An angry passenger has blasted Ryanair’s ground staff over hand luggage rows (Image: Getty)
An angry passenger has blasted ground staff after she was rudely instructed to pay more for her “protruding” bag or risk not being let on the plane. The low-cost Irish airline’s employees have again been thrust into the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
The latest spat happened on February 28 on a Ryanair flight from to . Ground staff at Palma’s Son Sant Joan airport informed the passenger she had to pay extra for her bag even though she had “travelled with the same bag dozens of times and did so on the return flight.” Staff also instructed the woman to put her handbag inside the bag, even though she had medication in it that she may need, and threatened her with the possibility of being unable to board the plane.
The passenger claims she was rudely instructed to pay more for her ‘protruding’ bag (Image: Getty)
She said: “In a very unpleasant way, they told me that I was not going to get on the plane, even though I had travelled with the same bag dozens of times and did so on the return flight, also with Ryanair.
“Not only me, but another guy was threatened and told he would be left on the ground, with his wife and son already on the plane.”
The passenger, a Majorcan resident, has reported the incident to the OCU (Organisation of Consumers and Users). Last year, the OCU received 1,139 complaints through the online platform Reclamar, with Ryanair receiving the most complaints for baggage-related problems, 248 in total.
A string of unpleasantries reportedly followed between the woman and staff, who apparently snapped at the passenger and said: “Don’t make a fuss and pretend you’re going to faint and fall to the floor. We’re used to this”.
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The woman was forced to pay ‘100 euros’ for a different flight out of Majorca (Image: Getty)
The woman was unable to board the flight she had already paid for and was forced to pay “ €100 euros” for a flight with a different airline to “make a personal trip” that she “had to make one way or another”.
Earlier this week, Spanish consumer rights body Facua launched a campaign against Ryanair that includes a photo of its CEO, Michael O’Leary, laughing, with the slogan “this billionaire owes you money” to urge passengers to report abuses and fraud in the airline industry.
The text underneath the image of Mr O’Leary says, “Ryanair charges an illegal surcharge for travelling with hand luggage. It is one of their massive frauds.”
Rubén Sánchez, a Facua spokesman, says they have chosen Ryanair because it is the airline the organisation’s users have most complained about over the past year.