Angry passengers who endured a nightmare 10-hour journey to the Highlands have accused an airline of “misleading” them about delays.
Travellers trying to reach Inverness from Dublin boarded a Loganair flight which had already been held up for nearly six hours believing they were heading for the Highland capital.
But they were then told they were actually bound for Edinburgh – and faced a long road trip when they got back to Scotland.
The service from Dublin had originally been due to depart at 12.45am on new year’s eve but was delayed after a hydraulic fault was discovered with the Saab 2000 aircraft.
A Saab 340 was called in as a replacement, with the airline asking for volunteers to wait behind and take another flight, as well as accept 250 euros in compensation.
When the remaining travellers boarded the replacement aircraft, cabin crew told them it was actually bound for Edinburgh as Inverness had closed at 4.30pm for Hogmanay.
Passenger Helen O’Donohue, who was travelling home to the Black Isle with her husband after visiting family in Ireland, said: “The people we dealt with ourselves weren’t misleading, it was the people behind the scenes who obviously knew what was happening but didn’t communicate it to anyone.
“We got on the plane thinking we were going to Inverness, and then to be told we were actually going to Edinburgh.
“I felt sorry for the girl who told us all, she obviously believed we knew what was happening.”
Among the travellers were an elderly couple trying to get to Skye, a mum-to-be and a young woman hoping to get to a new year’s party in Achnasheen.
They finally left Edinburgh at around 8.20pm, and arrived back at Inverness just before midnight on Hogmanay – 10 hours later than scheduled.
A Loganair spokesman confirmed the original aircraft had suffered a hydraulic fault.
He added: “A recovery plan was implemented to take the remaining passengers on to Edinburgh as Inverness was not an option due to the delay time and the airport’s opening hours.
“On arrival passengers were to be transferred by road to Inverness using private hire vehicles.
“Unfortunately, this plan was not communicated to the passengers.
“This is unacceptable and we are currently investigating how and why this happened.”
“We appreciate the situation must have been extremely frustrating for our passengers, especially given the time of year, and sincerely apologise for the obvious inconvenience caused.”