Mr Camel
I have never flown on your airline. Nor will I ever, if I can possibly avoid it. The reason is this:
You may be obsessive about your safety culture, but you did not give a damn about the health of a 92-year-old friend of mine when she flew with you from “Strasbourg” to Stansted three-and-a-half years ago.
You may remember that you were arguing about wheelchairs for the disabled at the time.
My friend, Betty, had travelled unaccompanied to Strasbourg for a 60th wedding celebration. She had requested a wheelchair to and from the aeroplane, for which she was quite happy to pay. On the way out she was given one. On the way back she was not, but instead was abandoned by Ryanair on the tarmac at Stansted underneath the aeroplane. She was rescued by the ground staff of another airline. It took her an hour to get to the arrivals hall.
She wrote a lucid letter to Ryanair to complain – she had been a distinguished English teacher in her professional career. She showed me the letter. I explained to her that Ryanair’s customer service department is a wastepaper basket. She did not believe me. Shortly afterwards she suffered a stroke and was following Ryanair’s wheelchair court case with interest from her hospital bed when she succumbed to another stroke and died.
Sadly, Betty died before the result of the wheelchair case was known. She never did receive an apology.
I am not blaming Ryanair for Betty’s demise, but whenever I see or hear Ryanair principals mouthing off, as they do, I am reminded of Ryanair’s treatment of my friend.
Stoic