Passengers Enraged After Spending Five Hours on Ryanair Plane, Asked to Pay for Water

A Ryanair Boeing 737 carrying 183 people remained on the ground at Chania International Airport for about five hours after technical problems forced the captain to return to the parking stand.

The flight to Thessaloniki had been scheduled to leave at 4:40 p.m. Technicians inspected the aircraft, and an attempt to restart the engines roughly two hours later produced another warning on the instrument panel. The delay continued.

Passenger frustration reportedly grew as they waited inside the plane. The situation worsened when people who asked for water were allegedly told they would have to pay for it.

After about five hours, the aircraft received permission to depart. But as it began taxiing again, several passengers said they no longer wanted to fly. Shouting and confusion followed inside the cabin. One woman fainted and another suffered a panic attack, while police were called to manage the situation.

Twenty-five passengers eventually left the plane. One woman injured her leg while being taken away by bus and was transported to hospital for first aid. Those who abandoned the flight went to Chania, while the remaining passengers continued to Thessaloniki. The aircraft finally took off at 9:50 p.m., about five hours later than scheduled. Ryanair had not issued an official comment when the report was published.