Latest news with #Lena
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
‘Welcome to Bologna': The moment an easyJet passenger to Berlin realised her serious mistake
A 79-year-old passenger realised she had mistakenly flown to the wrong country when she saw a sign saying 'Welcome to Bologna' out of the plane window while trying to reach Berlin. Lena had booked a flight to the German capital from Copenhagen, Denmark, where she was to meet her son Paul-Johan at the airport on 22 May. The passenger told the Swedish newspaper Expressen that she arrived at the airport in good time and checked in her luggage before the information board told her to go to the gate for her flight. When she reached the gate, she saw other passengers boarding a plane, so she hurried and was the last to get on the flight. Yet once she was onboard, she saw Ryanair's branding everywhere. She was supposed to be travelling with easyJet to Berlin, but since she was let in at the gate, Lena thought it could be a collaboration between the two airlines, or that she had been rebooked without her knowledge. Her seat was also vacant, so she sat down for the flight. In the air, however, things got even stranger when it felt that the flight felt a lot longer than usual. The flight from Copenhagen to Berlin usually takes an hour, but Lena felt something was wrong when the plane had been in the air for over an hour and a half. Initially, she put this down to the flight being delayed. But when the Ryanair plane came into land, it suddenly dawned on her that there had been a mix-up when she saw the words 'Welcome to Bologna' plastered on the airport sign. 'I didn't think it was true,' Lena recalled. It turned out the confusion was partly caused by Lena's intended easyJet flight departing from the same gate as the Ryanair flight to Italy, which was leaving just before easyJet's plane. However, it remains unclear how Lena was let onto the Ryanair plane, as she claimed she showed her boarding pass and ticket to the third-party provider which manages boarding at Copenhagen Airport. In a statement, Ryanair told The Independent: 'It is each passenger's responsibility to ensure they board the correct aircraft, and there are several touchpoints throughout the passenger journey which inform passengers of the aircraft's destination, including screens at the boarding gate and PA announcements on board. 'This passenger was due to travel on an easyJet flight from Copenhagen to Berlin on 22 May, which was due to board from gate F8 after our flight from Copenhagen to Bologna, which this passenger wrongly boarded instead, despite screens at the gate clearly displaying the flight number and destination (Bologna, not Berlin).' While in Bologna, Lena said it was hard to try and make staff aware of her situation, claiming a woman who worked at Ryanair accused her of having made a mistake herself. 'It felt both unfair and condescending. I am 79 years old, travelling alone, and it was a very vulnerable situation to end up in,' she told Expressen. Meanwhile, her son was waiting in Berlin for his mother, who never showed up. She eventually contacted him and said she was over 500 miles away. Lena was later reunited with her son after a taxi was arranged to take her to Venice, where she was given accommodation for the night and put on another flight to her intended destination. Ryanair added: 'Once made aware, we quickly arranged overnight accommodation and for this passenger to be reaccommodated on the next available flight to Berlin (via Venice).' In a statement, Copenhagen Airport said an investigation is being conducted on the matter. 'At Copenhagen Airport, we deeply regret the situation and the experience the passenger has had. It is, of course, completely unacceptable. However, it is important to emphasise that the passenger had passed through the security checkpoint, and therefore did not pose a safety risk by being on the wrong aircraft. 'We are now awaiting the ground handling company's thorough investigation into the cause of the error. Based on the results, we will follow up closely and engage in dialogue regarding the procedures of the ground handling companies in order to prevent similar incidents.'
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
Pensioner, 79, flying to Berlin lands in Bologna after booking EasyJet flight but accidentally boarding a Ryanair jet
An elderly woman who accidentally flew to Bologna instead of Berlin despite using a different airline has criticised the airport's lack of security. Lena, who has not shared her full name, was flying alone from Sweden to the German capital to visit her son, Paul-Johan, but had a stopover in Copenhagen. It was there that the 79-year-old managed to board a Ryanair flight to the Italian city despite having booked through Easyjet. She said she followed the 'Go to Gate' instructions and 'hurried' when she saw the other passengers boarding the flight last Thursday. 'Once I was on board, I saw that Ryanair was written everywhere, and then I thought: 'But wait, I was supposed to fly with Easyjet",' she said. Since she had been let on, she presumed there was a collaboration between companies especially since her seat was empty or that she had been re-booked without her knowledge. When her flight went on for longer than she expected, the horror of her mistake dawned on the pensioner. 'I think it's serious that a mistake like this could happen without anyone noticing, considering how much security there is around the flight,' she told local media. 'What would have happened if it had been a terrorist?' Ryanair have said that the responsibility to board the right plane lies with each passenger. They told Expressen: 'There are several information points during the journey where passengers are informed about the flight's destination, including screens at the gate and loudspeaker announcements on board'. Lena said she believed she showed her passport and boarding pass at the gate. Kastrup Airport in Copenhagen said they 'take the incident very seriously and are ensuring careful follow-up with the parties involved'. The pensioner had been on her way to support her son's student group participating in a UN conference in Rostock over the weekend. She had arrived in the Danish capital in good time and even managed to sit and wait for some time. Once on board, she realised that the usual flight time of an hour to Berlin was considerably longer and only began descending 90 minutes in. 'But it could be that the flight is delayed,' she thought. When she saw the 'Welcome to Bologna' sign after disembarking, Lena said she 'didn't think it was true'. It was only after she was in Northern Italy that she realised both flights to Berlin and Bologna were leaving from the same gate, but the Ryanair flight was boarding first. The confused passenger tried to explain herself to airport staff in Bologna but she said that they had been 'unfair and condescending'. 'I am 79 years old, travelling alone, and it was a very vulnerable situation to end up in. 'A woman who worked at Ryanair accused me of having made a mistake herself.' Her son, more than 900km away in Berlin, was waiting for his mother at the central station where they had missed their train they were supposed to get. Half an hour and several concerned messages later, he got a text saying 'Hi, I'm in Bologna. What should I do?'. Kastrup Airport in Copenhagen said they 'take the incident very seriously and are ensuring careful follow-up with the parties involved' Neither airline provided much help, he claimed, and Kastrup allegedly did not want to take responsibility, instead re-directing them to the airline providers. After nearly a day in Bologna airport, Lena was finally put in a two-hour taxi to Venice by Ryanair staff. She slept in a hotel before catching an early morning flight to be reunited with Paul-Johan. Her luggage is still in Copenhagen. 'Now I have finally arrived in Rostock, which of course feels good after everything that has happened.'
Yahoo
04-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Zoo hoping for romance between rare leopards
A zoo in Devon has successfully introduced a pair of rare leopards in a bid to help its work conserving highly endangered species. Dartmoor Zoo's Amur Leopard pair Freddo and Lena met on 29 April after months of planning the potentially "dangerous" introduction. It said the species of leopard is considered the "rarest cat in the world" with less than 100 left in the wild. Dartmoor Zoo CEO David Gibson said the cats would be "functionally extinct" without zoo conservation efforts and he was "hopeful" for a litter of cubs. The zoo said Amur leopards are predominantly found in the border areas between Russia, North-East China and North Korea. "Amur Leopards gravitate towards densely forested areas, avoiding grasslands or overpopulated areas," it said. "Much of this area, however, is regularly under threat from unsustainable logging, forest fires, agriculture and industrial development." Mr Gibson said the introduction of the leopards was the "culmination of over three years work". "It is a part of our ongoing work supporting the conservation breeding of highly endangered species," he said. "We are very hopeful that, now the pair have been physically introduced, we will be welcoming a litter of cubs in the near future." The zoo organised fence line encounters and habitat swaps for the cats before the introduction took place in a sectioned off area. Dartmoor Zoo's animal manager Madeleine Millin said "mixing big cats can be a dangerous business, and not to be rushed". "Both cats demonstrated positive behaviours towards one another and over time their relationship remained steady," she said. "Their first encounter was brief with a little vocalisation and Lena rolling over to submit, resulting in Freddo walking away, which is exactly what we wanted to see. "They then spent the day watching and sitting near to each other." She added: "Overall, it went extremely well, and we are very proud and pleased with their introduction. "We are excited for their future and look forward to seeing their relationship blossom." Follow BBC Devon on X, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to spotlight@ Lynx siblings from Kent on 'holiday' in Devon Female serval cat joins rescued male at Devon zoo Dartmoor Zoo welcomes 'world's rarest big cat' Rare leopard cubs born at wildlife park Dartmoor Zoo
BBC News
04-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Dartmoor Zoo hoping for romance between rare leopards
A zoo in Devon has successfully introduced a pair of rare leopards in a bid to help its work conserving highly endangered Zoo's Amur Leopard pair Freddo and Lena met on 29 April after months of planning the potentially "dangerous" said the species of leopard is considered the "rarest cat in the world" with less than 100 left in the wild. Dartmoor Zoo CEO David Gibson said the cats would be "functionally extinct" without zoo conservation efforts and he was "hopeful" for a litter of cubs. The zoo said Amur leopards are predominantly found in the border areas between Russia, North-East China and North Korea."Amur Leopards gravitate towards densely forested areas, avoiding grasslands or overpopulated areas," it said. "Much of this area, however, is regularly under threat from unsustainable logging, forest fires, agriculture and industrial development."Mr Gibson said the introduction of the leopards was the "culmination of over three years work"."It is a part of our ongoing work supporting the conservation breeding of highly endangered species," he said."We are very hopeful that, now the pair have been physically introduced, we will be welcoming a litter of cubs in the near future." The zoo organised fence line encounters and habitat swaps for the cats before the introduction took place in a sectioned off Zoo's animal manager Madeleine Millin said "mixing big cats can be a dangerous business, and not to be rushed". "Both cats demonstrated positive behaviours towards one another and over time their relationship remained steady," she said. "Their first encounter was brief with a little vocalisation and Lena rolling over to submit, resulting in Freddo walking away, which is exactly what we wanted to see. "They then spent the day watching and sitting near to each other."She added: "Overall, it went extremely well, and we are very proud and pleased with their introduction. "We are excited for their future and look forward to seeing their relationship blossom."
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Lena Dunham Says Her Body Was An "Object Of Scorn" During "Girls"
This post contains discussion of body image issues. April marked the 13th anniversary of HBO's Girls, and as someone who made the series their entire personality, I celebrated by rewatching every season for the umpteenth time. If you can't believe how much I emulate this show, ask my coworkers how many snacks I bring to my desk and weekly brainstorms. Girls premiered on HBO on April 15, 2012, and over a decade later, the show entered a renaissance, resonating with new audiences and gaining popularity online. The series, which starred Lena Dunham, Adam Driver, Alex Karpovsky, Jemima Kirke, Zosia Mamet, Andrew Rannells, and Allison Williams, is, in my opinion, a cultural phenomenon. Roy Rochlin / FilmMagic, Michael Buckner / Getty Images for SXSW, Alessio Botticelli/GC Images In light of Girls' anniversary, star and creator Lena Dunham reflected on her appreciation for the show and recalled the scrutiny surrounding her body image. In a lengthy April 30 Instagram post, Lena wrote, "Every year around the time that Girls initially premiered (April 2012) I get kind of contemplative, brooding even. We all have anniversaries- good and bad- that send us off in search of something." "Heck, I can be launched Blue Origin style into a nostalgia trip when the sun shines a certain way through the curtains! For me, April will always be when life changed- in ways both magical (I'm still here! With you! Making things!) and confounding." Related: Here's Why Channing Tatum And Zoë Kravitz Reportedly Split "On the one hand, it was a nightmare because it confirmed everything I thought I knew, affirmed all the 7th grade ghosts living in my head," she continued. "But it also forced me to accept, swiftly and gratefully, the ways in which to live in a body is to dance constantly with our collective fear and disgust at fallibility, mortality and imperfection." She added, "There is almost nothing that scares us more than the truth of what our bodies are, and that- even with all these modern tools- their fate is so often out of our control." Lena learned to accept herself in the face of "aging, illness, scrapes and scars" and her decadelong battle with endometriosis. "This body had already been an object of scorn and so the rest of the road smoothed out before me," she said. "I no longer believed that being thinner, taller, or tanner would save me. No hair mask or control top briefs were coming to fight on my behalf. I was alerted to the fact that the only shield we have is our voice, our art, our dreams, our relationships." Related: Leonardo DiCaprio's 26-Year-Old Girlfriend, Vittoria Ceretti, Just Talked About What It's Really Like Dating Him — And Some Of Her Comments Are Making Me View Them Differently This isn't the first time Lena has reflected on the experience of her body being scrutinized during Girls. In a 2024 interview with The New Yorker, Lena shared why she decided not to star in her upcoming Netflix series Too Much. "I was not willing to have another experience like what I'd experienced around Girls at this point in my life," she said. "Physically, I was just not up for having my body dissected again." Too Much will instead star Megan Stalter as a 30-something woman who falls in love with a British musician (played by Will Sharpe) after moving to London. "It was a hard choice, not to cast Meg — because I knew I wanted Meg — but to admit that to myself." Maya Dehlin Spach / WireImage, Kate Green / Getty Images Lena's lengthy post sparked a lot of positive reactions, with fans resonating with her openness and what Girls meant to them. "Your show conforted me when I was 32, and this year, at my 45 conforted me again. I have seen "GIRLS" 3 times, and I'm amazed of how shuch a young girl could explain certain complicated things in such a brilliant way. Thank you for your bravery and your talent. For being so honest and raw. I truly look at you with big admiration. ❤️," Spanish film actor and writer Núria Gago wrote. "You are astonishing and your brilliant show cracked so much open for so many," Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, wrote. Another user said, "i love you so much and owe you so much. culture had to catch up to you. i am so grateful you are around." This person said, "Seeing a body like mine changed my life as a teenager and actress. Thank you for the gift that is Girls." Someone wrote, "you are the voice of my generation and always will be. GIRLS IS FOREVER." This person said, "Not to be dramatic, but you changed the world ❤️🩷" and I completely agree with the sentiment. Finally, another person wrote, "I hope you know that GIRLS is and always will be one of the best TV shows of all time! ❤️" I can't until the Girls anniversary next year — and that's on Hannah Horvath, Marnie Michaels, Shoshannah Shapiro, and Jessa Johansson. Also in Celebrity: These 21 Celebrity Ex-Marriages Were So Brief And Bizarre, They Practically Evaporated From Hollywood History Also in Celebrity: 28 Celebs Who Never Seem To Get Canceled Despite Some Pretty Awful Behavior Also in Celebrity: 15 Celebs Who Went From 'Wait, They Did WHAT?!' Normal Jobs To Massive Fame
