A protest event against the Spanish airline Iberia, organised yesterday by the low-cost airline operator Ryanair in Barcelona’s Plaça de Catalunya, ended in embarrassment for the Ireland-based company after many of those attending the demonstration in the hope of being awarded a Ryanair travel voucher turned against the organiser.

Ryanair had promised to provide a return flight voucher for two people for anyone presenting themselves in the centre of the Catalan capital with a banner or placard which proclaimed why they prefer to fly with Ryanair rather than Iberia.

‘With this initiative we wanted people to see for themselves that flying with Ryanair is much better than flying with Iberia,’ said Ryanair’s executive for marketing and sales in Spain, Caitriona Beggan, in a press communiqué.

Those attending the demo with the appropriately written placard received a form in which they were to fill in their personal details, their preferred travel destination and details of how to send their form by fax in order to receive the flight tickets which would be good for travel between September and May 2007.

Unfortunately for Ryanair, however, protestors turned on the company rather than Iberia when the Ryanair representative at the scene ran out of flight claim forms to distribute.

Many hundreds of people protested once news spread of the lack of forms, with the Ryanair rep eventually having to be rescued by police officers from the Mossos d'Esquadra and then taking refuge in a local police station.

Ryanair sources have indicated that they have already handed out 500 vouchers and intend to provide another 500 to meet demand, which had far surpassed their expectations.

Ryanair offered their apologies and will distribute the 1,000 tickets even though there is no way of knowing whether those collecting them attended the original demonstration.

Various people who were unable to collect their travel vouchers have said that they will present a formal complaint to consumer organisations. The Federació de Consumidors en Acció (Facua) explained to the EFE news agency that it is investigating whether a case can be made against Ryanair on the grounds of misleading advertising.

For their part, Iberia stated that ‘it showed how little confidence this company must have in their own service if they have to attract customers in this way.’

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