Russian tourists in Spain fight, bite and run to return home

A very unpleasant story happened to passengers of Russia’s Ural Airlines at the airport of Barcelona. The holiday-makers currently prepare to file complaints against the airline since many of those who wanted to return back to Russia had to stay in Spain instead.

Photo: Russian tourists in Spain fight, bite and run to return home

“We were supposed to depart from Barcelona on July 26 at 18:40 with Ural Airlines. A guide told us before the trip to the airport that the flight had been delayed so we had to arrive to the airport earlier than was previously scheduled,” a passenger of Ural Airlines, Yulia Rakova told the Novy Region news agency. “They told us later that we would be able to depart only at 21:40 because there were some technical problems with the plane,” she added.

The passengers managed to find out that the airline simply canceled the flight because the plane was supposed to carry only 40 people on board. The company apparently decided to save some money.

“There were no representatives of the airline at the airport, no one explained anything to us. We tried to find their office at the airport, but to no avail,” the woman said.

Afterwards, the desperate passengers were told that they would be able to fly at 18:40, albeit on board a smaller plane. It just so happened that about 30 people were destined to stay in Spain.

“They said that they would take those passengers who came to the airport first,” Yulia Rakova said.

“As a result, we started calling Ekaterinburg authorities, the city where we came from. Afterwards, we were told that those 30 people who would not be able to board the plane would return home via Moscow. It goes without saying that no one wanted to fly like this,’ the woman said.

A crowd of Russian tourists rushed to two counters. All the people acted very aggressively.

“When they announced the beginning of registration, a massacre started. Everyone forgot their manners, everyone wanted to fly back home at all costs. The people started swearing. Men were ready to fight. I still have some bruises – someone hit me with a suitcase. The people turned into wild animals. A pregnant woman was punched into her stomach – she cried and went out of the line. The people realized that their future location - Spain or Russia – depended on their ability to fight, bite and swear,” the woman said.

The lucky ones were running to board the Tu-154M jetliner. “I was there among the lucky ones, but we had to spend about two hours sitting in a hot plane. Everyone was on the verge of a nervous breakdown,” Yulia said.

When the plane landed in Ekaterinburg, no one of Ural Airlines apologized to the passengers. They shuffled off the burden to the crew of the Tu-154 plane.

“They provided neither free calls nor hot meals to us - we all had to purchase everything with our own money. Each of us paid about $500 of fuel collection, but they decided to economize on their planes unwilling to send us back home,” the indignant woman exclaimed.

Yulia Rakova does not know what happened to 17 passengers who were forced to stay in Barcelona.

Novy Region