Boac
Actually from the IAA report two of them called Mayday after requesting diversions and being given or hearing long delays enroute to VLC. Given Spanish ATC's general attitude to Ryanair and with the workload the controllers found themselves under the Commanders had little choice but to declare an emergency , otherwise they may have been treated with little priority until they found themselves in an even tighter corner.
The holding point RESBI to the South West of the field , the opposite side to the diversion airfield has a big part to play, without an FMC to punch it in to, I could not even find it at all on the charts - considering I was in a quiet room with no distraction.Not easy for the crews *given the weather and spanish ATC. *Most would have started getting nervous ,or at least up to full concentration ,in such circumstances , including me. (An experienced pilot and Tre)*
The ' burn them' witch hunt mentality displayed by some on this thread and lack of empathy is really sad to see, and not justified in my experience .*