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'No Frills' is no excuse

I was really glad to see that Ryanair are finally being taken to court over their blatant discrimination against people who require wheelchair assistance.

Some of my more recent readers probably won't realise, but I have a genetic condition which means that I have periods where I have severe joint problems and need to rely on crutches, or even a wheelchair. In fact, the whole reason I started writing a blog in the first place was to provide an outlet for some of the frustration I was feeling during one of these periods.

As a bit of background, for most of 2000 I was in a wheelchair. I could barely walk the length of myself unaided and couldn't walk much further even with the aid of crutches. Towards the end of 2000 and in early 2001 I'd managed to get myself back to the point where I could walk for short distances using crutches, and only needed to use the wheelchair for longer distances or when I was tired.

In April 2001 I made my first trip to London to see D, who had moved down the December before. To save money, I flew Ryanair and felt hugely positive that I'd managed to make the trip without needing to bring my wheelchair with me.

Well, almost.

On the way back to Stansted Airport my legs just gave out on me. I was incredibly tired and could barely stay upright on my crutches, especially with the added hindrence of my small weekend suitcase.

When I got to Stansted Airport after a massive cock-up in the trains, they wouldn't let me check in for my flight, and instead bumped me onto the next one and made me pay £30 for the privilege. I was a bit panicked because I was supposed to be going into the office in the afternoon and as a result of this delay knew I wouldn't make it. So I phoned my boss, apologised and explained and that was that.

When I was allowed to check in to the flight I'd been bumped to, I asked about wheelchair assistance, because by this point my legs were shaking so badly and I was in so much pain I was scared I was going to pass out right there at the check-in desk. I was directed to another area of the airport to go and request wheelchair assistance, which I managed to do.

I got to the wheelchair assistance desk and almost collapsed onto it in relief. I asked if I could have wheelchair assistance as I just couldn't make it as far as the plane. They said certainly and asked to see my boarding card, which I handed over.

It was about then that my day got much worse. They took a look at it and said, "oh, you're a Ryanair passenger, that will be £13.75". I nearly fell over in shock. Not only had I never been charged for wheelchair assistance in an airport before, but at no point in my dealings with Ryanair had it been mentioned that there would be a charge.

It took every ounce of willpower I had not to burst into tears right there and then. I think they knew something was wrong though, because they asked me if I was ok. I said I was fine, asked for my boarding card back and began to make my way back to the Ryanair Customer Service Desk to ask what the hell was going on. When I made it to the top of the queue, the girl I spoke to was quite rude and abrupt and dismissed me by handing me a scrap of paper with the customer complaints contact details on it.

Apoplectic with rage and in considerable pain, I made my way to the nearest chairs and phoned my mum, because I quite honestly didn't know what else to do. I wasn't sure that I had enough money in my account to cover the extra charge on top of the £30 I'd already paid to get on the flight because I'd been in London at the weekend, and I knew I wouldn't be able to make it to the plane.

So I sat there, in the middle of Stansted Airport, bawling my eyes out while on the phone to my mum, and listened while she boiled with rage too. I gave her the Ryanair details so that she could phone the complaints department, because my phone, a pay-as-you-go job, was running out of credit and the top-up system at Orange was unavailable, so I couldn't put any more on.

She phoned me back about ten minutes later, even angrier than she had been. She'd been utterly stonewalled by the Ryanair people, who seemed to think that an unexpected charge of £13.75 for wheelchair assistance was utterly reasonable, and not the blatant extortion and discrimination that it actually was.

In the end, my mum phoned British Airports Authority (BAA) who run and manage Stansted Airport (as well as Heathrow, Gatwick, Glasgow and Edinburgh) and spoke to their Duty Manager, who was absolutely brilliant, and agreed to provide wheelchair assistance for me, free of charge, and even came down personally, with his Deputy and found me in the check-in area and ushered me through security and into the departure lounge and bought me a Diet Coke.

When it came time to get to the plane, his staff turned up again to get me onto the flight and make sure I was ok.

I can't praise them highly enough for what they did for me. They really went above and beyond the call of duty.

Ryanair however, are the biggest bunch of scumbags going.

I wrote a letter of complaint to their Head Office when I got back to Scotland, and they completely ignored both it, and the follow up letter I sent afterwards. I then got caught up with other family issues and didn't have the energy to pursue it any further, which is why I'm very glad to see that someone's had the backbone and energy to stand up to them and take them to court.

To adopt a position where wheelchair assistance is deemed a "frill", such as providing a manky sandwich is laughable, and to back that up by bleating "but we provide assistance at 80 out of 86 airports" is just frankly NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

I find it extremely difficult to believe that the costs of providing wheelchair assistance at 6 more airports would make a substantial dent in their profits, and just amounts to a "not my problem, guv" attitude.

I am quite certain that should anyone in the Ryanair board, or management team, or a member of their family, for that matter, at any point require wheelchair assistance, they would expect that this assistance is provided free of cost and without extortion.

It's bad enough to have to be in the position where you have to admit that you're dependent on that sort of help, without being forced to pay the charge without warning, when you're extremely vulnerable.

Which doesn't even begin to cover the fact that it's AGAINST THE LAW.

I really hope this case doesn't get lost in legal wrangling, because there's a real need for people to know that there are consequences for this kind of behaviour. Discrimination happens, everyone realises this, and despite all best efforts it will probably continue to happen - even accidentally, but really, this isn't accidental, this is pre-meditated and wrong, and needs to stop.

... and beyond all that, I hope Ryanair get what's coming to them. Corporate embarrassment, bad PR, and a hefty fine, with an order to change their policy for the remaining six airports. A public apology would be nice too, but I'm not holding my breath.

Big Brothe-zzzzzz

Having managed to pretty successfully avoid just about everything about Big Brother this year, I have just been forced, by dint of politeness, and my houseguest's wish to watch it, watched an episode of the programme.

Is it me, or is Cameron the biggest closet case this side of Tom Cruise/Kevin Spacey?

Priorities

I have a sneaking suspicion that the local police will be paying far more attention to this crime than investigating the theft of two purses from a local restaurant.

That said, I suspect that there'll be a much more obvious Police presence in the area now as a result, which might upset a few of the more prolific pot smokers in the area, who'll have to keep their windows shut of an evening if they're partaking of a bit of puff.