Dublin airport thrown into ‘utter chaos’ by snow as flights cancelled and passengers forced to sleep on floor

Stranded passengers accused the airport and airlines of a ‘shocking disregard for passenger welfare’

Dozens of flights were cancelled at Dublin airport yesterday after snowfall caused airlines to experience “de-icing issues”.

Passengers who were left waiting for hours at the airport branded the situation “utter chaos”, as some were forced to spend the night on the airport floor following 23 flight cancellations.

“Passengers are told next to nothing, are sent to gates where no aircraft wait, and customer service desks where no airline staff are to be found,” Paul Cullen, a journalist who was due to fly out of the airport on Sunday evening, wrote in the Irish Times.

He also said that when passengers were eventually given €5 vouchers for food and drink, “there was no food or coffee to be had”.

Ryanair, which operates 25 flights a day out of Dublin airport, seemed particularly badly affected.

“Dublin airport and Ryanair – shining examples of incompetence,” said Twitter user Lewalsh. “Utter chaos and shocking disregard for passenger welfare. ‘Open and operational’ – yeah right! Embarrassing.”

Travellers documented the huge queues for customer services on social media.

“Midnight at Dublin Airport and about 2,000 Ryanair passengers are queuing for some info, any info,” wrote Paul Cullen on Twitter.

Those in the airport were eventually told their flights were cancelled or rescheduled until the morning, with many opting to spend the night in the airport rather than join the long lines to try to get accommodation.

Meanwhile, those who actually made it onto an aircraft were in some cases left stranded on the tarmac for five hours without access to working toilets.

“We couldn’t use toilets on plane because the tank was full,” tweeted Tomas Kuzma. “They couldn’t empty the tanks, because crew looking after emptying tanks was deicing planes and runway. WTH do they use as deicer? Five hours sitting on plane.”

“Wait five hours for the ‘de-icing machine’ and you send a feckless man with a broom,” Tom Bradley wrote, along with a picture showing a man sweeping snow off the wing of the plane.

Other passengers reported that Ryanair denied them free water after they had been stuck on a plane for over three hours.

A Dublin airport spokesperson told The Independent: “Dublin Airport’s runways, taxiways and parking stands were clear of snow and ice throughout yesterday and were operational at all times.

“Unfortunately, some airlines had an issue with de-icing their aircraft yesterday evening and that resulted in delays to some departures and ultimately a number of cancellations. This had a knock-on impact on the availability of aircraft parking stands for some arriving aircraft, as because the departing aircraft was delayed due to de-icing issues, they were still occupying the parking stands in question.

“A total of 23 outbound flights were cancelled. We sincerely regret the impact that the de-icing issues had on passengers’ travel plans.”

Ryanair tweeted: “Weather has regrettably caused a small number of Dublin cancellations (3/3). All those affected were advised of their rebook/refund options”.