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Wheelchair user and Ryanair...

[Deleted User]

...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

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idunno78

I saw this a day or two ago and felt really sorry for her! But if what I've read here is true and she didn't get assistance? Well then I don't feel sorry for her anymore!! She should have known she needed to book it and should have when she got her ticket! It's pretty easy to get special assistance when you need it!
She won't get to far trying to sue! Some people I just don't get!

Calhoun

Hope she sues and gets stung with the costs, nice little life lesson there.

jamesbere

This is backfiring on her big time, reading her facebook posts she comes across as very immature. Throwing around the I'm been discriminated card when she's losing an argument is pathetic really.

gctest50

Dunno how she thinks she is going to sue, she said :

“ ........ I suffer from episodes of psychosis which are brought on by travel.............

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

Calhoun

gctest50 wrote: »

Dunno how she is going to sue, she said :

Not to mention that i was under the impression that anxiety suffers tend to overthink and plan things out. If she was really that bad how come she hadnt planned it out well?

topmanamillion

If Ryanairs version of events are true i.e she didn't show up in good time, it`s difficulty to have sympathy for her.
I also had a quick look at her FB page and she`s blaming the pilot for "pulling off on her", even though in the IT article she said she told her friends to go on without her.

[Deleted User]

topmanamillion wrote: »

I also had a quick look at her FB page and she`s blaming the pilot for "pulling off on her"...

Unfortunate phrase...

__Alex__

Kinda seems like she thought complaining about Ryanair would be an easy sell because so many people like to have a good ol' moan about them. She may have thought she'd have overwhelming support because of who the complaint was against.

spurious

While it is of course a nonsensical case for her to be taking, I wouldn't think it is beyond the boffins at Ryanair to create a pop up on rebooking explaining if you need special assistance you need to rebook it too.

Graces7

WHen I came first to Ireland, my GP booked wheelchairs etc all the way through. I have limited walking ability and airports can be huge. And I had along and complicated journey.

Nothing but praise for all the airlines. WIth Ryanair, Edinburgh to Dublin, I was asked if i could manage the stairs to the plane and said yes, but am slow .. There was nothing but kindness. They stood by ready to catch.

There was one thing! When they got me a taxi in Dublin, the driver saw me paying the Ryanair man for the wheelchair was outraged... Said he was going to call ???Joe Duffy?? MAKING AN OLD WAN PAY For A WHEELCHAIR! Went on being outraged all the way to the hotel.. But I expected to pay and knew it would be so .. ( No idea if that is still the case?)

Help is what we make of it. I was treated with dignity and kindness and would book Ryanair again.

Graces7

spurious wrote: »

While it is of course a nonsensical case for her to be taking, I wouldn't think it is beyond the boffins at Ryanair to create a pop up on rebooking explaining if you need special assistance you need to rebook it too.

Surely just common sense? I had to change dates by a week and sorted that . Your problem .

Stoner

jackboy wrote:

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

She said it was untrue and then went on an developed it out and it ended up sounding more accurate than her initial position, she said she knew they boarded people in wheelchairs last so she waited until the end, but they were not in the airport particularly early. She was with a big gang of students.

She said she'd originally booked on a different flight with a request for assistance, but changed flights and didn't select the option on the revised flight.

I don't know, I kept wondering about how she appeared. By that, if by looking at her did she look like someone who might have the ability to walk up the stairs or by her appearance was it an unreasonable request.

She said that she was "very open" to "any" suggestion or workaround to getting her on the flight, yet said that you should never ask someone in a wheelchair if they can walk for a distance.

Mostly she spoke about how upset she was and how nobody would help her. She was with a gang of friends, they all went on the first flight and waited for her (she went in the second flight for free, they wouldn't have). Regardless I'm not sure how well that looks for the staff. Possibly allowing someone to stay with her and giving them both a free flight was an answer.

She suggested that she spoke to operators in the UK that said the flight should not have left without her, that they have a contingency plan for such situations for every flight.

It sounded like a difficult situation for her, yet she also sounded sheltered and didn't really seem to grasp the significance of her own actions, like being later for a flight to the UK than say I've even been. She spoke about not getting tea or coffee at the airport like as if it was a significant act that demonstrated how seriously she took the flight, but to me it sounded a little bit off. She could certainly have done more IMO. I've seen people walk onto planes before that were helped to the stairs.

I don't know if it's reasonable to ask someone to do that, but I've seen people do it many times, so before yesterday I thought it was a reasonable question to ask. I don't know how it was asked though.

However following her line of argument, the request for assistance should follow automatically with a change of flight, but she knew it didn't, just thinks it should (I agree with her) she never told the ground staff until late enough into the process, (yet she should have been obvious in the boarding area). IMO she definitely expected the flight to be delayed to board her as she offered that as a reasonable policy at other airports.

It was sad because it sounded like she was with a group of able-bodied friends all of whom made the flight. However it sounded a little entitled at the same time with some poor planning on her part that she didn't really seem to recognize. It could have been smoother, she knew she hadn't notified the staff, but expected everything to fall into place.

Overall she was a very capable communicator and sounded fairly intelligent.

Graces7

Stoner wrote: »

She said it was untrue and then went on an developed it out and it ended up sounding more accurate than her initial position, she said she knew they boarded people in wheelchairs last so she waited until the end, but they were not in the airport particularly early. She was with a big gang of students.

She said she'd originally booked on a different flight with a request for assistance, but changed flights and didn't select the option on the revised flight.

I don't know, I kept wondering about how she appeared. By that, if by looking at her did she look like someone who might have the ability to walk up the stairs or by her appearance was it an unreasonable request.

She said that she was "very open" to "any" suggestion or workaround to getting her on the flight, yet said that you should never ask someone in a wheelchair if they can walk for a distance.

Mostly she spoke about how upset she was and how nobody would help her. She was with a gang of friends, they all went on the first flight and waited for her (she went in the second flight for free, they wouldn't have). Regardless I'm not sure how well that looks for the staff. Possibly allowing someone to stay with her and giving them both a free flight was an answer.

She suggested that she spoke to operators in the UK that said the flight should not have left without her, that they have a contingency plan for such situations for every flight.

It sounded like a difficult situation for her, yet she also sounded sheltered and didn't really seem to grasp the significance of her own actions, like being later for a flight to the UK than say I've even been. She spoke about not getting tea or coffee at the airport like as if it was a significant act that demonstrated how seriously she took the flight, but to me it sounded a little bit off. She could certainly have done more IMO. I've seen people walk onto planes before that were helped to the stairs.

I don't know if it's reasonable to ask someone to do that, but I've seen people do it many times, so before yesterday I thought it was a reasonable question to ask. I don't know how it was asked though.

However following her line of argument, the request for assistance should follow automatically with a change of flight, but she knew it didn't, just thinks it should (I agree with her) she never told the ground staff until late enough into the process, (yet she should have been obvious in the boarding area). IMO she definitely expected the flight to be delayed to board her as she offered that as a reasonable policy at other airports.

It was sad because it sounded like she was with a group of able-bodied friends all of whom made the flight. However it sounded a little entitled at the same time with some poor planning on her part that she didn't really seem to recognize. It could have been smoother, she knew she hadn't notified the staff, but expected everything to fall into place.

Overall she was a very capable communicator and sounded fairly intelligent.

That is ...rubbish.... Many of us who have varying disability can do some walking. And are eager to be as active and helpful as we can be. And to be also as helpful and considerate as we can be. Planning is everything.

If I had to fly anywhere I would again book a wheelchair; am nearing the time now when I need more help. But never as a right. And never any discourtesy

NinjaTruncs

Another reason behind the question of if she could walk up the stairs is that there are a lot of people who get wheelchairs in the airport simply as the distance to travel is so far to walk for them, so I would suspect that when they ask that question quite a lot of people say yes they can climb the steps. In my opinion she misinterpreted the meaning of the question instead.

But to be fair to her someone earlier in this thread said there's photos of her standing on Facebook, it's reported she's only in the wheelchair 5 months so these photos could be from then, however I didn't see anywhere that states she is wheelchair bound so it's possible that she still has some mobility.

The way the facts are being presented is really unclear and can see why so many people are questioning her.

[Deleted User]

I think her reaching for the "I'm going to sue" line, as well as the fact that she has her own charity and so might benefit from publicity, doesn't help her.

andekwarhola

newacc2015 wrote: »

She seems like a right wagon giving out that Ryanair didn't hold the plane for her “I definitely feel like they valued their schedule more than my custom". I doubt the few thousand other passengers who will use that plane later than day would be happy to that their flight was delayed as you don't bother to book wheelchair assistance. Why does she needs trump the several hundred passengers on that plane?

Presumably the plane is also in some kind of slot to take off too, with other planes waiting.

Davidth88

I heard her on the radio, and when the presenter was introducing it I was thinking wow that's really bad.

However when she was interviewed it became clear she booked a flight for one day and requested assistance , however then changed to another date but didn't request assistance on the new booking ( it was a new booking ). She became flustered and tried to bluster when she was pushed on that point .

She was then put on the next flight

She came across really badly TBH and by the end of the interview I had no sympathy for her at all

MarkY91

We flew with our mother who had a wheelchair. She can indeed walk but not upstairs. Ryanair were nothing short of amazing in terms of service. We didn't inform them that she needed to be assisted up to the plane yet they got it sorted albeit the plane was maybe delayed by a minute or two in result.

Parchment

My mom travelled on Ryanair with my grandparents , my nana can walk but is quite elderly so a wheelchair is a great help at the airport. They booked ahead for wheelchair assistance to board/disembark and it was seamless, my mom couldn't fault Ryanair - she said they were so lovely to my grandparents and it was all stress free from start to finish.

This seems to be the experience of others here in the thread. Seems like the lady in question is in the wrong.

MarkY91

Parchment wrote: »

My mom travelled on Ryanair with my grandparents , my nana can walk but is quite elderly so a wheelchair is a great help at the airport. They booked ahead for wheelchair assistance to board/disembark and it was seamless, my mom couldn't fault Ryanair - she said they were so lovely to my grandparents and it was all stress free from start to finish.

This seems to be the experience of others here in the thread. Seems like the lady in question is in the wrong.

Like others said, she's using the wheelchair card for her charity to get publicity.

The only bad experience of the whole wheelchair side of things getting on the plane going out and going home was the absolute c**t of a woman at Rome airport baggage check in. But she has nothing to do with Ryanair and that's basically how Roman people are in general anyway lol.

10/10 from me to Ryanair on the wheelchair assistance of my mother the other week.

mzungu

Davidth88 wrote: »

I heard her on the radio, and when the presenter was introducing it I was thinking wow that's really bad.

However when she was interviewed it became clear she booked a flight for one day and requested assistance , however then changed to another date but didn't request assistance on the new booking ( it was a new booking ). She became flustered and tried to bluster when she was pushed on that point .

She was then put on the next flight

She came across really badly TBH and by the end of the interview I had no sympathy for her at all

If this definitely the case then she was in the wrong. She believed the wheelchair services were automatically transferred over. It is an easy mistake to make, she is probably not the first to do it.

I doubt she will get far in trying to sue.

Stoner

mzungu wrote:

If this definitely the case then she was in the wrong. An easy mistake to make, she is probably not the first to do it. I doubt she will get far in trying to sue.

She said that was the case on the radio.

Graces7

Adding that in my case the sheer courtesy and care were all the more exemplary as the flight had been considerable delayed as the staff had no idea how to put my cat in a flight module through customs. Never a word said.

meeeeh

This could be one of the frustrating things that happen where both sides could deal with things better. A bit annoying and upsetting but eventually resolved.

However she made it about panic attacks and suing and you just think to yourself what a self serving diva.

[Deleted User]

Graces7 wrote: »

Adding that in my case the sheer courtesy and care were all the more exemplary as the flight had been considerable delayed as the staff had no idea how to put my cat in a flight module through customs. Never a word said.

So they could delay a flight to get a cat on?

newacc2015

Davidth88 wrote: »

She was then put on the next flight

Which Ryanair more than likely didn't have to do. They offered immediately to put her on the next flight, which is amazing considering they are supposed to need several hours notice for wheelchair users. Which shows they want above and beyond to correct her mistake

Dublin to London is the second busiest international flight route in the world. So it is not as she was stranded in the airport until the following day.

PrettyBoy

Just had a look at her post on Facebook and make no mistake about it - this girl is an absolute weapon. She's comes across as a spoilt, aggressive little wagon and she's calling anyone that disagrees with her side of the story ableist and giving them actual written warnings not to post on her (public) status again.

Complete and utter idiot.

Richard Hillman

It's people like her that make live awkward for normal people with disabilities to ask for help.

Dublin airport and Ryanair deal with many disabled people on a daily basis. They are well versed in the procedures. Young ladies like her have some sort of chip on her shoulder (possibly due to her psychosis) that think when the Airport staff see her they think "OMG it's one of those disable people things". You're not special love.

Thoie

Whatever about her particular case, it does highlight that disabled people need to give a lot more consideration to traveling than able bodied people. In an ideal world they shouldn't have to book things in advance, and should be able to rock up to places the same as everyone else, and not have any difficulties.

In the real world unfortunately, everything has to be carefully planned, from booking a suitable taxi hours, or sometimes days, in advance, figuring out if the bus you're planning to get will be able to take you, turning up at the shopping centre to discover that all the wheelchair spaces are full, and now you're going to miss your hair appointment.

Maybe this particular woman is an attention-seeker, but why not try focusing on things you can do to make life easier for people with less physical ability? Stop parking in wheel chair spaces "because I'm just dashing in for milk". Stop parking with two wheels up on the footpath so that people in wheelchairs can't get by. Shift over to the inside seat on the bus so the person with crutches can sit by the aisle. Fold up your buggy so a wheelchair user can get on. Offer to carry the bag of an older person dawdling through the airport. Remove obstructions from footpaths to help those who may not be able to see them, or navigate easily around them.

[Deleted User]

Thoie wrote: »

Whatever about her particular case, it does highlight that disabled people need to give a lot more consideration to traveling than able bodied people. In an ideal world they shouldn't have to book things in advance, and should be able to rock up to places the same as everyone else, and not have any difficulties.

In the real world unfortunately, everything has to be carefully planned, from booking a suitable taxi hours, or sometimes days, in advance, figuring out if the bus you're planning to get will be able to take you, turning up at the shopping centre to discover that all the wheelchair spaces are full, and now you're going to miss your hair appointment.

Maybe this particular woman is an attention-seeker, but why not try focusing on things you can do to make life easier for people with less physical ability? Stop parking in wheel chair spaces "because I'm just dashing in for milk". Stop parking with two wheels up on the footpath so that people in wheelchairs can't get by. Shift over to the inside seat on the bus so the person with crutches can sit by the aisle. Fold up your buggy so a wheelchair user can get on. Offer to carry the bag of an older person dawdling through the airport. Remove obstructions from footpaths to help those who may not be able to see them, or navigate easily around them.

There's nothing in there to disagree with of course, but very little of it applies to this person's behaviour or the actual situation to be honest