My reading that article is that it appears that they went to the airport without tickets and tried to book there, rather than presenting late at the gate, and Ryanair refused to sell them tickets. The critical bit is that it gives the flight departure time, but not the time of the call from the hospital or the time the family arrived at the airport. The fact that they flew with a different carrier just over an hour later supports that view the extra hour gave them time to buy tickets. The mention of gate times in jounalistic bull**** - I suspect the real issue was check-in time had passed.