Airline slammed for charging customers £110 to print boarding passes
A popular airline has been slammed for charging two elderly customers £110 to print off their boarding passes.
Ruth Jaffe, 79, and husband Peter Jaffe, 80, were flying with Ryanair from London Stansted to Bergerac, France, on Friday (11 August).
Ruth checked in online the day before the couple flew, paying £22 for two seats sat next to each other on board.
However, when they got to the airport the next day Ruth realised she'd mistakenly downloaded the boarding passes for the return flights instead.
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Subsequently, the couple had to check in the old fashioned way at the Ryanair desks, though they were charged £55 each to print off their boarding passes.
Ryanair said that the couple had been 'correctly charged the airport check-in fee of £55 per passenger'.
Ruth, from Ealing, West London, said: "The website was very confusing, they're trying to get you to add on this and that.
"I didn't realise I was checking in for the coming home flight. At the airport, I tried to get the boarding card and it said check in is closed and I needed to go to the desk.
"They said that's £55 per person. I thought it was absolutely disgusting but I had no option so paid up. It was very stressful.
"The nice girl at the desk told me to complain to Ryanair. I could afford to pay it but it made me furious. We're lucky we can afford it but for a family it would be absolutely disastrous."
Following the charge, Ruth's daughter under the username @old_school_alps took to Twitter to complain about Ryanair.
She wrote: "Hey @Ryanair, my parents who are in their 70s and 80s, had accidentally downloaded the return flight boarding card instead of the outgoing ones and you charged them £110 to print them at the airport. £110 for 2 pieces of paper which took 1 minute. Shame on you."
Adding on a thread, the daughter claimed: "My mum made a mistake while trying to check in. You told her she wouldn’t sit next to her disabled husband if she didn’t pay extra so she tried. It then checked her in for the return flight only. They sat separately after paying £110."
The post has amassed over 140,000 likes on the social media platform, with one user commenting: "I wouldn't make an exception for most people because these rules are a reason, but I think in this case Ryanair should refund the money."
While a second added: "Ryanair are the worst airline! Should be avoided at all cost!"
A spokesperson for Ryanair told LADbible: "In accordance with Ryanair’s T&C’s, which these passengers agreed to at the time of booking, they failed to check-in online before arriving at Stansted airport (11 Aug) despite receiving an email reminder (10 Aug) to check-in online. These passengers were correctly charged the airport check-in fee (£55 per pax).
"All passengers travelling with Ryanair agree to check-in online before arriving at their departure airport and all passengers are sent an email/SMS, reminding them to do so 24hrs before departure.
"We regret that these passengers ignored their email reminder and failed to check-in online.”
Callum Jones