Jan 23: Thousands of airline passengers across Europe woke up this morning at the wrong destination – and even in the wrong country – after Storm Isha caused havoc with flights, with dozens of cancellations, diversions and go-arounds in western Europe.

It’s usually the quickest way of getting from A to B for long journeys, but for those travelling to and from Ireland and the UK last night, flying became an odyssey. Airports in Ireland and the UK were badly hit by the storm, with gusts of up to 90 mph slicing across the runways.

Many aircraft heading west diverted to safer landings in continental Europe, often having flown to the destination before failing to land. Ryanair was especially affected since its base is Dublin, where a whopping 166 inbound and outbound flights were cancelled on Sunday, according to Kevin Cullinane, group head of communications at data, the operator of Dublin Airport.

The airport also saw 36 flight diversions and 34 go-arounds – where planes abandon landing mid-process and decide to ‘go around’ for another try.

The numbers explain the extraordinary scenes that unfolded as aircraft attempted to complete their flights to and from Ireland.

A Ryanair flight from Lanzarote, in the Canary Islands, to Dublin made it almost as far as the Irish capital, before turning around and diverting to Bordeaux, France, without attempting to land.