Maltese Travellers Left Stranded In Napoli After Flight Cancelled And Forced To Catch Taxi To South Of Italy
After their flight from Napoli to Malta was cancelled, a group of Maltese travellers was left desperately short of alternative routes to return home and ended up having to spend around €1,000 on a taxi.
Gianluca Tanti told Lovin Malta that he was booked on a Ryanair flight that was scheduled to depart from Napoli to Malta yesterday evening but, as he was at the airport, his flight got cancelled due to a runway closure.
Ryanair emailed passengers to inform them they have a right to avail themselves of free re-routing to Malta subject to availability, or a speedy full refund, but all upcoming potential flights were fully booked.
“After queuing in line for about 4-5 hours, Ryanair’s help desk told us they could do nothing,” he said.
Left in the lurch, Tanti teamed up with 11 Maltese passengers to find a way back home and four of them eventually managed to find tickets to Malta via Catania.
The remaining seven passengers tried to find flights to Bari, Turin, Milan and Rome, with the hope that they could catch an overnight train to Sicily and then a catamaran to Malta, but it was all in vain.
They then booked a bus from Napoli to Catania but that was cancelled too, forcing them to stay overnight at the airport, after which they tried their luck again.
However, the second bus was delayed by around an hour and a half, which meant they would have missed their coach from Catania to the Pozzallo catamaran port.
With no other options, the travellers splashed out around €1,000 on a taxi to the south of Italy, from where they will take a ferry to Messina and re-assess their options.
The situation has left Tanti frustrated, particularly as Ryanair didn’t cover the costs for their long route back to Malta, which they had to resort to since no flights were available.
“The two women at the desk at the airport provided absolutely no help, they said that we can send all of our receipts to Ryanair and they will pay us back fully [for our original flight], but we are doubtful of this,” he said.
Have you ever had a similar travel experience?
READ NEXT: Full Travel Freedom As Malta Scraps PCR Test Obligation For Unvaccinated People From 25th July
