Ryanair refuses elderly lady with Colostomy bag

Joey the lips

The real proof of caring is will it prevent us flying ryanair.......

ViveLaVie

ViveLaVie wrote: »

Humiliating her is unacceptable, regardless of how difficult she was to deal with. The staff member acted unprofessionally.

Feeling humiliated and being purposely humiliated are two different things.

ViveLaVie

eth0 wrote: »

To make life easy for Ryanair and hard for everyone else. Some are just plain to catch people out, like that stamp that non-EU residents must get. No other airline does this but the amount of people that missed their flight over this and bought an overpriced replacement ticket must be unreal

Yeah and the boarding pass print out charge. I know someone who spilled a small amount of juice on her pass, it only covered the bottom edge and everything was perfectly legible. They made her print out a new one to the tune of around 60 euro!

Real Life wrote: »

I dont know how to feel about this because i dont know the whole story.
Like i said earlier i too have to bring ostomy bags with me, but ive only been with aer lingus and i had them thrown in my hand luggage, I dont know why you would need to bring them seperate.

It needs to be cleared up whether the problem was that she had these colostomy bags or was it just because she had them as seperate luggage.

Well I don't know your personal situation, but some people have colostomies because they suffer from severe intestinal diseases. It is very possible she would have needed to change the bag during the flight, and the article says once she put it in her carry on, it was separated from her. The implication is that she wasn't allowed to retrieve it once boarded.

Being elderly and sick, it is also possible she may have been unable physically to go through her things once boarded due to health reasons, and may not have wanted to ask someone else to go through her private things either.

I think she should have been allowed to carry it on in her hand. Aer Lingus are far nicer about accommodating people. I was allowed to board an Aer Lingus flight late before. That would never have happened with Ryanair.

true-or-false wrote: »

Feeling humiliated and being purposely humiliated are two different things.

Well, refusing to look at her letter and asking her to lift up her top counts as purposeful humiliation to me.

ViveLaVie

ViveLaVie wrote: »

The implication is that she wasn't allowed to retrieve it once boarded.

No, that's an interpretation of "separate" that you're making. It could have been that she had to leave it in the overhead compartment or it was taken by the cabin crew to look after.

Being elderly and sick, it is also possible she may have been unable physically to go through her things once boarded due to health reasons, and may not have wanted to ask someone else to go through her private things either.

When you get on a flight you accept that your luggage could be searched. In any case her daughter was with her.

I think she should have been allowed to carry it on in her hand. Aer Lingus are far nicer about accommodating people. I was allowed to board an Aer Lingus flight late before. That would never have happened with Ryanair.

Aer Lingus are also more expensive, which means they can afford to accommodate passengers such as yourself.

Well, refusing to look at her letter and asking her to lift up her top counts as purposeful humiliation to me.

We'll have to agree to disagree.

ViveLaVie

true-or-false wrote: »

No, that's an interpretation of "separate" that you're making. It could have been that she had to leave it in the overhead compartment or it was taken by the cabin crew to look after.

When you get on a flight you accept that your luggage could be searched. In any case her daughter was with her.

Aer Lingus are also more expensive, which means they can afford to accommodate passengers such as yourself.

We'll have to agree to disagree.

Hmm well that is my interpretation of the sentence that says she was separated from the colostomy bags. If she was allowed to have the bags on her once she was on the plane, then she would not be separated from them. It specifically says she was separated from them during the flight, which I take to mean the duration of the flight.

"with the colostomy bags in seperate hand luggage, from which she was separated during the flight."

I don't think I argued anywhere that someone couldn't have their bags searched. I am sure anyway that that is with reasonable cause and airport security do scan bags before boarding. I believe I said that maybe she didn't want to ask a perfect stranger to retrieve the bag from her luggage for privacy reasons and that perhaps this is why she wished to carry it directly onto the flight.

Ryanair makes 500 million euro profit but can't afford to accommodate passengers such as myself? And how exactly do they make a loss or incur additional charges by accommodating someone in a situation like this one? And I don't think cost should be justification for treating passengers poorly.

I feel it is appropriate to ask someone to expose their torso to prove they have a stoma in front of other passengers. Especially when they have medical documentation and that is accepted as evidence of same within the rules of the airline. I'd say that probably isn't allowed either under law.

eth0

ViveLaVie wrote: »

Yeah and the boarding pass print out charge. I know someone who spilled a small amount of juice on her pass, it only covered the bottom edge and everything was perfectly legible. They made her print out a new one to the tune of around 60 euro!

You can buy a perfectly good Samsung laser printer for that amount

Ryanair: The airline for regulation-loving prats

SocSocPol

eth0 wrote: »

You can buy a perfectly good Samsung laser printer for that amount

Ryanair: The airline for regulation-loving prats

Ryanair, 75 million people say thank you for affordable air travel.

MagicSean

harrison fraud wrote: »

Just when you thought Ryanair could'nt get any lower





http://www.thejournal.ie/ryanair-refuses-apologise-tohumiliated-woman-colostomy-bag-527936-Jul2012/

I've never thought Ryanair couldn't get any lower

eth0

SocSocPol wrote: »

Ryanair, 75 million people say thank you for affordable air travel.

At the expense of another 75 million who say fcuk you to them for catching them out on a technicality.

But I suppose because they didn't have the time or the bother to read at least 4 pages of font size 8 legalse gibberish its entirely their fault for not being up to speed on the latest set of rules and getting hit with a 30e fine or a 100e+ ticket replacement.

UDP

ViveLaVie wrote: »

After boarding. The crew member gave out to me and told me I was obstructing passengers and not allowed to remove items from my luggage once on the plane.

Thats a perfectly valid reason. Ryanair work on a quick turn around time so they haven't got time for people blocking other people slowing down the whole process. Once the fasten your seat belt light went off there was no problem accessing your bag.

ViveLaVie wrote: »

The article states the woman "was refused permission to bring a change of colostomy bag with her"

"Duff was eventually allowed to board the plane, which was flying to Dublin, with the colostomy bags in separate hand luggage, from which she was separated during the flight."

Hmm...

It seems she was initially refused and eventually, after much arguing, was allowed to bring them on board but was not allowed to access them after.

This isn't accommodating a sick person. She obviously needed it to change on the flight.

They asked her to lift up her top also which is disgraceful and a complete invasion of privacy. Why argue at all?

She says she was not allowed to bring on her colostomy bag but yet was in carry on luggage. She is distorting the facts. i have seen this time and time again when waiting to board. People just making a mountain out of a molehill and treating the ryanair or servisair like ****.

She was not allowed a separate bag for her colostomy bag and bitched about it making a scene. Then when she calmed down she was allowed bring it on as part of another bag as they had probably told her in the begining. She says she was separated from her colostomy bag during the flight but define separated. She really means it was in the overhead storage during the flight and probably was not straight over her head because she had delayed her own boarding meaning a lot of the storage was already taken.

ViveLaVie wrote: »

I can understand Ryanair only allowing one carry-on item. However, in a situation such as this, where it makes it easier to accommodate an ill person, I think that she should have been allowed to walk it on. Why allow it on in the luggage but not in her hand, when it is medical and she will be removing it from the luggage in a moment?

There are endless situations and there was nothing stopping this woman or her daughter from just putting the colostomy bags in the carry on luggage.

ViveLaVie wrote: »

Humiliating her is unacceptable, regardless of how difficult she was to deal with. The staff member acted unprofessionally.

I have also seen the likes of this where people "humiliate" themselves and then blame the staff as if they asked for it.

Considering the BS coming from the passenger in this instance I am very skeptical of any facts she provides.

I have seen no reason why the colostomy bags were not put in carry on luggage yet. Also Ryanair do no stop such things going onboard flights when they are part of the 1 carry on bag.

ViveLaVie

UDP wrote: »

Thats a perfectly valid reason. Ryanair work on a quick turn around time so they haven't got time for people blocking other people slowing down the whole process. Once the fasten your seat belt light went off there was no problem accessing your bag.

She says she was not allowed to bring on her colostomy bag but yet was in carry on luggage. She is distorting the facts. i have seen this time and time again when waiting to board. People just making a mountain out of a molehill and treating the ryanair or servisair like ****.

She was not allowed a separate bag for her colostomy bag and bitched about it making a scene. Then when she calmed down she was allowed bring it on as part of another bag as they had probably told her in the begining. She says she was separated from her colostomy bag during the flight but define separated. She really means it was in the overhead storage during the flight and probably was not straight over her head because she had delayed her own boarding meaning a lot of the storage was already taken.

There are endless situations and there was nothing stopping this woman or her daughter from just putting the colostomy bags in the carry on luggage.

I have also seen the likes of this where people "humiliate" themselves and then blame the staff as if they asked for it.

Considering the BS coming from the passenger in this instance I am very skeptical of any facts she provides.

I have seen no reason why the colostomy bags were not put in carry on luggage yet. Also Ryanair do no stop such things going onboard flights when they are part of the 1 carry on bag.

The crew member did not say I could retrieve my item after the seatbelt light went off. She said I was not allowed access to my bag once on the plane. What if somebody needs to have access before the seatbelt light goes off?

It seems like you are reading things into this that aren't there. Distorting the facts? The article clearly says that she attempted to show the letter, was ignored and asked to lift up her top to prove she needed the bag. This was before they agreed to let her take it on as carry on luggage. It says they eventually agreed to let her take it on as part of the carry on which implies the initial argument arose out of them refusing to let her take it on point blank.

She bitched about it and then she calmed down? Were you there? You are distorting the facts here. Unless you were present, then you have no idea whether she bitched or not. As they had probably told her? But you've no evidence that they did. The article says they asked for her to lift up her top beforehand, disputing her need for the bag. Hence it seems clear to me they told her no such thing until later.

Define separate. Well the free dictionary says that it means: To set or keep apart; disunite. From that, and the words 'during the flight' I take it that the woman was kept apart from her equipment for the duration of the flight. That is unacceptable, regardless of how much storage was gone.

How exactly do you know that she is spouting BS?

I have already said why I think she should not have had to put it in the carry on luggage. She was elderly and sick. She may have needed the equipment urgently. She may have thought she couldn't access it on the plane (which seems to have been the case). She may have thought she had to declare it if she was using it on the flight. She may have been unable to go through her luggage after.

Can you explain how the staff member asking her to lift up her top and expose her stoma is a humiliation that was brought on by the passenger herself?

Ryanair don't stop you bringing on medical equipment once it is stored in your carry-on...but what if you need to use it immediately? What if it doesn't fit in the carry-on but is a medical necessity? These are general examples of instances in which Ryanair would be completely in the wrong to insist the item had to be stored in the carry-on.

Chinasea

so according to the majority of moaners posters on this thread Ryanair will now need at their departure gates:

• Fully trained medics
• Fully trained medic advisors
• Lawyers
• Solicitors
• English language teachers especially for reading plain English
• Maths teacher to teach kindergarten level on how to count past 2 (1 bag + I bag = 2)
• IT teacher to teach how to print a boarding ticket
• Back up IT
• Counselling service for the poor bewildered treated abominably passenger flying
• Full on camera team to record the magnificent tales of mystery at the gates

• Jackanory

• Spare prams in case anyone left their's at the bus stop

meoklmrk91

I feel terribly sorry for this poor woman, it's not like she wanted to bring contraband on board; a disgraceful way to treat anyone in my opinion. How her family kept their cool I will never know because I know if someone treated my mother or granny like that I would loose my nut. Forget that if I saw anyone treating anyone with a disability like that then I would loose it.

Ryanair, a great bunch of lads :rolleyes:

MagicSean

Chinasea wrote: »

so according to the majority of moaners posters on this thread Ryanair will now need at their departure gates:

• Fully trained medics
• Fully trained medic advisors
• Lawyers
• Solicitors
• English language teachers especially for reading plain English
• Maths teacher to teach kindergarten level on how to count past 2 (1 bag + I bag = 2)
• IT teacher to teach how to print a boarding ticket
• Back up IT
• Counselling service for the poor bewildered treated abominably passenger flying
• Full on camera team to record the magnificent tales of mystery at the gates

• Jackanory

• Spare prams in case anyone left their's at the bus stop

I'd settle for polite staff with an ounce of common sense.

UDP

ViveLaVie wrote: »

The crew member did not say I could retrieve my item after the seatbelt light went off. She said I was not allowed access to my bag once on the plane. What if somebody needs to have access before the seatbelt light goes off?

I assume this must have been your first time flying. I think you mis-understood the cabin crew member as it doesn't make sense that she would say that. There are certain times when you cannot access the overhead storage and that is 10-15 mins during boarding/taxiing/takeoff and 10-15 mins during landing approach and taxiing. Ryanair is much quicker at turning off the fasten seat belt sign than the likes of Aerlingus (and most other airlines) who also would not allow access to overhead storage during those periods also.

ViveLaVie wrote: »

It seems like you are reading things into this that aren't there. Distorting the facts? The article clearly says that she attempted to show the letter, was ignored and asked to lift up her top to prove she needed the bag. This was before they agreed to let her take it on as carry on luggage. It says they eventually agreed to let her take it on as part of the carry on which implies the initial argument arose out of them refusing to let her take it on point blank.

The letter is irrelevant since the staff don't care what she is bringing on board as long as it is in the one piece carry on luggage. The only ones that might care about a letter are security. The account in the article which is obviously from the woman or her daughter does not make sense and clearly shows that the woman/daughter did not know what was going on. I'd love to know how she brought it over in the first place.

ViveLaVie wrote: »

She bitched about it and then she calmed down? Were you there? You are distorting the facts here. Unless you were present, then you have no idea whether she bitched or not. As they had probably told her? But you've no evidence that they did. The article says they asked for her to lift up her top beforehand, disputing her need for the bag. Hence it seems clear to me they told her no such thing until later.

I have seen it time and time again. The story does not add up and we are obviously hearing only one side of it. I have flown with ryanair (and aerlingus) hundreds of times and I see in the case of ryanair how people make mountains out of molehills as they feel under attack just for being asked to follow simple rules.

ViveLaVie wrote: »

Define separate. Well the free dictionary says that it means: To set or keep apart; disunite. From that, and the words 'during the flight' I take it that the woman was kept apart from her equipment for the duration of the flight. That is unacceptable, regardless of how much storage was gone.

She was not kept apart unless you consider the bag being in overhead storage being kept apart which this woman obviously does. She could have easily gotten her daughter to go get the colostomy bag stuff for her any time during the flight which the fasten seat belt sign was not on. Clearly shows that this woman or her daughter are bullsh'iters. They would have known how things work from the flight over.

ViveLaVie wrote: »

How exactly do you know that she is spouting BS?

Because the explanation is illogical and since she clearly doesn't understand how the process works.

ViveLaVie wrote: »

I have already said why I think she should not have had to put it in the carry on luggage. She was elderly and sick. She may have needed the equipment urgently. She may have thought she couldn't access it on the plane (which seems to have been the case). She may have thought she had to declare it if she was using it on the flight. She may have been unable to go through her luggage after.

So it was ignorance on her behalf. What you are forgetting is she was there with her daughter who could have helped her retrieve the colostomy bags. She was also on a return flight back to Ireland so she must have known she did not have to declare or do anything like that on the flight over so this does not stand.

ViveLaVie wrote: »

Can you explain how the staff member asking her to lift up her top and expose her stoma is a humiliation that was brought on by the passenger herself?

I don't believe for a second that she was asked to lift her top up.

What more than likely happened, which I have seen time and time again, is she approached the gate with two bags. One for the colostomy stuff and the other her regular carry on luggage. Ground staff tell her she is only allowed one bag. She says she needs the other bag for medical reasons and takes out the medical letter.

Ground staff doesn't care about the medical letter as it doesn't change anything and re-iterate the policy. Woman and daughter get agitated and begin to argue back resulting in accusations that the ground staff don't believe the woman needs the colostomy kit after which the old woman shows the colostomy bag in use to the ground staff. This still doesn't change anything.

Eventually the ground staff get it through to the women that they need to put the bags into hand luggage as they are allowed only one piece of hand luggage. They eventually comply and are allowed on the plane.

They find a seat and a place for the bag. There was probably no room directly over them for the bag so it went somewhere down the isle to where there was a space. This is a much more logical explanation of what happened.

ViveLaVie wrote: »

Ryanair don't stop you bringing on medical equipment once it is stored in your carry-on...but what if you need to use it immediately? What if it doesn't fit in the carry-on but is a medical necessity? These are general examples of instances in which Ryanair would be completely in the wrong to insist the item had to be stored in the carry-on.

If it does not fit into your one bag allowance then you must ring Ryanair beforehand so that they are aware of the situation and can be expectant of it since it will slow them down otherwise.

The rules are simple. Some people just like to be awkward and many Irish people are chancers and unable unwilling to follow simple rules.

I am unfollowing this thread so don't expect a reply back from me as ryanair haters love to hate ryanair.

westendgirlie

I'm still confused on Ryanairs policy Re medical equipment and I don't fancy holding on the phone for 30 mins for my answer. Maybe someone here could clarify.....

If you have medical equipment to carry, is that part of your 10kg allowance?

If not, and you have the Ryanair waiver, do you pay an extra charge for this?

homerjay2005

how ironic that the woman complains about being embarrassed yet then goes crying to the press about it.

Morlar

homerjay2005 wrote: »

how ironic that the woman complains about being embarrassed yet then goes crying to the press about it.

Maybe she realised the damage was done & this move on her part is to prevent other customers going through the same ? I think fair play to her.

kylith

Just for the people going on about the '1 bag only' rule, do you know how big a colostomy bag is? It's not like she was trying to get something the size of a suitcase on handbag on board; it's this big and completely flat. It would neither take up space nor impinge on her fellow passengers.

Chinasea

kylith wrote: »

Just for the people going on about the '1 bag only' rule, do you know how big a colostomy bag is? It's not like she was trying to get something the size of a suitcase on handbag on board; it's this big and completely flat. It would neither take up space nor impinge on her fellow passengers.

Urgently Sought:
Maths teachers urgently sought at Ryanair departure gates. Must have kindgergaten teaching levels experience, especially trained on simple maths such as:

1 + 1 = 2

that can be two doves, two sausages, two rashers and even 2 BAGS.

Pkiernan

The lesson I took from this is that if you have a colostomy bag, you should use it to spray your bodily fluids and solids over the face of a Bulgarian minimum wage jumped up bus conductor who has to pay for her own blue uniform.