A COUPLE boarded the wrong Ryanair plane and ended up 800 miles away – and had no idea.
The dumbstruck travellers were meant to return to London following a short trip to France – but somehow they ended up in Spain.
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Elise Mallia, 33, and Jessy Jezequel, 41, were on a short footy tour in Marseille to watch their team take on Nice.
They expected to land back in the UK but had the fright of their lives when they realised they had landed in Madrid.
Elise, an estate agent from Fulham, south west London, said: “An hour into our flight, Jesse said he thought he heard a flight attendant say Madrid, but we thought he had dreamed it.
“But after that we started realising all the flight attendants were speaking Spanish.
“When we asked, they told us we were going to Madrid – and we had no idea how that was possible.”
Elise said their boarding passes had been scanned three times before boarding the plane and thought they had ordered the wrong flight home.
“We were baffled and so were the flight attendants,” she said.
“We got home in the end, but we still have no idea how it happened.
“It’s not like getting the wrong bus – we literally ended up in a different country!”
The couple had been booked on a flight from Marseille to Stansted at 3pm on March 21 and swear they walked through the correct gate.
Elise claims she saw “Madrid” on the neighbouring gate and even joked about continuing their holiday in Spain instead of coming back to London.
She said: “Surely it must be quite hard to actually get on the wrong plane because of the security!
“Well, that was what we thought.”
The couple finally got home five hours later than planned.
“We were panicking and tried to explain to the staff that we weren’t supposed to be in Spain,” Elise said.
“Everyone thought we were crazy at first – until we showed them our boarding passes.
It’s not like getting the wrong bus – we literally ended up in a different country.
Elise Mallia
“How did nobody notice our boarding passes, or notice there were two extra passengers on the flight?
“Surely you shouldn’t be able to get on the wrong plane without anybody noticing!”
They said they’ve been unable to get in touch with Ryanair about the mix-up and still have no clue how it happened.
A spokesperson for Ryanair said: “Mr. Jezequel and Ms. Mallia boarded their flight from Marseille to London Stansted through the correct gate.
“However, these passengers then failed to follow the allocated route to the aircraft departing for London Stansted, crossed an unauthorised area and wrongly boarded a flight departing to Madrid.
“Both passengers were able to occupy the same seats they had booked for their original flight, as this flight was not fully booked, thus not alerting them to their error at this time.
“An announcement advising passengers of their final destination and estimated time of arrival is made before every flight departure – which should have alerted Mr. Jezequel and Ms. Mallia that they were on the wrong aircraft.
“Upon arriving at Madrid Airport, these passengers then realised their error and Ryanair staff were notified of these misrouted passengers.
“Mr. Jezequel and Ms. Mallia were accommodated on a flight from Madrid to London Stansted later that day.
“It is each passenger’s responsibility to ensure they board the correct aircraft.”
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