Wheelchair user and Ryanair...

#1 · 21-02-2017 10:50PM #1

...bit of a storm brewing over the claims of a wheelchair user who says she was denied boarding on Ryanair flight and asked if she could walk up a flight of stairs. Ryanair contend that she had not signalled her need for assistance in advance as is required.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/consumer/wheelchair-user-says-she-was-denied-boarding-to-ryanair-flight-1.2983765

She has now said she intends to sue. She has her own charity.

http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/disabled-irish-student-says-sue-9856573

SEPT 23 1989 · 21-02-2017 10:58PM

"how dare you ask me to do that"

Well then fcuk off and fly with another airline should have been the response

Skylinehead · 21-02-2017 10:58PM

13 minutes before take off (ie gate is closed)
Didn't ask for wheelchair assistance in booking
Ground staff aren't even Ryanair, they're DAA

Not sure what her case is here

21-02-2017 10:59PM

Whatever about her failing to notify them in advance - which is a valid request, asking a wheelchair bound person if they can walk up a flight of stairs is cosmically insensitive.

Skylinehead · 21-02-2017 11:00PM

Candie wrote: »

Whatever about her failing to notify them in advance - which is a valid request, asking a wheelchair bound person if they can walk up a flight of stairs is cosmically insensitive.

Yeah it's a bit silly but you need equipment to get a wheelchair up to a plane, and that was presumably not possible because she was so late.

21-02-2017 11:00PM

I read this earlier and never heard such sh1te. She's after a regular blog in the times and nothing more imo

Is there a question as to whether she could have walked the stairs if she had to? The article skips around that a little imo.

But regardless she comes across as a right entitled little madam.

seamus · 21-02-2017 11:01PM

You can tell by her post that she's a blowhard. When the main focus of the complaint is about how the incident made them feel rather than about the actual facts of the incident, then you know that they're in the wrong.

She failed to notify the airline that she had special needs and arrived at the gate 13 minutes before it was due to leave.

Case closed, cop on.

21-02-2017 11:02PM

Candie wrote: »

Whatever about her failing to notify them in advance - which is a valid request, asking a wheelchair bound person if they can walk up a flight of stairs is cosmically insensitive.

It depends on how it was framed, it may have been an innocuous request to assess how much assistance would be needed ie could she lean on someone or would she have to be carried.

seamus · 21-02-2017 11:03PM

Candie wrote: »

Whatever about her failing to notify them in advance - which is a valid request, asking a wheelchair bound person if they can walk up a flight of stairs is cosmically insensitive.

Perhaps. But it would be a valid question - "Wheelchair assistance isn't available before the flight leaves. Would you be capable of boarding through the stairs?"

"HOW DARE YOU ASK ME THAT YOU INSENSITIVE COW!!"

Not everyone in a wheelchair is completely incapable of walking for short distances or with assistance. Asking her if she could board via the stairs is perfectly valid. It indicates that the staff were in fact doing everything they could do to help.

jackboy · 21-02-2017 11:05PM

seamus wrote: »

You can tell by her post that she's a blowhard. When the main focus of the complaint is about how the incident made them feel rather than about the actual facts of the incident, then you know that they're in the wrong.

She failed to notify the airline that she had special needs and arrived at the gate 13 minutes before it was due to leave.

Case closed, cop on.

She was on the radio yesterday and said the 13 minutes thing is not true.

21-02-2017 11:07PM

Deleted User wrote: »

It depends on how it was framed, it may have been an innocuous request to assess how much assistance would be needed ie could she lean on someone or would she have to be carried.

That's very true, and it probably wasn't phrased as it's reported there, but many people in wheelchairs can be very sensitive to peoples perceptions of them.

*As an aside, I had a relative who was severely disabled and was pushing her in a wheelchair in a shopping centre when a small girl came up to her and asked her if she was too tired to walk. My relative couldn't speak, so she turned to me and asked me if she was too lazy to talk as well! :P

Her poor parents died a thousand deaths of embarrassment.

Cupcake_Crisis · 21-02-2017 11:07PM

You can indicate that you need wheelchair assistance when you're booking your flight. You can also inform staff when you're checking in. She left it till the last minute on purpose imo. She knew what she was doing.

stimpson · 21-02-2017 11:07PM

I traveled on Ryanair with my old dear last year. She can walk but not all the way out to the Ryanair gates. We rang a couple of weeks ahead of time. She was put in a wheelchair. A lovely man brought to the front of the checkin line. Then wheeled her through security and onto a special van with a lift. The entire passenger compartment was lifted up to the side of the plane and she was assisted to her seat. No charge.

Yer wan can **** right off. As a wheelchair user I'm sure she knew the score. ****ing SJWs get on my tits.

PARlance · 21-02-2017 11:09PM

Nice bit of attention and publicity to coincide with her new charity, facebook page and website (both set-up last month).

Atlantic Dawn · 21-02-2017 11:11PM

jackboy wrote: »

She was on the radio yesterday and said the 13 minutes thing is not true.

Case closed...

How far in advance do I need to book airport special assistance?

If you, or a member of your party, requires special assistance at the airport you will need to book these services in advance.
We recommend that you request these services when you book your flight, but you can pre-book them on the Ryanair website up to 48 hours before the scheduled flight departure time.
After this time and up to 12 hours prior to scheduled flight departure, passengers should contact our Special Assistance line (subject to opening hours). If you do not provide 48 hour's notice, the required assistance may not be available and your travel plans may be disrupted.
In order for an airport to provide pre-booked special assistance, passengers should present themselves at the airport special assistance desk 2 hours before their flight departure time.

https://www.ryanair.com/ie/en/useful-info/help-centre/faq-overview/Special-assistance#0-6

stimpson · 21-02-2017 11:13PM

I notice that she's manning the @ireland twitter account at the moment. I'm sure that's just a coincidence.

Gatling · 21-02-2017 11:16PM

Funny on her FB page she's shown in photos standing and no wheelchair ,
Wonder if she's actually wheelchair bound or has to use one sometime depending on her condition

languagenerd · 21-02-2017 11:16PM

Before Ryanair ever posted their response, someone asked her on Twitter if she'd booked assistance and she said she had. There seemed to be something about her changing the dates of her original booking - maybe something got lost down the line and the assistance was put through for the wrong day?

If she really didn't book it and turned up late, though, then it's her own fault. From my experiences with disabled friends/family, Dublin Airport is usually very good at assisting them through.

languagenerd · 21-02-2017 11:18PM

stimpson wrote: »

I notice that she's manning the @ireland twitter account at the moment. I'm sure that's just a coincidence.

She was last week. The flight was last weekend. It's a guy from Clonmel this week, who's getting a ton of wheelchair-related questions he knows nothing about.

seamus · 21-02-2017 11:24PM

jackboy wrote: »

She was on the radio yesterday and said the 13 minutes thing is not true.

To be fair to her, she may have been near the gate in plenty of time, but only actually presented herself for boarding with 13 minutes to spare. Since she hadn't booked any assistance, the staff wouldn't have been looking out for a wheelchair user. Otherwise they probably would have called her well in advance.

Gatling wrote: »

Funny on her FB page she's shown in photos standing and no wheelchair ,
Wonder if she's actually wheelchair bound or has to use one sometime depending on her condition

languagenerd wrote: »

Before Ryanair ever posted their response, someone asked her on Twitter if she'd booked assistance and she said she had. There seemed to be something about her changing the dates of her original booking - maybe something got lost down the line and the assistance was booked for the wrong day?

If she really didn't book it and turned up late, though, then it's her own fault. From my experiences with disabled friends/family, Dublin Airport is usually very good at assisting them through.

The Irish Times article actually has good info on all this. She's only in recent months started using a wheelchair. So she has some mobility.
She did make a recent change to the flight, and Ryanair confirmed that no assistance had been booked.

Most likely she's either embarrassed that she had made such a mistake (understandable if she's never flown in a wheelchair before), or with her new status she's become really militant about making things right and in this case is seeing unfairness where none exists.

In her own words she got incredibly offended when the ground staff asked her if it would be possible to board via the stairs because it's easier that way. It's a perfectly valid request and the staff were simply trying to make her life easier, but all she saw was discrimination where none existed.

NinjaTruncs · 21-02-2017 11:24PM

[Deleted User] wrote: »

She has now said she intends to sue. She has her own charity.

http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/disabled-irish-student-says-sue-9856573

Have we gotten to a place in society where we feel we can sue over "not feeling myself"...

ianob7 · 21-02-2017 11:37PM

Flew Ryanair last year with a blown out knee and booked the assistance and all that mallarkey. Experience was excellent. Brought down to the gate. Top of the queue, just before boarding began somebody came over to me and asked how bad I was in terms of mobility. Asked would I be able to use the stairs instead of the chair lift contraption to save time? Before I could respond he said if you can't use the stairs no problem we'll get the lift. I was in a position that I could hop up the stairs as it was dry and I felt safe.

Seems like an oversight on her behalf and then being late on top of things didn't help.. Mountains and mole hills and all that jazz!

PARlance · 21-02-2017 11:46PM

ianob7 wrote: »

Flew Ryanair last year with a blown out knee and booked the assistance and all that mallarkey. Experience was excellent. Brought down to the gate. Top of the queue, just before boarding began somebody came over to me and asked how bad I was in terms of mobility. Asked would I be able to use the stairs instead of the chair lift contraption to save time? Before I could respond he said if you can't use the stairs no problem we'll get the lift. I was in a position that I could hop up the stairs as it was dry and I felt safe.

Seems like an oversight on her behalf and then being late on top of things didn't help.. Mountains and mole hills and all that jazz!

I doubt there was any oversight at all. The only question I have is if she had it all planned out or just grasped her opportunity... I'll give her the benefit of the doubt because I'm feeling nice.

mzungu · 21-02-2017 11:59PM

Need a bit more to go on here. This all depends on whether Ryanair carried over the details from her original booking with them. They say there was no wheelchair services booked on her original ticket but she says there was.

Irish Times wrote:

However, a statement from Ryanair said Ms Herbert “had not booked any wheelchair services” and that she arrived at the boarding gate “13 minutes before the flight was due to depart.

If she did book wheelchair services on her original ticket then it could be Ryanair's fault for not transferring it over (assuming they do that automatically).

Irish Times wrote:

Ms Herbert said she did request wheelchair assistance in her initial booking and does not understand why the airline said she arrived 13 minutes before takeoff.
“It’s their fault they neglected to carry over the details of my booking and I don’t know where they got that number of 13 from, I was definitely there a long time before.

I would like to know if wheelchair services was ordered on both tickets, or just the cancelled one.

22-02-2017 12:06AM

Listened to her interviewed on radio this week, she changed her flights, her original flight had assistance requested. She rang to tell them she wouldn't be flying on the original flight & was going the next day. She said she didn't tell them a second time about the assistance, because she thought they would see it from her original flight.

She was at the gate approx an hour before departure but she knows wheelchair users go on last, so she waited till last to board.
It was definitely crossed wires, but I think her problem was the way they dealt with it, and the way they dealt with her.

22-02-2017 12:11AM

bubblypop wrote: »

Listened to her interviewed on radio this week, she changed her flights, her original flight had assistance requested. She rang to tell them she wouldn't be flying on the original flight & was going the next day. She said she didn't tell them a second time about the assistance, because she thought they would see it from her original flight.

She was at the gate approx an hour before departure but she knows wheelchair users go on last, so she waited till last to board.
It was definitely crossed wires, but I think her problem was the way they dealt with it, and the way they dealt with her.

The way she dealt with them you mean

The whole think absolutely stinks. Fair play to ryanair for not delaying everyone else for her stunt.

Assetbacked · 22-02-2017 12:12AM

They put her on the very next flight to Stansted. Publicity stunt.

suicide_circus · 22-02-2017 12:13AM

The wheelchair assistance guys are outsourced, OCS not DAA

22-02-2017 12:14AM

[Deleted User] wrote: »

The way she dealt with them you mean

The whole think absolutely stinks. Fair play to ryanair for not delaying everyone else for her stunt.

Bit harsh!
I think she was just very upset

Gatling · 22-02-2017 12:17AM

seamus wrote: »

The Irish Times article actually has good info on all this

Completely missed the link to the IT article,

A friend suffers from the same condition he only uses a wheelchair when he goes to concerts and flights everything else he uses a frame ,

bob50 · 22-02-2017 12:35AM

My tuppence worth i dont know where shes going with nonsense

I used to bring my mother now passed on over to England 2/3 times a year and used both Aer Lingus & Ryanair and always booked wheelchair assistance, The option is there when booking online. which is run by OCS here and the in the UK and never any problems

These guys OCS were most helpful at either side and sometimes when coming back to Dublin as my mums arthritis got worse they would use the lift and load on the rear of the plane

Wheelchair user and Ryanair...

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