Todays Irish Times
Ryanair is sued by 'free travel' winner. .By Mary Carolan
. . . . A woman who was told she would have free flights for life when she became Ryanair's millionth passenger in 1988 was told by the airline's managing director, Mr Michael O'Leary, nine years later: "Who do you think you are, ringing up demanding flights?" the High Court heard yesterday.
Ms Jane O'Keeffe (35), married with two children, told Mr Justice Kelly that Mr O'Leary was very aggressive, bullying and hostile to her when she got through to him unannounced in October 1997. She said the conversation was in raised voices and he told her not to phone Ryanair any more.
Mr O'Leary had said a flight she had requested was not available and she could not travel. She told Mr O'Leary she thought she was being very badly treated by Ryanair and that it was trying to put the onus on her of trying to prove the legitimacy of her prize when it should have done the paperwork.
Mr O'Leary told her it was her problem and it was up to her to prove the legitimacy of the prize.
Ms O'Keeffe, who was six months pregnant and was hoping to get a flight with her husband to Scotland for the October bank holiday weekend at the time, is suing Ryanair Holdings for damages, negligence, misrepresention and loss of expectation.
In its defence, Ryanair claims there was no enforceable contract in law and that what Ms O'Keeffe received was simply a gift bestowed on her by the company.
During yesterday's hearing, a video was shown in court of a champagne reception and a band playing at Dublin Airport to mark Ms O'Keeffe - who was 21 at the time and unmarried - being declared Ryanair's one millionth passenger in 1988.
Ms O'Keeffe, of Mount Eagle View, Leopardstown Heights, Dublin, was a marketing executive in London at the time.
The video showed her being carried aloft by then Ryanair chief executive Mr P.J. McGoldrick and being interviewed about how she felt about getting free flights.
An interviewer asked Mr McGoldrick if he had calculated how much Ms O'Keeffe would cost the airline over the next 40-50 years and he had replied: "I haven't calculated that. We don't nitpick on a gift like that."
At the start of the hearing yesterday, Mr Martin Hayden SC, for Ryanair, applied unsuccessfully to Mr Justice Kelly for leave to amend its defence to include a plea that the system under which the prize was awarded was an unlicensed lottery under the Gaming and Lotteries Act.
Mr Justice Kelly said the plea being advanced had traditionally never been looked upon in a very meritorious light because it was not very meritorious. Nor was it attractive because it was an assertion by Ryanair that it was itself guilty of a gaming activity which was prohibited by law and therefore the airline was itself involved in unlawful activity.
Ryanair seemed to rely on that unlawful activity with a view to denying Ms O'Keeffe an entitlement to recover damages.
In evidence, Ms O'Keeffe told Mr Mark de Blacam SC that when she and her sister were returning to London after attending a funeral in October 1988, there was a film crew present. She was told she could be Ryanair's one millionth passenger and asked if she would mind any publicity. She replied she would not. She got a badge, as did everyone, which said "One-in-a-Million", with the Ryanair logo.
At the duty free area, a Ryanair worker told her and her sister to go to an area where they were going to announce the winner. Mr McGoldrick said the winner was Jane O'Keeffe and that she had won unlimited travel for herself and a companion on any Ryanair flight for the rest of her life.
Some weeks later she was sent a written contract. At the time she was not married and did not want to name a travelling companion. She phoned a Ryanair manager who was very understanding. She left the contract with that person and never received another one. She used free Ryanair flights a number of times. She had moved back to Ireland in 1989.
In October 1997, she phoned Ryanair to book a return flight to Scotland.
The person she rang took her reservation and said she would fax the details. After a number of further calls to Ryanair, she was told there were no seats left on the flights she had booked and no booking had been made for her. On the day before she was due to travel, she spoke to a marketing executive who asked her if she had anything in writing. She told him she did not but had a video and cuttings.
The executive said that because she had nothing in writing, she was going to be limited to 12 flights a year and that Ryanair would not be liable to issue her with unlimited flights. This was a "bolt out of the blue". She made several calls to Ryanair staff and then got on to Mr O'Leary.
While negotations were going on between the sides in 1998, she had one flight to Rimini. If there had been no dispute, she would have hoped to take flights to many cities. Ryanair had expanded since she won the prize.
Cross-examined by Mr Hayden, Ms O'Keeffe said her understanding was that, as she was the airline's one millionth passenger, she was to get free flights for life. That was what she was told.
Mr Hayden said that Ms O'Keeffe had flown four times with Ryanair in 1993, once in 1994, once in 1995, once in 1996 and twice in 1997.
He told the judge he was outlining the number of flights because Ms O'Keeffe was claiming a monetary sum from the airline as distinct from a number of flights into the future.
The case continues today.
Yesterday afternoon, while the High Court case was continuing, the Supreme Court refused an application by Mr Alistair Rutherdale, for Ryanair, to put a stay on Mr Justice Kelly's decision not to permit Ryanair amend its pleadings in order to raise a new issue.
The Chief Justice, Mr Justice Keane, asked if counsel was seriously proposing that the Supreme Court should hear an appeal from a ruling by a High Court judge in a case at hearing.
The court had always made it clear it would not entertain for one moment such an application, the Chief Justice said.