Ryanair passenger demands £257 after boarding gate disagreement: ‘I have not been treated like a human’
A man is planning to drag Ryanair through the courts after being ‘refused toboard’ onto a flight to Dublin.
Matthew Ramsden, from Newcastle-under-Lyme, has given the airline a deadline to get his £257.99 back – and there are a little more than 24 hours left before it ends.
The 21-year-old is alleging that he was bumped off his flight and put on another one.
He claims his request to be the first or last person onboard due to a pre-existing back injury was also ignored.
The consular consultant is now demanding the compensation for landing in the Irish capital more than three hours late.
Mr Ramsden had been due to depart from Manchester Airport on January 21 at 12.35pm, but instead he was booked onto a newer one, at 3.15pm.
He has filed a claim with the HM Courts and Tribunals Service based on the EU261 regulation entitling passengers to financial compensation from an airline if they arrive at a destination more than three hours late.
It states that because of a ‘disagreement with Swissport at boarding, I was refused boarding and had to get a supervisor to move me to the next flight at 3.15pm’.
‘Denied boarding, whether voluntary or not, makes me eligible for compensation,’ Mr Ramsden stressed.
The passenger later told StokeonTrentLive: ‘I have broken my back so I try to pre-board a plane wherever I can. They were incredibly indifferent about that.
‘I don’t really care about the money – it’s the customer service that’s really pushed me. I have not been treated like a human, which is I think common courtesy.
‘No communication, nobody knew what was going on, there’s no accountability. It has been a shambles from start to finish.’
But a Ryanair spokesperson said Mr Ramsden ‘voluntarily offloaded’ to the next available flight that afternoon due to an ‘altercation’ with another passenger at the boarding gate.
They added: ‘This passenger was not refused boarding on this flight from Manchester to Dublin.
‘They voluntarily offloaded to the next available flight that afternoon due to an altercation with another passenger at the boarding gate.
‘This passenger reached their final destination less than three hours after the original time of arrival and is not entitled to EU261 compensation.’
Metro.co.uk has contacted Swissport for a comment.
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