Ryanair passenger horror over unnecessary Covid test mixup

Ryanair passenger horror over unnecessary Covid test mixup. The passengers only wanted to return to the UK.

Two Ryanair passengers spent the night in a bus shelter in Rome. Ryanair had refused to let them board the plane due to a COVID test mixup.

Becky MacInnes-Clark and Kurt Finch from Suffolk had been expecting to head home on Thursday night from Italy to London’s Stansted according to The Independent. Becky was fully vaccinated and also had her passenger locator form. Ryanair staff though did not allow her to board. They reportedly insisted that a negative Covid test within the last 48 hours was required to enter the UK.

This has not been a requirement for people who are vaccinated in the UK since the government dropped the rule in October.

Becky explained: “I said no, I didn’t need one. He told me I did and told us we couldn’t board.

“This was at final boarding. I asked if there was anywhere in the airport we could have the test and was told ‘no’ and told to leave and speak to information.

“At the information desk they handed us a sheet with a farmacia address and told us ‘taxi’.

“We found a taxi, which cost us €60 return, the taxi driver spoke to the farmacia for us as none of them spoke English and managed to get the test done for us instead of queuing and took us back.”

When they returned to the airport the flight had already left. They checked the UK rules and headed to the Ryanair desk. Here they had to fork out more money for a flight for the next day. After having paid for flights, tests and a taxi they could not afford a hotel for the night.

Becky said: “When we dared to ask for some money towards accommodation or the taxi as they had made us stay, the Ryanair rep walked out and locked the door of the booth.”

The couple were forced to spend the night at a local bus shelter after police removed them along with other passengers from the airport terminal until it opened again the next morning.

Becky took to social media and filmed a message for Ryanair in a thunderstorm. She said: “I didn’t expect to be sleeping in a bus shelter because your agents here decided we needed a Covid test from Italy when we don’t.

“It’s all over the government website that we don’t, but they wouldn’t listen.

“So aren’t you lucky – you’ve got another €270 out of us plus other expenses and we’re sleeping in a bus shelter and hopefully getting on a flight with you tomorrow because we don’t have any other choice.

“I hope you’re all sleeping well in your beds – we aren’t.”

The couple were finally able to board their rebooked flight the next day. Strangely though they were never asked to produce a COVID test.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article, do remember to come back and check The Euro Weekly News website for all your up-to-date local and international news stories and remember, you can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram.