BBC report on Strathclyde Police boarding a delayed flight...
Seems that French air traffic control were on strike, the plane was due to take off at 14:00 but 4 hours later, due to restrictions on opening their bar (surely they could have just not sold any alcohol!) there were passengers with children raising their voices as they were being kept on the plane and were unable to buy any refreshments.
Ryanair crew called the Police to calm the passengers down, and it seems the Police bought water and chocolate (presumably from Prestwick Airport) and were greeted by loud cheers.
Is this 'jobsworth' gone mad ? While the passenger who spoke to the BBC said the crew were doing their best, it seems crazy to me that they could not have offered the option of light refreshments (at cost, if there was no other way!) to passengers, considering there was no clue about when they would be able to take off.
The plane took off almost 6 hours after planned departure time, which, while not being Ryanair's fault, looks like a massive public relations blunder to me.
I've not flown Ryanair, or Easyjet (no flights in the last 10 years) and the bulk of flights before that were longer distances (Far East, Canada, USA) and obviously at higher fares, but one would have thought a bit of common sense might have been used (contacting HQ if necessary) to keep the passengers happy... or is that no longer important for some airlines ?