New video ‘proves’ teacher in Ryanair ordeal ‘did nothing wrong’
New footage of a Ryanair passenger dropping to her knees and sobbing after being denied boarding on a plane to Vienna ‘proves she was right’.
Tsvetana Kalinina has been identified as the woman in the now viral video at Bulgaria’s Sofia Airport where she got in a heated argument with ground staff over her hand luggage, which they claimed was too big.
The 55-year-old begged to be allowed on the aircraft – all the while the rest of the passengers watched the ordeal from inside the bus heading to lead them to the tarmac.
Still traumatised from what happened and missing her flight, the tearful kindergarten teacher said she felt as though she had been treated ‘like a criminal.’
She insists that she did nothing wrong, and claims a new video – showing her rucksack fitting into the airline’s baggage sizer – backs up her side of the story.
Recalling the ordeal, Tsvetana said she had a small handbag and her usual cabin bag – the very same one she had travelled with for years.
She told the Daily Mail: ‘I did not even think it could be a problem. When I started to check in, the Ryanair staff member suddenly told me I could not carry both.
‘My handbag was nearly empty – just my documents and a wallet. The man behind me offered to tuck the handbag into his own luggage so I could go through.
‘But even after that, the Ryanair employee insisted I had to pay a fee, and he had to check the size of my cabin luggage.
‘While I was trying to carefully place it in the sizer – because I had fragile items – the staff member just said, “That’s it. I’m cancelling your ticket”.
Tsvetana said she was not given enough time to respond before staff escalated the situation and banned her from the flight.
She pleaded with fellow passengers for support but it was no use while police officers were trying to escort her out of the gate.
The woman added: It was humiliating. Completely degrading. And I truly don’t believe I did anything wrong, I followed the rules.’
Her emotional state eventually got so ‘bad’ that she was eventually taken to a doctor at the airport
She recalled: ‘The stress and shock overwhelmed me. I don’t remember everything because I was in such a state. I broke down.’
Nikolay Stefanov, who captured a video of the incident, said Ryanair had initially offered the woman to pay extra for her baggage, but she refused as her bag fit in the compartment.
Yet, the airline insists that the bag exceeded the permitted size, and that when Tsvetana was asked to pay the extra fee, she refused and became ‘aggressive’ towards staff.
The ordeal comes as Michael O’Leary, the CEO of the Irish budget airliner,said the company may increase the bonus it pays to workers for identifying passengers with oversized bags.
Ryanair staff already get an incentive of £1.30 per bag for intercepting customers who bring oversized bags on to an aircraft.
A statement from the airline said earlier this month: ‘We are determined to eliminate the scourge of oversized bags which delay boarding and are clearly unfair on the over 99% of our passengers who comply with our baggage rule.’
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