Ryanair Passenger Sprints Across Tarmac to Catch His Flight, Succeeds

August 10, 2016

An airline passenger who arrived a bit late to catch his Ryanair flight from Madrid to the Canary Islands chose a brave course of action just to get on the airplane last Friday.

The unnamed traveler who booked a flight with Ryanair reportedly failed to arrive on time and missed boarding his plane on schedule, according to The Guardian.

Not willing to give up and miss his flight entirely, the determined man found a way to evade airport security and jump off the airport departure gate (the exit corridor that extends to the plane entrance) and onto the tarmac. Authorities said that the man was stopped by airport workers and told to wait for the police, but he opted to chase the plane instead.

Airport employees caught a piece of the action on video and uploaded it on Facebook. In the clip, the man was seen clutching his bags, off from his daring jump, running toward the plane in the Barajas airport tarmac.

“This is how passengers in Madrid behave when they don’t arrive in time to catch their planes,” the post’s caption read. “This particular passenger missed his Ryanair flight and, however incredible it may seem, got through the different security procedures that [Spain’s airport authority] Aena has in place at its airports.” The video uploader also noted that Spain is currently at its second highest anti-terror alert level.

“The passenger had reached the gate with his boarding pass after clearing security,” confirmed a spokesperson for Aena “He broke through a fire escape, the doors opened and he got out that way.”

“This person had cleared security and had no terrorist motivations. He was never suspected of being a terrorist,” the spokesperson added.

It was later found out that he chased the wrong plane and after realizing his mistake, he was able to get on the right flight and reach Gran Canaria. Upon his arrival, he was arrested by police for questioning but was released afterwards.

“It seems that he got on to the tarmac because he’d missed his flight but the plane he was trying to get on wasn’t his,” said the spokeswoman from the local police. “When he realized that, he got on the flight to Gran Canaria.”

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