Ryanair flight RK8288 from London to Albania re-routed twice, takes 12 hours

A quick three-hour flight turned into 12 hours of hell for the passengers of a commercial airliner.

On 3 June, Ryanair flight RK8288 from London Stansted to Tirana, Albania was diverted twice due to weather conditions, quadrupling the flight time to the surprise of passengers.

Ahead of the 16:00 departure, many passengers were allegedly drunk as they set out for the festive season in the Balkans.

What was supposed to be a three-hour journey turned into 12 hours after detours to Italy and Greece.

An anonymous passenger told Daily Mail It was stated that there was a “riot” by the passengers after the water ran out and the police boarded the plane to calm the situation.

“He’s a coward, the pilot needs to come out and face us like a man!” Passengers were reported to have shouted.

To the surprise of the passengers, the plane landed in Brindisi, Italy, approximately four hours after takeoff.

“About 10 minutes before landing, the pilot said: ‘By the way, we couldn’t land in Albania, we are now in Brindisi, Italy,” the passenger said.

“We were thinking: ‘Oh, this isn’t where we wanted to go.’

“We were there on the tarmac for two, maybe three hours. People were getting pretty upset and angry.”

The passenger said that at this point Ryanair crew stopped serving food and drinks to tired passengers.

“They didn’t give anything for free, you couldn’t even buy anything,” they said.

“People were understandably thirsty and hungry. At this point we had already been on the plane for four hours, maybe longer. You couldn’t access anything.”

The passenger shared a tub of Pringles with his friend, which they believed was “basically the only thing available.”

Other passengers had to share snacks with strangers.

Eventually the passengers were given water, but they had to pay. When it was over, Ribena was offered instead; until it’s over.

Chaos took over the plane as the “clearly beaten” passengers refused to sit down and moved around the plane despite orders from the crew.

The passenger described an incident in which a member of the cabin crew “had to wrestle (a passenger) to get to his seat.”

“He literally grabs her, picks her up like a child, and pushes her back into her seat… it was a mental move.”

Another passenger reportedly vomited on himself.

There was great relief when the plane took off towards its original destination, Tirana.

This lasted until the pilot made another announcement 10 minutes before their arrival, causing the passengers to “lose their minds”.

The passenger said, “We are on the way to Albania and 10 minutes before landing, the pilot says: ‘We are not going to Albania, in fact, we are about to land in Thessaloniki, Greece.”

It was reported that a “revolt” began after landing in Greece.

“People were shouting on the pilot deck, calling him a coward and telling him to come out and face them like a man,” the passenger recounted.

Some of them shouted, “There is no way you can keep us here,” and demanded that the plane be taken down.

Greek police had to board the plane to calm the situation and get the angry passengers off.

Passengers applauded and cheered after arriving in Tirana nine hours later than originally planned.

However, the passenger, whose name was not disclosed, said that they had not yet been compensated for this ordeal and that he had to submit his request.

“As soon as I entered my flight number it was automatically rejected,” they said.

“I received an automated email saying: ‘Your request has been denied.'”

The Daily Mail reported that a Ryanair spokesperson told the passenger in a letter that the flight was “interrupted due to unexpected and extraordinary circumstances beyond our control”.

“This flight from London Stansted to Tirana was diverted to Brindisi due to adverse weather conditions at Tirana Airport, but was later diverted to Thessaloniki Airport due to the storm,” they said.

“After 45 minutes, the crew opened the onboard bars so passengers could access snacks and drinks.

“Passengers who booked this flight received communications via email, SMS and PUSH notifications.

“As the weather conditions improved, this flight departed for Tirana at 4.44am local time.”