Ryanair flight security breach

The incident happened on a Ryanair flight destined for Girona, Spain, on Saturday afternoon.

Passenger Janice Smith, from Tuckton, raised concerns about the security breach after a man who booked to fly on October 6 had managed to board the plane.

Mrs Smith had boarded the plane and taken seat 1A, which she had pre-booked, before the man appeared and said she had been sitting in his seat.

After getting up to get her boarding pass from the overhead locker, the man then sat in Mrs Smith's seat.

Groundcrew then boarded the plane before it became clear that the passenger actually had a boarding pass for the Ryanair flight scheduled for October 6.

The man left the plane and crew members checked the plane for any items that had been left behind before the flight was able to take-off.

Ryanair said they had contacted their gate agent at Bournemouth Airport, Swissport, to look into the matter to ensure it did not reoccur.

A spokesperson for Swissport told the Daily Echo that the incident had happened due to "human error" and the man had been in possession of a valid boarding pass and passport .

She said the man had been through all the routine electronic security checks at the airport before boarding the plane.

However, as the man’s ticket had not been manually double-checked by staff to query the date on his boarding pass, the man had been able to board the plane.

Following the confusion airport staff helped the man to rebook his flight.

The spokesperson said staff had now been briefed to carry out manual checks.

The Swissport spokesperson added: “We are aware that a passenger mistook their date of travel and was able to board an incorrect flight. They had undergone all airport security screening before boarding the flight and had a valid passport which had been checked.

“We are in the process investigating how this occurred and are working with our teams to put preventative measures in place to avoid this reoccurrence”.