I bought flight to France but ended up more than 900miles away – I breezed past TWO security gates & no one stopped me
A WOMAN who brought a flight to France was mortified when she ended up more than 900miles away.
Jem Maybank, from Yorkshire, breezed past two security gates and was completely unaware that she had boarded the wrong plane until she landed.
The alarmed Ryanair holidaymaker was baffled that no one had stopped her before she woke up from a snooze in Benidorm instead of Paris.
Jem had arrived at Leeds Bradford Airport at five o’clock in the morning on June 22 after planning a short city break in Paris, France.
After smoothly making it through security, the 30-year-old walked towards what she believed was the correct gate for Paris Beauvais Airport where staff scanned and read her boarding pass.
Jem made it onto the plane and was confused to discover her seat number 34A didn’t exist but says she was told by cabin crew that this could sometimes happen when the aircraft was switched over.
She claims even when she heard the flight was two hours long, rather than the usual hour, she shrugged it off and put it down to turbulence.
After being reassigned a seat, Jem says she didn’t hear the announcement and swiftly fell asleep for the whole flight.
It was only when she awoke and spotted the palm trees and mountains outside as they landed that she realised she’d accidentally boarded the wrong flight to Alicante.
The property worker admits she had never been to Alicante before and all she knew about it was that “it’s Benidorm” – as it’s the airport used for Brits travelling to the infamous holiday hotspot.
Ryanair blamed Jem for the error and it was ‘each passenger’s responsibility to ensure they board the correct aircraft’.
Jem, from Leeds, West Yorkshire, said: “I had a bit of a mad holiday rush.
“I was looking for the gate to Paris Beauvais. I saw it was gate six or something, but this was from a distance away.
“I walked towards the gate and just sort of waited in the queue.
“The staff scanned my boarding pass, the QR code, and they did read it.
They just let me straight through the gate.
“I didn’t see the board or anything, I don’t think I was paying attention to be honest.
“I had seat 34A and this didn’t exist. I showed it to a member of the cabin crew and I said ‘can you help me because I don’t have a seat’.
“She just said ‘sometimes that happens when we switch the aircraft around but luckily there’s a no show’.
“She gave me seat 27 so I thought ‘fine, I’ve got a seat, cool’.
“I sat on the plane and I couldn’t really hear the announcement.
They must have done one saying ‘this flight goes to Alicante’ but I didn’t hear it.
“I thought it was weird that it was a two-hour flight, but I thought ‘maybe it’s because of the turbulence’.
“I fell asleep, woke up and just saw mountains and palm trees and thought ‘this doesn’t look like Paris’.”
Jem waited until everyone had left the plane before speaking to a member of Ryanair’s cabin crew at the end of the plane.
Staff soon helped her to sort a flight for later that evening but she still felt confused how it happened, speculating she may have misread the gate number as six instead of eight.
Jem said: “I waited until everyone got off the plane and was like ‘hey, so, I’m not meant to be here, I’m meant to be in Paris’.
“She was like ‘how did you not realise?’. The staff were really confused and they said it’d never happened before.
“I was going through Alicante border control thinking ‘I don’t want to be here, I’ve got a hotel in Paris’.
“I’ve never been to Alicante either but all I know is that it’s Benidorm.
“They sorted me out a free flight which was good.
“I don’t know how it happened. Maybe the gate number changed while I was waiting.
I waited until everyone got off the plane and was like ‘hey, so, I’m not meant to be here, I’m meant to be in Paris’.
Jem Maybank
“The number 6 looks quite similar to the number 8 from a distance too so I think that’s what happened.
“Who knows? We’ll never know.”
At 11pm, Jem finally arrived in Paris, Beauvais but had to take an hour-long bus journey into the city centre where her hotel was.
She now advises other holidaymakers to pay more attention at the airport and listen to all the safety announcements – even if they find them ‘boring’.
Jem said: “Alicante was a lot better than I’d expected. I went to see a castle. I was there for about seven hours.
“When I got to Paris I just wanted to make the most out of it.
“I left the hotel and just thought I’ve got no time to lose so went to do my site-seeing and shopping.
“I can’t believe it happened.
“My advice to other holidaymakers would be to just stop being on your phone at the airport. Pay attention.
“It’s so easy to get overwhelmed and stressed in an airport but just try and chill out.
Try and keep an open mind as well because things can change at the drop of a hat.
“When you get on the plane and they do the safety announcements, just listen to what they say.
It’s so boring waiting in queues and all that but that’s what gets you.
“Try and keep an open mind as well because things can change at the drop of a hat.”
A Ryanair spokesperson said: “This passenger booked to travel from Leeds Bradford to Paris on Sat, 22 June, but went through the wrong gate and instead boarded a flight to Alicante.
“It is each passenger’s responsibility to ensure they board the correct aircraft.
There are several touchpoints which inform passengers of the aircraft’s destination, including gate signage and announcements before every flight departure.
“Upon arrival in Alicante, this passenger notified the crew that they were on the wrong flight and Ryanair immediately arranged for the passenger to be re-accommodated on the next available flight to Paris, which was scheduled to depart Alicante later that same day (22 June).”
