Ryanair passengers were reportedly left in tears after their plane landed 450 miles away in a completely different country.
Heading to Tirana, Albania the flight took off from Edinburgh 5.45am on Friday, October 4.
However, as the plane was landing, it was suddenly forced to divert to Athens due to a thunderstorm and later encountered a lightning strike. The aircraft arrived in Greece at 10.20am, according to Flight Radar.
Hoping to have a relaxing weekend Camille Allison,33, was left “traumatised” following the “horrible turbulence”.
« Everyone was crying, there was a kid in front of us who was sick”, said Camille.
She told Edinburgh Live: « We were not touching the seats anymore. Thankfully nobody got hurt because we were prepared for landing so everyone had their belts on but it was terrifying.
« The whole time I was trying to calm my partner down because she was freaking out. She has a heart condition and isn’t even supposed to go on rollercoasters so I was really scared for her.”
Passengers were offered an alternative flight at 5.15pm, however, Camille declined as she did not want to put her partner through anymore trauma after checking that the storm wasn’t due to finish until 8pm.
The couple flew back to Edinburgh on Saturday, October 5.
A Ryanair spokesperson said: « This flight from Edinburgh to Tirana (4 Oct) was diverted to Athens due to thunderstorms at Tirana Airport.
« During the diversion, the aircraft encountered a lightning strike before landing normally at Athens Airport. Passengers disembarked to the terminal and were provided with vouchers to use in the terminal shops and restaurants, while engineers inspected the aircraft in line with standard procedure.
« To minimise disruption to passengers, a replacement aircraft was arranged to operate this flight to Tirana, which departed later that night. As this flight operated and this passenger chose not to fly on it, they are not entitled to a refund. »
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