Family lose £165 Ryanair check-in dispute

A passenger who misplaced his dispute with Ryanair after being charged £165 to verify in on the airport has mentioned he doesn’t remorse taking up the airline.

“I used to be so mad on the time, I needed to strive one thing. It ruined a few days of my vacation,” dad-of-two Damien Lloyd, from Neath, informed the BBC.

Ryanair mentioned Mr Lloyd had “unchecked” his household and charged him to verify in once more, which he disputed.

However an impartial ombudsman dominated in favour of the airline.

AviationADR, an impartial airline dispute decision scheme, on the finish of final yr mentioned that Ryanair had “adhered to their very own Phrases and Situations”.

“The airline has offered proof that regardless of the passenger checking in on-line on twenty first June, in addition they checked out on twenty second July. That is the the reason why the printed boarding passes have been invalid and a brand new verify in was required,” it continued.

Chatting with the BBC, Mr Lloyd mentioned he didn’t remorse going via the dispute decision service, regardless of Ryanair being “actually impolite”. He mentioned the airline “did not need to know and that made me extra offended”.

AviationADR mentioned the willpower was not binding and that Mr Lloyd has the choice to proceed the grievance via the courts.

“That is me forking out cash for a case then, I am going to simply depart it,” Mr Lloyd added.

Well being and security supervisor Mr Lloyd had booked a 10-day household vacation to Gran Canaria in July.

The 50-year-old says he has by no means had an issue with Ryanair earlier than and was “in complete shock” when his, his spouse’s and his daughter’s boarding passes didn’t scan.

A Ryanair worker on the check-in desk was equally confused, however because it was an early morning flight, they may not telephone Ryanair’s customer support to research the issue because it was not but open.

The household was given a selection – both look ahead to customer support to open and miss their flights, or pay for brand spanking new passes – which they did.

Mr Lloyd mentioned he was informed he might “declare the cash again,” however when he requested a refund, Ryanair rejected the declare, earlier than being informed he had unchecked the day earlier than his flight.

“Ryanair got here up with each excuse underneath the solar. I felt wronged.

“If they’d have mentioned sorry and provided me 10% off my subsequent flight, I’d have been happier,” Mr Lloyd added.

The couple informed the BBC they needed to pay airport check-in charges after mistakenly downloading their return tickets as an alternative of their outgoing ones. Airport check-in charges have been far dearer than downloadable boarding passes.

Rory Boland, Editor of Which? Journey, mentioned: “It is clearly unfair to cost clients £165 to print out 4 items of paper for a real mistake. “Gotcha” charges like this are a part of the explanation Ryanair is frequently rated one of many UK’s worst airways.”

Ryanair didn’t reply to the BBC’s request to remark.