How would you feel if you turned up at the airport to fly home after a holiday abroad only to find that the airline had, at the last minute and without telling you, brought forward the flight by an hour, and the plane had left? What, then, if you subsequently had to spend £450 and endure a night in the departure lounge at Gatwick airport, just to get home – and were later denied the promised compensation after the airline argued it shouldn't have to pay it because it had sent a warning email 22 hours before the plane was due to leave? This was the experience of Glasgow-based postgrad student Elizabeth Reilly who along with 20 other passengers watched in dismay as the plane she was booked on departed Marrakech airport, in Morocco, flew off without her. Sadly there are no prizes for guessing the airline involved. It was Ryanair. Reilly's unfortunate story started when she arrived at Marrakech airport at the end of March to fly back to Luton airport. Despite turning up an hour and a half before the allotted departure time of 10am, the board showed the plane was in fact leaving at 9am – and the gates were closed. It later emerged that Ryanair had changed the flight time 22 hours earlier, only notifying passengers ... by email.
