. But then they had to transport us to Terminal 1 as they said there was nobody on passport control in that terminal.

"Everyone was worried about getting their bags but luckily they didn't take too long, and we got home at around 6am this morning. I am just happy to be home.

"Why put us on the first plane initially if there was a fault, just to then put us in a hotel?"

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