Ryanair charges elderly couple £110 after they download wrong boarding cards
An elderly couple were “horrified” after being charged £110 by Ryanair for new boarding passes after they mistakenly checked into the wrong flight.
Ruth, 79, and Peter Jaffe, 80, had to pay the fee after they accidentally downloaded their return boarding passes instead of the outgoing ones for a flight to France.
They said they were upset by the charge, which has sparked a reaction on social media with other customers complaining about the budget airline’s fees.
Ryanair has defended its actions, saying the charges were in line with its policy.
On Friday, the Jaffes, from Ealing in west London, were flying from Stansted airport to Bergerac in France. Ruth Jaffe said she had found Ryanair’s website “very confusing” but thought she had printed the correct tickets.
Speaking on the BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme, she said the mistake became apparent when they arrived at the airport.
“I was then told that I had to go to the Ryanair desk to get a boarding card, and there they charged me £55 per person,” she said. “[I was] horrified.”
She added that her husband had struggled to walk across the airport, and she was left “flustered and upset” by the ordeal. The couple had no choice but to pay, but the incident prompted their daughter to take to social media on Sunday to describe their experience.
She posted on X, formerly Twitter, saying her mother had made “an honest mistake”. She added: “£110 for 2 pieces of paper which took 1 minute. Shame on you [Ryanair].” She said her parents had paid an extra fee so they could sit together, but this did not happen.
She tweeted: “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.”
Her post, which has been viewed more than 13m times, led people to discuss their frustration over similar experiences.
Consumer rights expert Martyn James told the BBC that it was “deeply unfair” to penalise people for an innocent mistake. He said that it was hard for people to resolve these sorts of issues with the airline, unless they considered taking them to a small complaints court.
“But none of this guarantees compensation and a lot of people don’t have the time or energy,” he said. “If more people complained about a lack of transparency, more airlines start to reconsider these fees.”
He said that for years airlines “have been stripping out things that used to be free, and charging for them”. He said the couple’s experience resonated with people because they are “angry they’ve been hit with these prices too – whether it’s luggage charges, paying to sit next to your family, or something else”.
Ryanair said in a statement: “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.”
Ryanair: the extra fees
Paying Ryanair £55 to check in at the airport might sound over-the-top, but in truth it is just one of a number of hefty fees imposed by the airline.
While Ryanair’s headline prices can seem low: £37 to fly one way from Gatwick to Alicante in late September, for example, the add-ons will soon bump up the cost.
Want to check in a bag? That’s an extra £36 each way if you book online, or up to £60 if you add this option at the airpot. Travelling with someone else and fancy sitting together? You’ll most likely pay £5 each or £20 return. This charge may rise to as much as £13 a person a leg on some journeys if you add this option after you made the reservation.
Adding an infant who is carried on your lap adds £25 or £50 return, and if you’ve got a pram to bring, that will be an extra £15 each way.
And, if you forget to check in, as this couple did, there is a £55 charge to do so at the airport. Check in, but lose your boarding card en-route, and you’ll have to hand over another £20. Add a bicycle to your booking the day before you depart and it’s a hefty extra £75 – each way. You have been warned. Miles Brignall