Ireland is dealing with a bad storm at the moment, which is having quite the impact on airlines. Well, there’s one Ryanair that had a particularly noteworthy journey, as flagged by reader Matt. Let’s take a look at the saga of Ryanair flight 633, 6333, and 6300 (all the flight numbers used for this journey!).
In this post:
Dublin-bound Ryanair flight diverts to Manchester
On Sunday, January 21, 2024, Ryanair flight FR633 was scheduled to operate the 774-mile flight from Copenhagen (CPH) to Dublin (DUB). The flight was operated by a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 with the registration code EI-EBD. The 2hr20min flight was supposed to depart at 10:35AM and arrive at 11:55AM, with a one hour time change.
The flight took off from Copenhagen at 11AM, and the first two hours of the flight were routine, as the aircraft flew toward Dublin and began descending. The aircraft attempted to land, but performed a go around due to the conditions. Another attempt was made to land, but that also wasn’t successful.
The aircraft then flew north for a bit, and then the decision was made to divert to Manchester (MAN). The aircraft landed there at 11:55AM local time, 3hr11min after it departed Copenhagen.
Diverted Ryanair flight diverts to Liverpool
Once the plane landed in Manchester, the crew waited for conditions to improve. Finally at 5:31PM, well over five hours after the aircraft landed in Manchester, the decision was made to once again depart. This was operated as Ryanair flight FR6333.
The journey from Manchester to Dublin covers just 165 miles, so it should be a very quick flight. Around 30 minutes after takeoff, the aircraft began its descent toward Dublin. However, while over the Irish Sea, the aircraft entered a holding pattern for around 35 minutes.
Since conditions weren’t improving, the decision was made to divert to Belfast (BFS), 86 miles north of Dublin. First the aircraft entered a holding pattern there, before eventually attempting to land. However, conditions weren’t great in Belfast either, so the aircraft had to perform a go around.
At this point the decision was made to divert to somewhere with much better conditions, given the limited fuel. So the pilots decided to divert to Liverpool (LPL), just 24 miles from Manchester, where they started their journey.
The plane finally landed in Liverpool at 8:39PM, 3hr8min after it departed Manchester.
Ryanair passengers spend the night in Liverpool
After a nearly 12-hour journey that included 6hr19min of flying, the flight was called off for the evening, and people were put in hotels. Finally this morning, Ryanair operated an extra flight from Liverpool to Dublin.
Ryanair flight FR6300 ended up departing at 8:54AM and arriving at 9:29AM, after a short 35-minute flight. So passengers ended up arriving in Dublin over 21 hours behind schedule.
Bottom line
Aviation is complicated under the best of circumstances, let alone when weather gets bad. While there have been all kinds of operational disruptions in Ireland due to weather the past couple of days, a Ryanair flight from Copenhagen to Dublin definitely had one of the most extreme journeys.
Not only was the flight delayed by over 21 hours, but it ended up spending roughly seven hours in the air. I have to imagine that the two flights on Sunday were also anything but smooth, given that much of the flights were spent in holding patterns, performing missed approaches, etc.
Kudos to the crew for operating this journey safely, even if it wasn’t pleasant or convenient.
What do you make of this complicated Ryanair flight?
People were not put in hotels. My fiancé was on that flight and he slept on a couch at Liverpool Airport's Starbucks. They also were not given any food during that time - only 1 330ml bottle of water.
Not true, we were left to sleep in Liverpool Airport, there was no offer of Hotel Accommodation
My friend flew Easy Jet from Edinburgh to Bristol an internal flight so no need for a passport and ended up in Paris for the night on the airport floor as not allowed into France
I fly quite a lot and Sunday wasn't great for being in the air. Safety is the priority.
With different flight numbers, how many EU261 claims can you actually make?
One, per the original booking. We don't do that kind of crap on this side of the Atlantic.
None, it’s considered an « act of god » (bird strike, bad weather, volcanoes, etc) and therefore not entitled for compensation!
It was a crazy day here yesterday in Dublin. So many flights diverted and in holdings patterns for long periods at 7,000 feet, in horrific conditions. I'm amazed planes kept trying to land, two out of every three seemed to be going round.
Passengers were put up in hotel rooms? That would not had happen with any US airline given it would have been attributed to weather.
That’s why it’s called Europe and not USA, here…
Not sure about that. I thought that if you are diverted to a city not on your original itinerary you would get reimbursed for hotels?
EU261 requires hotel and meal coverage even for weather.
FR555 Was flying Manchester to Dublin and diverted to Paris!
Wonder how this worked out for those without visa free or authorization to enter the UK, given its not in the schengen zone with Denmark
Neither is Ireland, but Ireland is in the CTA with the UK.
Ireland and the UK honor each others admissibility requirements under the CTA.
There's a very few people not eligible to enter the UK but eligible to enter Ireland, even before we consider that 99% of passengers on this route are likely to be EU citizens who have no issues entering the UK.
In these cases nobody seems to care. I was once transferred to a flight, after an incident, and didn't even have a boarding pass (not just me).
What a night last night all across the UK/Ireland, certainly the worst wind we've had in quite a while! So many diversions, including lots to the continent, quite a few Ryanair flights bound for EDI ended up in CGN, an easyJet for MAN went to LYS, and that's only to name a few!