Ryanair ridiculed for diverting UK and Ireland journeys to Europe amid Storm Isha | indy100

Related video: Turkish airline flight has terrifying landing as Storm Isha halts travel

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90mph winds from Storm Isha sparked travel chaos on Sunday night, to the extent that Ryanair had to divert planes bound for the UK and Ireland to France and Germany instead.

Flight restrictions were put in place as the Met Office issued “danger to life” warnings for most of the UK, with numerous flight cancellations confirmed by airlines.

National Air Traffic Services (Nats) said in a statement: “Due to adverse weather conditions across the UK, temporary air traffic restrictions are in place. Restrictions of this sort are only ever applied to maintain safety.

“Our teams are working closely with airports and airlines to minimise disruption. Passengers should check the status of their flight with their airline.”

In the case of Ryanair, FlightRadar24 notes a flight from Manchester to Dublin ended up in Paris, while another from Tenerife to Edinburgh was diverted to Cologne in Germany.

And amid all the disruption, Twitter/X users couldn’t help but crack a joke about people on these flights being quite alarmed to find themselves in a different country than the one they were expecting:

air traffic controllers watching Ryanair on their eighth go around this morning
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the passengers aboard ryanair flight 855 from dublin to manchester waking up this morning in paris: #StormIsha
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Spare a thought for anyone on this Ryanair flight from Manchester to Dublin that has been diverted to Paris because of the weather \n\nYes, you read that right
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Ryanair deciding where to divert their UK & Ireland flights to tonight \n\n#StormIsha
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Good morning everyone especially all the @Ryanair passengers who have ended up in random cities of Europe, wishing they had never boarded in the first place! #StormIsha
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Watching this Ryanair plane do a big old \xe2\x80\x9cnope\xe2\x80\x9d to landing in Dublin \xf0\x9f\xa5\xb2 #StormIsha
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Cabin crew: \xe2\x80\x9cWelcome onboard this Ryanair flight from Manchester to Irela-\xe2\x80\x9c\nPilot:
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Ryanair deciding where to land all flights bound for the United Kingdom\n#stormIsha
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Five hours on a Ryanair flight from Tenerife to Edinburgh and you end up over 500 miles away in K\xc3\xb6ln in Germany \xf0\x9f\x98\xad\xf0\x9f\x98\xad\xf0\x9f\x98\xad #StormIsha
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People getting off the Manchester to Dublin Ryanair flight and seeing the Eiffel Tower in the distance #StormIsha
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Ryanair passengers accepting a useless \xc2\xa33 meal voucher after being diverted to Paris. #StormIsha
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The latest travel update on Ryanair’s website says affected passengers will be notified of any disruption and they should check the airline’s app for flight updates.

“We regret any inconvenience caused to passengers by these weather conditions, which are outside of Ryanair’s control and affect all airlines operating to/from the UK Sun 21-Mon 22 Jan,” it reads.

Other airlines have also been impacted by Storm Isha, with British Airways grounding 28 additional departures on top of 36 flights already cancelled.

Meanwhile Dublin airport said the weather event was posing a “significant challenge”, with 114 flights – 58 incoming and 56 departing – cancelled and 36 diverted to other airports as of 7pm on Sunday evening.

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