A judgement handed down by Lisbon civil court, seen by Lusa, said a family had quested compensation for being refused boarding from Porto to Ponta Delgada and a delay in their flight from Ponta Delgada back to Porto.

The lawyer, Pedro Mendes Ferreira, said before today’s lien “all the necessary and required” diligences had been made to force the carrier to comply with the sentence that is had not appealed against.

“On Friday, the company was notified that the lien would be enforced today if they did not pay what they owed”, he added.

Pedro Mendes Ferreira justified the need to resort to a lien on the plane because “Ryanair does not have bank accounts in Portugal and its head office in the country is in a firm of lawyers in Lisbon”.