Ryanair and disabilities

Moonbeam

Ryanair defends removal of blind people from plane



11:14 Thursday October 13th 2005


The Irish airline Ryanair has defended its decision to remove a group of blind people from one of its planes at Stansted Airport in Britain.

The nine passengers were told they would have to disembark shortly before take-off because Ryanair's safety regulations allow no more than four "disabled" people on any one flight.

One of the nine said she had telephoned the airline months in advance to ensure they would be no problem, but a Ryanair spokesman insisted today that no advance notification had been given.

The airline also defended its safety regulations, saying they had been agreed with disability rights groups a long time today.

"Safety has to be Ryanair's number one priority," the spokesman said.

"We apologise to these passengers, but at the end of the day, they did not inform as they are required to do of their disability at the time of booking."

Moonbeam

I wonder how they define disabled as they wouldn't let us book a flight and incl one of our firends who is in a wheelchair

AARRRGH

I don't see why everyone is making such a fuss over this. The Ryanair staff were just following the rules.

Sounds like people just wanna throw **** at Ryanair and hope it sticks!

Amz

I have a visual impairment, I have no mobility issues, I do not need extra help boarding, or leaving a plane, I do not need help opening, or closing seatbelts and would not consider myself to be an extra drain on resources because of my disability.

I have never mentioned my visual impairment when booking flights with any airline and have never had any issues because of it. Frankly I never felt the need to.

Ryanair's treatment of these people is disgusting. Not all of the people who were asked to leave had mobility issues that would have caused a danger to other passengers etc.

I will not fly with Ryanair again unless I have no other alternative.

Do they consider morbidly obese people disabled?
Do they consider elderly people who have mobility issues disabled?

I was on a flight to Belgium with Ryanair some years ago and was put next to a morbidly obese person. Nobody could sit in the middle seat as this person's size prevented it. I was literally trapped in my seat. This person would have had serious difficulty getting, off the plane with any kind of speed if there was an emergency. I seriously doubt that they would have been asked to declare their mobility problems before booking the flight.

PhoenixRising

I'm never one to defend Ryanair. As a company, I find them to be generally despicable and I would never fly with them myself, or indeed allow any of my family to fly with them. But...

All airlines have very strict rules on how many disabled/partially disabled and blind/partially blind passengers can be carried on a flight for safety reasons. The rules cover how many such passengers can be carried and where they must be seated etc.. I don't know what Ryanair's rules on this are, but the company which I work for allows 1 per row and they must be seated in the window seat.

billy the squid

Were the blind people accompanied on this flight by a sighted person? and one other question How many acompany disabled people on the likes of Air Lingus flights to places like Lourdes?

Only airlines I have been on are Aer Lingus and FlyBe and given that I, like amz, am able to get about with my visual impairment, i have never felt the need to tell them about it. and have had no problem.

RainyDay

If their disability is such a huge problem, how come they were able to get through Ryanair check-in, and Ryanair ticket check at gate without causing havoc. If there is a serious problem, Ryanair staff should have noticed the problem long before the passengers got on the plane and into their seats.

Talliesin

dublindude wrote:

I don't see why everyone is making such a fuss over this. The Ryanair staff were just following the rules.

They were following Ryanair's rules. Yes the fact that Ryanair are already known to be assholes when it comes to civil rights of the disabled doesn't help the impression people are getting, but the important thing is the rules are bull****.

If I was in a cabin that was filling with smoke I'd prefer the people in front of me to be blind rather than people who are used to being sighted and are suddenly having to deal with being temporarily unable to see.

CathyMoran

I am a Type 1 diabetic and have been so for over 20 years - I never considered myself to have a disability/ be disabled even though I know that I have certain minor limitations (as does everyone). However, I have had several problems with flying in the past few years - I have to have needles and other medication with me at all times so I always have a letter with me saying that I need to bring these items on board. I have had my bag searched so many times even still and have had to tell in detail what each medication does, it gets very upsetting after a while. I was recently flying through another European airport and my travelling companion asked about me traveling with an insulin pump which I hope to have next year - I was informed that I would have to remove this item which would be attached to me. I have since logged a complaint. I have never flown Ryan Air but after this recent incident I would actively avoid them. My mum is severly mobility impaired and I would not like to risk her being treated in such an insulting way.

FranknFurter

This whole "Disabled quota" thing gets on my wick big time! Its the same with the few rare accessible busses that exist, *one* wheelchair only, now, im not saying I have a solution to the space allocation, (thats not my job), problem, but that dosent make me feel any less like an awkward piece of luggage that should be labeled *BioHazard*. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Amz

I have a whole seperate bunch of issues with Dublin Bus so don't get me started on them tonight.

FranknFurter

I must admit to being intregued Amz, what *are* your issues with Dublin Bus.
Just wondering if we *might* maybe have similiar "issues" with them.....

stormkeeper

Regarding the buses issue, over here in London, you're only allowed one wheelchair per bus, because that's all there is room for. However, regarding Dublin, they should really have more buses with disabled access, as afaik, it's EU regulation to make buses have disabled access, at least that's why the RouteMaster buses over here have to be decommissioned.

FranknFurter

Yeah, its similar here, with one major exception.
The act states that dublin bus *only* have to replace the busses on a fleet by fleet basis, and *each* fleet, (usually encompassing a few routes only I think) is only replaced every 7 years.

*Technically* the act states that the whole thing has to be done by 2007, I have it on V good authority that DB will be using the "7 year fleet replacment plan" as an excuse to prolong the process if they want to. ;o/

Victor

Dublin Bus are making all their new busses low floor / accessible. However, (a) not enough new busses are being funded (b) they are only being allowed buy new busses on a buy one - retire basis (no fleet expansion) (c) less accessible busses are held in reserve for peak times.

Fleet details here:

http://www.dublinbus.ie/about_us/double_decks.asp
http://www.dublinbus.ie/about_us/single_decks.asp
http://www.dublinbus.ie/about_us/minibuses_midibuses.asp

AV (444), DT (10), AW (20), WV (51) types are low floor accounting for 49.76% of the fleet.

Intercity coach services and aircoach appear to be the worst category for accessibility (admittedly intercity means only getting on/off once over a long distance).

RainyDay

In all fairness to Ryanair, it looks their response has been swift and fair. Provided a visually-disabled passenger is accompanied by a seeing passenger, they are not counted as 'disabled' for the purpose of the quota of max 4 per flight.

Amz

So does that mean that even though I've never had to declare my visual impairment and have never had any difficulties while flying due to my visual impairment I now have to reduce my independence and bring someone with me everytime I want to fly with Ryanair?

Definitely won't be using them again ... EVER!

RainyDay

Amz wrote:

So does that mean that even though I've never had to declare my visual impairment and have never had any difficulties while flying due to my visual impairment I now have to reduce my independence and bring someone with me everytime I want to fly with Ryanair?

Nope - That's not what I said and that's not their policy. They do expect you to declare your visual impairment. They accomodate those with visual impairments who don't require any assistance as a specified category.