On a Ryanair flight from Italy three days ago, you didn't get the choice.

The 9.05pm FR233 flight from Alghero, Sicily to Stansted on Sunday July 30 was delayed until after midnight. The delay put landing at Stansted out of the question as the airport was undergoing runway maintenance between midnight and 6am. The carrier opted instead to return the passengers to Luton, 54 miles away. The crew were aware of the change of airport but didn't tell the passengers until they were 35,000 feet up.

Pam Sotiropoulos was one of the passengers. She emailed Times Online Travel to say: "The airline had ample time to inform the passengers that due to the late send off it was most likely going to be diverted to another airport. The reason I believe they failed to do so was to avoid the passenger unrest at the local airport."

This is strongly denied by Ryanair spokeswoman Lorna Farren, who accepts that the crew aboard the Ryanair plane knew about the change of airport, but "were busy trying to minimize the delay for passengers".

She continues: "Our crew's first point of contact with passengers is onboard. The captain announced the details of the diversion during the flight when he made his routine PA to the passengers. Prior to that, the priority of our airport handling agents in Alghero is to ensure any delay to the flight is minimised and that the aircraft can depart as soon as possible."

But as Sotiropoulos argues, many people had their cars parked at Stansted and would have appreciated some time at Alghero to make further arrangements. She adds: "Think about the families with children who had to take a bus to Stansted, one hour away, to pick up their cars. Many people had drivers waiting at Stansted."

Yesterday Ryanair announced record first quarter profits of £80 million, bolstered by the £5 baggage charge introduced in March (£2.50 for bags registered ahead of check-in) - a charge that the airline claimed on introduction would not be a profit centre.

It seems that despite the carrier's unpopular policies and decisions it remains one of the country's most profitable airlines, if not the "world's favourite".

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