Ryanair cancelled my flight and left me stranded with two kids in Paris for four days

A single mother-of-two was left stranded in Paris for four days after her flight home was cancelled by Ryanair. 

Danielle Woolfenden, 31, flew out with her two children, eight and 11, on Friday June 2 for a weekend away in the French capital. But when she was forced to stay for an extra four days it ended up costing her around £3,000 more than she planned for.

She told MailOnline she was meant to return home on the Monday but was informed by RyanAir the day before that her flight had been cancelled. 

Hers was one of hundreds of flights called off by the airline at the start of last month after French air traffic controllers staged a 36-hour walk out from June 5 to June 7. 

Danielle was finally able to get a return flight on June 9 but only after spending everything in her bank account, including all her savings, which she now claims RyanAir are refusing to pay back.

Danielle Woolfenden (pictured), 31, was left stranded in Paris after her flight home was cancelled by RyanAir and used up all her savings until she could return home

Danielle flew out with her two children, eight and 11, (pictured all three of them together) on Friday June 2 for a weekend away in the French capital

She was meant to return home on Monday June 5 but was informed by RyanAir the day before that her flight had been cancelled

Danielle took her two sons, Blake and Teddy, on what started as a relaxing sight seeing trip to Paris at the start of June. 

They visited a number of the city’s famous landmarks including the Arc de Triumph and the Eiffel Tower while enjoying the warm weather. 

But, their weekend getaway soon turned into a nightmare when just one day before they were due to fly back RyanAir sent Danielle an unexpected text message telling her she wouldn’t be able to return home as planned. 

She was informed by the airliner that her 7:30pm flight to Manchester the next day had been cancelled as a result of strike action by French air traffic control staff and that she would have to rearrange her journey to a later date. 

Danielle, who had just started a new job as a relationship manager a few months earlier, immediately screenshotted the text and sent it to her boss, knowing that she would not be able to work for most of that week. 

The mother-of-two had used up all of her annual leave and was left with no option but to take the additional days off without pay. 

She then phoned her sister to tell her about the nightmare she was having. They both tried to contact the RyanAir customer service desk only to find out that it was closed on Sundays. 

The next day Danielle and her kids were forced to check out of their hotel and she said they spent the next two hours sitting on the pavement outside desperately trying to figure out what to do next. 

They visited a number of the city’s famous landmarks including the Arc de Triumph and the Eiffel Tower while enjoying the warm weather

Danielle took her two sons, Blake and Teddy, (pictured) on what started as a relaxing sight seeing trip to Paris at the start of June

Danielle had just started a new job as a relationship manager a few months before she was stranded in the French capital

‘I tried ringing first thing but it took hours to get through. We had to check out of our hotel with no where to go, backpacks on our back and not a clue what to do next,’ she said. ‘Stranded, in Paris, alone with two children.’

After spending two hours on the phone with RyanAir customer services, she was eventually told that the next available flight would be on the Friday. 

Danielle was then faced with the daunting prospect of having to spend an extra four days in Paris, unsure if her finances would be able to get her and her kids through it.

‘I finally got through to Ryanair and they told me to book a hotel and keep all receipts, which I did. 

‘The hotel alone was thousands of pounds, we were in Paris, everything is very expensive. I spent everything I had in my bank and all my savings to get us through the additional days. 

‘Some people might not have been able to pay that much money and may not be as lucky as myself.’

She added that she borrowed £1,000 from her mother to ensure she didn’t run out of money and she was also made to pay an extra £70 to extend the period for her airport parking. 

Danielle has now been offered a refund by RyanAir of €25 per person per day, which she says is still ‘thousands short of how much it cost me’. 

She said the airline has shown ‘no compassion’ and has ignored her accommodation costs and ignored costs for food and transport. 

Danielle was then faced with the daunting prospect of having to spend an extra four days in Paris, unsure if her finances would be able to get her and her kids through it

She said she borrowed £1,000 from her mother to ensure she didn’t run out of money and she was also made to pay an extra £70 to extend the period for her airport parking

The single mother was told by RyanAir at the time that she would be refunded 10 days after making a claim when she got back from Paris. 

After speaking with the company’s customer service again as soon as she returned home on June 9, she was told to send over all of her receipts from the additional days via email, which they would respond to in a couple of days. 

However, Danielle said they didn’t respond for another five days and after chasing them again, she didn’t receive a response for a further two days.  

‘I tried to claim my money back via their online system however I was getting an error message. I was told to raise the claim via their email system on their website. I have sent all receipts and correspondence via that as instructed. 

‘They couldn’t open the images of the receipts so I had to save them as PDFs, which I did and then put them in a zip file. Then they couldn’t open that. 

‘Then they ignored me for 5 days and after I chased them up, I was ignored for a further 2 days. I called and they said they didn’t receive my emails and that the only thing I could do was to start the process all over again. 

‘There is no complaints procedure over the phone and I have asked for the issue to be escalated, explaining the financial difficulty this may leave a single parent in.

‘I have tried everything but nothing seems to happen. I was told they would refund me, it looks like that was a lie.’

Danielle said the whole ordeal has been very stressful for her and her two children, and they are now having to be ‘very careful’ with their finances. 

She said it is a ‘constant concern’ and has impacted the amount of time she can spend with Blake and Teddy as well as her time at work as she is ‘constantly on and off the phone’ with RyanAir. 

RyanAir said its customer service team is in contact with Danielle and are resolving the issue directly.