RyanAir Denied Boarding- Unlawful?
Posted: Fri Apr 19, 2019 1:43 am
Hi,
To cut the story short
Myself - Indian National previously held 5 years EU Family Residence Card (married to an EU national) and after 5 years, I am issued a Permanent U.K residence Card 4years back, but no mention of 'Family Member of EU national'.
Spouse- Spanish National
We were denied boarding on Ryanair flight to Italy at Stanstead Airport even after their own staff previously signed ' Visa checked ' at the Baggage drop of area at the airport. At the final boarding gate, Ryan staff ignored the fact that:-
a) Proof of previous 5 Years EU family Residence card on my passport issued in the U.K
b) Travelling with my EU national spouse - not willing to accept our U.K Marriage Cerificate
c) EU directive 2004/38/EC - Free Movement Rights- wordings/extracts
d) My 5 year old son who holds a U.K passport and his Birth certificate stating me as the Biological father.
e) Previous Ryan Air staff member has checked and signed the boarding pass
I must say it was the first the time in past 9 years we ever had any issues like that, saying that we did not ever travel on Ryan air. It all happened so quick as the staff were in so hurry to get thier flight of the ground and they were not willing to speak to the Immigration officer or at least their supervisors.
They failed to give me anything in writing to state why I was denied boarding even after several attempts from us, we were left with no choice other than video recording the whole event for the interest of personal safety and evidences.
We were then asked to raise the complaint with their customer service team after waiting for over 1hrs to collect our checked in baggage.
Eventually we managed to get hold of the Ryan Passenger service team manager who surprisingly was already aware of what went with us at the boarding gate but repeatedly demanded that we must delete the video recording as they now realized they have made the mistake, however we politely refused to delete the video recording exercising our rights, as we have no other evidence of this unfairness and unlawful act. Infact we explained back that we are currently video recording this whole conversation with the customer team aswell.
After long winded argument, they managed to rebook a seperate flight to a nearby destination 9 hours later than previously booked.
They didnot offer even a bottle of water, anything in writing or the summary of what happened and we were advised to contact their online team which is their standard protocol. At some point they accepted that they could have avoided all this if their boarding gate team would have contacted the Immigration support or the manger but they usually prioritize the flight departure as they get hefty fines from the Airport authority and is not cost effective as their business model!!
So, based on our above situation, I have managed to read few cases where people have taken it legal on the grounds of not complying with the law- Human rights, Consumer Rights.. since Ryan air's defence would most likely argue and manipulate court that we failed to provide necessary paperworks when demanded or worst come that we were late at the check-in desk which all led to Ryan air staff making that decison of refusal as the fact remains that people wouldn't have any substantial evidence to prove their verdict and I understand video recordings may not always be admissible in the court in our case
Well, I am writing to get some advise or if you guys know of anything similar so I can approach this matter in a sensible manner.
I am prepared to take this further to small claims, not sure if I should get a solicitor involved who also understand Flight compensation laws together with Human RightsAct.
I hope what happened there must not happen with anyone of us, it truely was one of the most traumatic and patronising experiences specially when you are travelling with a 5 year old.
Thanks for taking the time to read this far. Much appreciated.
To cut the story short
Myself - Indian National previously held 5 years EU Family Residence Card (married to an EU national) and after 5 years, I am issued a Permanent U.K residence Card 4years back, but no mention of 'Family Member of EU national'.
Spouse- Spanish National
We were denied boarding on Ryanair flight to Italy at Stanstead Airport even after their own staff previously signed ' Visa checked ' at the Baggage drop of area at the airport. At the final boarding gate, Ryan staff ignored the fact that:-
a) Proof of previous 5 Years EU family Residence card on my passport issued in the U.K
b) Travelling with my EU national spouse - not willing to accept our U.K Marriage Cerificate
c) EU directive 2004/38/EC - Free Movement Rights- wordings/extracts
d) My 5 year old son who holds a U.K passport and his Birth certificate stating me as the Biological father.
e) Previous Ryan Air staff member has checked and signed the boarding pass
I must say it was the first the time in past 9 years we ever had any issues like that, saying that we did not ever travel on Ryan air. It all happened so quick as the staff were in so hurry to get thier flight of the ground and they were not willing to speak to the Immigration officer or at least their supervisors.
They failed to give me anything in writing to state why I was denied boarding even after several attempts from us, we were left with no choice other than video recording the whole event for the interest of personal safety and evidences.
We were then asked to raise the complaint with their customer service team after waiting for over 1hrs to collect our checked in baggage.
Eventually we managed to get hold of the Ryan Passenger service team manager who surprisingly was already aware of what went with us at the boarding gate but repeatedly demanded that we must delete the video recording as they now realized they have made the mistake, however we politely refused to delete the video recording exercising our rights, as we have no other evidence of this unfairness and unlawful act. Infact we explained back that we are currently video recording this whole conversation with the customer team aswell.
After long winded argument, they managed to rebook a seperate flight to a nearby destination 9 hours later than previously booked.
They didnot offer even a bottle of water, anything in writing or the summary of what happened and we were advised to contact their online team which is their standard protocol. At some point they accepted that they could have avoided all this if their boarding gate team would have contacted the Immigration support or the manger but they usually prioritize the flight departure as they get hefty fines from the Airport authority and is not cost effective as their business model!!
So, based on our above situation, I have managed to read few cases where people have taken it legal on the grounds of not complying with the law- Human rights, Consumer Rights.. since Ryan air's defence would most likely argue and manipulate court that we failed to provide necessary paperworks when demanded or worst come that we were late at the check-in desk which all led to Ryan air staff making that decison of refusal as the fact remains that people wouldn't have any substantial evidence to prove their verdict and I understand video recordings may not always be admissible in the court in our case
Well, I am writing to get some advise or if you guys know of anything similar so I can approach this matter in a sensible manner.
I am prepared to take this further to small claims, not sure if I should get a solicitor involved who also understand Flight compensation laws together with Human RightsAct.
I hope what happened there must not happen with anyone of us, it truely was one of the most traumatic and patronising experiences specially when you are travelling with a 5 year old.
Thanks for taking the time to read this far. Much appreciated.