Bridget booked a short break to see the Christmas Markets but it ended up costing her a lot of money – and time – she wasn’t expecting
A woman who had to spend £600 on taxis and take a two-hour ride to her destination after a Ryanair flight says the airline ‘deceived’ her family into thinking they were flying to Frankfurt for the Christmas markets, only to land them at an airport nearly 100 miles away. Bridget Brown took a one-night trip to Frankfurt, Germany, earlier this month with her partner and two friends.
The 48 year old flew from London Stansted Airport via Ryanair to visit the city’s famous Christmas markets. But on arrival at the airport, the mother of two was stunned to find out that their flight was destined for Frankfurt-Hahn Airport, not Frankfurt Airport as they had assumed when booking.
Frankfurt Airport is just over seven miles from the city centre, whereas Frankfurt-Hahn is between 80 and 92 miles away, depending on the route taken. Bridget, from St Albans, Hertfordshire, was appalled to learn that their destination was almost a two-hour drive from the city centre markets they intended to visit
.
The midwife said that many other passengers on the plane had made the same error, with people hurriedly looking up ways to get into the city. The mother was incensed when she arrived at the ‘shoebox’ airport, which she likened to a ‘German military base’, only to find it was hours away from their booked hotel.
To add insult to injury, Bridget and her group had to shell out €350 for a taxi to central Frankfurt. Bridget and said the budget airline left their customers ‘stranded’ by ‘misrepresenting’ the flight destination, reports Hull Live.
Bridget said: “When we were booking the flight it really obviously said Frankfurt, then added at the side it said ‘Frankfurt-Hahn’. We didn’t think anything of it when we saw that. We just presumed that it was Frankfurt. When we got to the airport, we were looking for our flight and it didn’t say Frankfurt, it said Hahn.
“Then my friend’s partner looked where Hahn was on his phone and we realised it was two hours away from Frankfurt where the Christmas markets are. We just didn’t understand how it had happened and thought this is going to be an absolute nightmare.
“When we got on the plane, we overheard another couple say ‘we can’t believe we’re flying to this airport’ and then other people on the plane started realising we weren’t actually going to Frankfurt. The poor girl sitting next to me burst into tears and started Googling where this place we were actually going to was.
“We realised that literally everyone on the plane had made the same mistake. Dozens of people were completely unaware we were flying into the middle of nowhere.
Upon touching down at Frankfurt-Hahn airport, Bridget and her mates were desperately seeking a route into the city, eventually shelling out over €700 for round-trip transport.
Bridget added: “Hahn looks like some little military base with old German war bunkers surrounding it. There’s absolutely nothing there.”
Bridget said: “The airport was like a shoebox. It just wasn’t somewhere anyone would go to ever unless they lived in Hahn. There’s nothing there. We felt stranded in the middle of nowhere.: They had a train connection to Frankfurt which takes over three hours. People were trying to hire cars but they’d all sold out. There was an eight-seater taxi outside and he quoted us €350 to get to Hahn.”
In a bid to save costs, Bridget took initiative: “I went back into the airport and picked up the first people walking out through passport control and asked if they wanted to share a cab to split the cost. We had to fork out money that we were going to be using on presents and things like that.”
She added: “People are just totally unaware that they’re going to the middle of nowhere. We thought it would be this really lovely day and ended up being this weekend of having to organise transfers and paying each other money.”
Bridget believes that Ryanair’s marketing is deceptive, adding: “It’s inaccurate to have Frankfurt on that ticket. Ryanair should be saying Hahn, then in brackets Frankfurt. It should be advertised as a flight to Hahn, not Frankfurt, especially at this time of year when people are taking their loved ones away to the Christmas markets.”
She said: “Ryanair are fooling people into thinking they’re flying to Frankfurt for the Christmas markets. We were mis-sold something.”
Ryanair and Frankfurt-Hahn Airport have been approached for a response.