Air passengers make 36-hour trip

The passengers had been booked on a flight to Prestwick

Almost 40 members of a church group have made a 36-hour bus and train journey home to Scotland after being stranded at a German airport.

They were among 130 passengers stuck at Hamburg Lubeck on Sunday when Ryanair cancelled their flight to Prestwick due to technical problems.

The airline offered them a refund or a seat on the next available flight - but were told it was not until Thursday.

The Ayrshire group decided to go by land via Brussels and London.

The 38 members of the group from St Thomas' Church in Muirkirk included Theresa Loy, whose son David voiced concerns at the way the episode had been handled.

'A different matter'

"Most of them are elderly. My mother is on the waiting list for a hip replacement and she has quite a serious heart condition," he said.

"To take a three-hour flight is one thing, to travel by bus and train on a 36-hour journey to get herself home is quite a different matter."

He said the group had to get themselves from the airport to Hamburg, then take the train to Brussels.

Ryanair have put profit before passenger safety and care David Loy

From there they got the train to London, used the underground to change stations and then headed back to Glasgow. They eventually arrived home on Monday afternoon.

"They did approach Ryanair about putting them up in a hotel until they got them out to Glasgow, but Ryanair have put profit before passenger safety and care," Mr Loy added.

He said it had cost 440 euros for the ticket home, in addition to the costs of additional meals and phone calls.

Mr Loy said the passengers only found out about the cancellation of the flight when one woman's husband phoned her from Glasgow to say he had read about it on the internet.

Wilma Brady, who made the journey home, said it had been very tiring for everyone.

She added: "Some of our members are over 80, two are diabetic and others are infirm. Not having enough medication has been a real concern.

"Almost 40 hours on the road is a dreadful thing for anyone of any age."

Jim Brady added that he felt there was no choice for passengers other than to make the long journey home.

He said: "Ryanair gave us no commitment about when they could get us back.

"We had to pay our own hotels and people there didn't have a lot of money with them so we had to say, do we stay here and pay our own hotels for three nights, or do we try and make it home?"

Ryanair said it regretted the inconvenience but was acting according to its policy.

A spokesman said the flight had been cancelled because of a technical difficulties.

"We are sorry for the inconvenience this has caused our passengers. Ryanair cancels the fewest flights in Europe, with 99.4% of our flights operating to schedule," he said.