Ryanair upsets enough people to start a riot. CC by Arpingstone/Wikimedia Commons
Ryanair is an Irish airline that ends up in international media relatively regularly. Once again, the airline is in the headlines. One flight got delayed by more than three hours late last week when more than 100 students simply refused to comply with staff directions. In Spain, Ryanair is facing judges that are ruling their fees illegal.
Riot on Ryanair
The staff on a flight from the Canary Islands to Belgium on Ryanair ended up kicking off more than 100 passengers. One flight crew person said “mutiny” was the cause. It started because students were asked to pay an overweight baggage fee. The students reacted by becoming “disruptive and refused to comply with crew directions,” says CNN. Police were eventually called, and more than 100 of the 166 passengers on the flight had to be offloaded and told they could not travel on that flight.
Ryanair policy on baggage
Bags of any dimension can be checked on Ryanair as long as they weigh 22 pounds or less. Anything outside those limits that passengers try to carry on must be put in the cargo hold — for an additional fee. Baggage carriers who do not pay that additional fee have to leave their baggage on the tarmac and must retrieve it later. The students felt that being asked to pay the fee while their luggage was essentially held captive by Ryanair staff was simply not acceptable.
The Ryanair fee problem
Ryanair was the airline that first suggested fees such as pay-as-you-go lavatory use. Recently, in Spain, a judge ruled that Ryanair’s fee for arriving at the gate without a preprinted boarding pass was illegal and could not be charged. The ruling is being called “bizarre” by Ryanair though, and the company plans to challenge the ruling. U.S. airlines are changing fees to be less all inclusive and more a la carte. Ryanair does not operate in the U.S.
