Ryanair passengers mutiny over 'outsized' baggage charge: Armed police escort 100 from plane on Lanzarote runway



Armed police ordered all 166 passengers off a Ryanair plane after around 100 of them mutinied over baggage charges.

A large group of students complained to cabin staff when a friend was barred from the flight for refusing to pay a levy for excess hand luggage at the gate.

The captain of flight FR8175 called police when the university students who were already on board protested and refused to take their seats.

A ticking-off before take-off: More than 100 of the 168 passengers were banned from the Ryanair flight from Lanzarote

Officers from the Civil Guard boarded the plane, waiting to take-off from Lanzarote in the Canary Islands to Charleroi airport in Brussels, and ordered everybody off.

A group of 66 passengers not involved in the protest suffered a three-hour delay before the flight was able to take off.

The budget airline refused to allow the other 100 passengers to fly on its later flights.

A spokesman for the Civil Guard in Lanzarote said: 'The incident started when one passenger refused to pay excess baggage charges at the gate.

'When his friends found out the airline would not let him board, they launched a protest, standing up on the plane and refusing to take their seats.

'The captain called the Civil Guard who boarded the aircraft and asked everyone to get off for security reasons.

'The protest was peaceful and no arrests were made.'

The group of 100 passengers were put up in Lanzarote hotels following the incident at the island's Guacimeta airport on Saturday morning.

Some were still on the island trying to make their way home today/yesterday.(MON) The students had been on a week long holiday in the popular resort of Puerto del Carmen.

Hot spot: A plane approaches Guacimeta airport on the Lanzarote island resort where the passenger dispute took place

The head of the island's government, Pedro San Gines, went to the airport where he met with Belgian consul Robert Havet, who flew from neighbouring island Tenerife to help the group.

Ryanair apologised to the 66 delayed passengers but blamed the students.

The airline said the group of 100 passengers had 'become disruptive and refused to comply with crew instructions after we required payment of a gate bag fee for outsize luggage.'

It added in a statement: 'Following further disruptive behaviour, the police required for security reasons that this entire group (of 100) be refused travel.'

The island's government decided to pay for the group's hotel, transport and breakfast.

Spain's airport controller AENA said: 'This was an internal conflict between the airline and a group of passengers so we won't be making any comment.'

Last month a Spanish judge ruled Ryanair has been illegally charging passengers who fail to print their own boarding passes before arriving at an airport.

The judge ruled the airline was duty bound to print boarding passes for passenger free of charge.

The airline is appealing the judge's ruling.

