A disabled passenger says she was told to get out of her wheelchair and walk up stairs to board her Ryanair flight.
Trinity student Niamh Herbert was trying to fly from Dublin to London on Friday for London Fashion Week.
Ryanair says she only arrived at the boarding gate 13 minutes before her flight and that hadn't booked any wheelchair services.
The statement goes on to say 'while we regret any inconvenience, every effort was made to accomodate this customer onto their flight and they were then transferred to the next available flight'.
But Niamh says she was treated terribly:
Ryanair has issued a statement to Today FM in relation to Niamh Herbert's experience:
"While we regret any inconvenience, this customer arrived at the boarding gate 13 minutes before the flight was due to depart and had not booked any wheelchair assistance, which is provided at Dublin Airport by OCS. A name change was made online at 2.39am (16 Feb), not by phone, and no wheelchair assistance (which is provided at Dublin Airport by OCS) was booked.
Our crew provided full assistance and as a gesture of goodwill, transferred this customer on to the next available flight, free of charge, and the customer flew to London Stansted. Thousands of passengers of reduced mobility travel with Ryanair on a weekly basis without issue and any customers who require wheelchair assistance are asked to book it in advance.
The only reason this customer did not board their original flight was because they arrived at the gate late and had not booked wheelchair assistance. Had they arrived at the gate on time and booked assistance, they would have travelled without issue, as they did when returning from London Stansted."
