Ryanair ordering Blind people off a plane

[nickmanl]

http://www.lsnmedia.co.uk/luton/page.html?pageID=26&storyID=36070

What safety issuses are there about having bling people on a plane? I didn't know about these.

[Yak97]

Why do newspapers (and other media) made incorrect claims just so they can put "sensational" items? So in this case they are claiming that Ryanair are based at Luton so they can include this story. The passengers actually were from the Norfolk & Norwich Blind Association, hardly local for Luton.

Whats more, if you look very closly at the front cover there is some sort of flight promotion from.......RYANAIR?? Hardly good publicity for an airline you are getting free tickets off?

[TheOddOne]

An a/c must be capable of being evacuated within 90 seconds. If there are a large number of people on board who cannot hear, or see, instructions being given, it may be beyond the resources on board to give them individual assistance. I don't know if it would have been possible for the blind people to be distributed about the cabin, with sighted pax volunteering to look after one each. I'd have volunteered to do that if I'd been there but then maybe you get into all sorts of litigation problems if you offer to help someone and it goes pear-shaped.

I''ve assisted boarding flights to Lourdes with large numbers of wheelchair pax. I think there were a number of ablebodied helpers charged with getting them off the plane- though I can't imagine how.

I flew back from Geneva a while back and there was one pax occupyig a whole row with a full leg cast stretched out. How's he going to get off in 90secs?

What do cabin crew do about stretcher cases? Shove the whole thing down the slide? I've seen advertised a sort of sled/wheelchair arrangement that works down steps and presumably a slide too, but I doubt you'd make that in 90secs, either...

The Odd One

[MarkD]

already running:
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=194006

[fly20]

once again, as with so many pax complaints, if you read the T&Cs of booking, which you are supposed to, you will see that there are limits to disabled people on board and thus if you are unhappy with those arrangements then you don't book.
also, ryanair only makes such a big deal about all this because it LOVES PUBLICITY - how many times has ryanair been in the press? how many of those stories have been positive? they know people will still fly with them cos the are CHEAP - so the more publicity the better - even if it is bad - it get's them "known"

[7006 fan]

It does raise an interesting question given the EU legislation on disabled access and all that. Is it just to refuse a disabled person to fly 'because there are enough of "your sort" on the plane already'. What the heck kind of attitude is that? Would the same be said mothers with toddlers, imagine the trouble and panic trying evacuate a plane load of hysterical Mums wanting to 'save my baby', do airlines restrict the number of parents with babies/toddlers, I think not.
Do not the regs require the airline/booking agent to ascertain whether there are any disabilities at the point of sale and therefore numbers would be apparant, surely?

[MarkD]

7006 fan

As the Starmer case vs BA showed, when equality legislation comes into play the airline better have had its policies in place before hand.

At the end of the day, the disabled pax may have had "carers" but those people are not trained in B738 evac and are themselves the responsibility of the airline.

FR would NOT have been able to say "they had people looking after them" if there were casualties post-evac and the matter was before the civil courts and a baying press was roaring "FR leaves blind pax to die" from the top of page 1.

here are regulations regarding the number of FAs on passenger airliners - can anyone say to what extent they are based on evac requirements, and what assumptions are made regarding pax disability?

[Getoutofmygalley]

do airlines restrict the number of parents with babies/toddlers, I think not.

Actually 7006 fan they do. Airlines in the UK use 'extension seatbelts' for infants under 2 years of age. An infant has the extention seatbelt passed around them (in the same way you do your seat belt when travelling as a pax) and this is attached to the parent/guardian via a loop which is inserted inside their seatbelt. Airlines are restriced by the number of infants that can be carried this way, and that restriction is 10% of the total number of passenger seats in the cabin.

For example, with easyJet, the A319 is a 156 seat configuration - 10% of 156 is 15.6 rounded up to 16 infants
The easyJet 733 & 737 are in a 148/149 seat configuration, 10% of which is 14.8 or 14.9 which is rounded up to 15 infants.

So therefore airlines are allowed to, and do restrict the amount of parents with babies/toddlers onboard :8

[jack_essex]

I completely agree with FLy20 on this one. When ever you book a flight with any airline you click the 'I accept the terms and conditions' button. This means that you are agreeing to fly with that airline under all their rules and regulations. I know there is the question of if their was a phone call made to Ryanair but I am not talking about that. I can't help but feel sorry for Ryanair and have to say I agree with them. Whenever there is some bad press about Ryanair, everyone loves to jump on the band wagon and start slagging them off.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This was taken from the Ryanair Terms and Conditions page:

Reduced mobility passengers

For safety reasons Ryanair can only carry a maximum of four disabled/reduced mobility passengers on any flight.

Notification of your condition and any request for assistance must be made at the time of booking through Ryanair Direct on the same day as your original booking. Failure to advise Ryanair of your requirements on the day of booking will result in the service being unavailable on your arrival to the airport and your being refused carriage.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If people are going to knock Ryanair and slag them off then simply don't fly with them!

Ryanair is possibly one of the cheapest airlines ever so no matter what people say they will always fly with them.