Ryanair has said it will not compensate the 104 passengers who were kept on the ground aboard one of its aircraft for more than six hours this week.
Passengers were said to be furious at what they described as "siege-like" conditions on the aircraft, which was grounded at Stansted airport, near London, on Thursday because of bad weather.
During the delay passengers were told not to walk around and the only food offered was sandwiches for which the airline charged £3. When one man tried to take a sandwich without paying, he was arrested and escorted from the aircraft. Flight FR 901 was due to take off from Stansted at 7 a.m. to arrive at Cork airport at 8.20 a.m. on Thursday. Because of frozen snow at Stansted the flight did not take off until 1.20 p.m. - some six hours and 20 minutes late - arriving in Cork at about 3 p.m.
One passenger, Ms Hilda Hurley, from Killarney, Co Kerry, described the experience as "stressful" and "awful", though she said the three stewardesses "were brilliant".
"They kept telling people who were walking up and down to sit down. By late morning all we wanted was some food. I had boarded the flight at 6.30 and you don't think of breakfast at that time," she said. "Then they said they would be serving tea, coffee and sandwiches but that they'd be charging £3 for them. There was uproar then. One man behind me said `Jesus, they fed the Afghans when they were here. Why can't they give us something?' It was laughable at times, but by the end I really thought I shouldn't be there."
A spokeswoman for Ryanair, Ms Ethel Power, said there were apologies throughout the delay. She said people were always welcome to leave an aircraft if they wanted and that some people did choose to leave flight FR 901 on Thursday.
"The frozen snow caused huge delays. On a normal day with just ice the de-icers would use about 20 litres of antifreeze per aircraft. On Thursday they were using up to 200 litres, which made the procedure very, very slow and there were long queues for the de-icers.
"There will be no compensation for the delay," she continued. "We apologise sincerely for the delay but our passengers' safety is our top priority."
On the provision of food, Ms Power said the airline was obliged to provide free food if there was a delay, of the airline's making, of more than four hours. "When the delay is outside our control, there is no obligation on us to provide food."
She said the airline stood by its decision to call security when one passenger "attempted to steal a sandwich". If any passenger had a complaint they were "always welcome to make a query to our customer researchers, who would look into each problem individually".
Ms Hurley said she paid £34.95 for her return flight from Cork to Stansted. "Yes, very good value, I thought, but I don't think it's good value any more. I don't think I'll be flying Ryanair again. It's too much."
