A couple of points to the self righteous anti ryanairs amongst us:-
Full fare carriers have always said that the provision of Wheelchair costs are included in their overall ticket prices; in other words they levy a little extra on each ticket just the same as Ryanairs levy. So why is it wrong for Ryanair to do this?
Tony Norman, nobody in the industry has anything but understanding for people who travel by air despite their having a serious and genuine disability. Unfortunately there are also a considerable number of people who have no disability but still insist on requesting Wheelchair assistance, presumably so that they don't have to walk too far, and they also think they will be whisked through Customs and Immigration faster. One of the biggest wastes of resource/manpower for the wheelchair companies is getting a request from the inbound aircraft for a number of wheelchairs to meet on arrival, only for the pax to decide that they'll walk!! This selfishness by able bodied people delays the resource/manpower getting to an aircraft that has someone who genuinely needs a wheelchair.
It is a haphazard guesstimate for the Wheelchair companies in trying to assess staffing and resource needs. Some days there will be plenty of passengers needing assistance, on others very few, but they won't know which type of day it is until the day of operation.
It is the easiest service in the business to adopt a superior 'they couldn't organise a party in a brewery' attitude to, but then most of those that adopt that attitude have NIL experience of it
FYI Tony.... Is it more likely your fiance works at STN? STD is the 3 letter code for Mayo Guerrero Apt in Venezuela. Picky I know but it does make a difference if the wrong 3 letter code is used.