Andrew Gore expected a birthday for his 47th birthday: flying with his wife Victoria and 10 other people for a week’s holiday on Spain’s Costa Brava.
But after an extraordinary mix-up at Bristol airport, the couple from Mountain Ash in South Wales were put on the wrong Ryanair plane – away from their family and friends.
Despite having boarding passes showing their destination as Barcelona, they were flown to Kaunus in Lithuania.
To reach their intended destination, they then had to endure a 150-mile Uber ride across an international frontier to Riga in Latvia, and a 1,400-mile flight to Spain.
“I was distraught, and scared. I didn’t stop crying,” said Ms Gore. “It was my worst nightmare.”
Andrew and Victoria Gore, both 47, had done everything right. They had booked a package holiday with Sunshine.co.uk, costing over £1,500 for the week. The deal included flights from Bristol to Barcelona on Ryanair.
As Andrew is an amputee and Victoria is autistic, they booked special assistance at Bristol airport and arrived in good time for the 8.15am flight on Saturday 25 May.
Ms Gore said: “We have been away lots of times and always had special assistance, so this was nothing new to us.
“The minibus took us to the Ryanair plane and they checked our boarding pass and let us on the plane.”
The couple had been assigned separate seats on their original flight. Ms Gore, believing she was on the aircraft shortly departing to Barcelona, said: “I asked the air hostess if we could sit together as I’m scared of flying.
“She checked our boarding pass again and put us in the second row.”
They were on the wrong plane, while their family – who did not have special assistance – boarded the right aircraft.
“We didn’t see our family getting on, so asked if they were on board, and were assured they were,” said Ms Gore.
The Boeing 737 took off for the 1,400-mile trip to Kaunus. “We had a couple of drinks, then went to sleep as we had been up early,” said Ms Gore.
“As we landed, it was very clear we were in Lithuania.”
They alerted the crew, and according to Ms Gore the captain was “furious” when he learnt what had happened. He instructed staff to provide care and onward transportation for them.
With no direct flights from Kaunus to Barcelona, ground staff booked them on the following day’s flight from Riga, 150 miles north…
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