Ryanair is proudly one of the world’s most hated airlines. The company knows that passengers fly with the airline for the great fares and nonstop routes, and no matter how much passengers complain, they almost always book Ryanair again.
Well, here’s a funny twist on that — a traveler is ranting about Ryanair, and is receiving approximately zero sympathy online (thanks to PYOK for flagging this).
In this post:
Woman shows up late for Ryanair flight, gets kicked off
An influencer has taken to TikTok for a tear-filled 2.5-minute rant, which has been viewed well over a million times. She claims she will never fly Ryanair again, after she was kicked off a flight out of Porto, Portugal (OPO). According to her own version of events:
- She got to the airport so late that check-in had already closed, and as a result, she had to go through security with her bag that should have been checked
- She was recording as she got to the gate, and the “f******” gate agent saw her recording, so the gate agent demanded that she delete the video, and also remove it from her “recently deleted” folder, saying that if she didn’t comply, the police would be called
- The other gate agent then demanded she pay an extra $75 to gate check her bag, in line with Ryanaiur’s policy
- The woman claims the gate agent gave her “f****** attitude,” despite the influencer claiming she was “super friendly and smiling”
- She agreed to pay the $75 fee to take the bag onto the aircraft, and as she passed the gate agent to board, she called her a “b****”
- At that point she was removed from the flight — “f*** Ryanair, literally never flying with them again, rudest f****** people ever, and they won’t give me a refund, it’s crazy”
I have zero sympathy for this Ryanair passenger
It’s incredibly rare to see the public side with Ryanair over a traveler, but this is something that’s uniting almost everyone. What’s wild is that the above details are all based on the traveler’s version of events, and she doesn’t seem to see how her behavior was wrong:
- Take some accountability for showing up at the airport late
- Recording people in Europe is much more serious than in the United States, and even in the United States, recording airline employees can get you in trouble, and removed from a flight
- Once you start calling airline employees names, don’t expect that they’ll do much for you, especially after everything that happened
Is it possible that the Ryanair gate agent was unfriendly? Yeah, absolutely, Ryanair isn’t exactly a company known for great customer service. But goodness, be realistic about what you’re signing up for when you book a Ryanair flight. I’m sure Ryanair won’t miss her business (well, until Ryanair has the cheapest fare in a market, or is the only airline flying in a market, in which case I’m sure she’ll be back onboard one of their flights).
Bottom line
An American woman ranted about being kicked off a Ryanair flight, seemingly not seeing how her own behavior caused this. She showed up late to the airport, then filmed at the gate, and then called the gate agent a “b****.” I hope Ryanair can make a full financial recovery from not having this woman’s business.
What do you make of this Ryanair rant?
Not all Americans are this evil. Rules are rules. All she showed was she is a total b17ch and as we normal Americans aren't being hated enough because of the orange fill, it's just another count against us. Screw influencers to begin with.
Ben, you (and everyone else) seem to have missed the fact that she was filming HERSELF not anyone else. This seems to make the gate agent a true b****, not our hapless traveler!
I am sure she claims freedom of speech even though even in the US that is the government can’t infringe it - a private company can and in addition recording is not speech
I do not know if in Portugal or Europe you have the right to record people in public places and if so whether an airport boarding area is considered public or if there are posted regulations prohibiting it
She is...
I am sure she claims freedom of speech even though even in the US that is the government can’t infringe it - a private company can and in addition recording is not speech
I do not know if in Portugal or Europe you have the right to record people in public places and if so whether an airport boarding area is considered public or if there are posted regulations prohibiting it
She is lucky all they did was denied her boarding and that police was not called - she may well have been escorted off the airport and perhaps arrested - very likely she speaks no Portuguese and if she thinks the consulate was going to rush to her defense she is sadly mistaken
I get people like to document trips - it is annoying but if they want to experience life through their phone camera so be it (I have seen people taking selfies in front on famous paintings at museums - clearly actually looking at the are is not their goal) but you do need to follow rules and be respectful
I will say I was late once you a flight in Lisbon - not due to lack of planning but because the train from estoril stopped for a long unexpected time - so I can’t say she was at fault for being late but the airline is definitely not at fault
Nora Nobrains arrives late by her own admission and then it’s everyone else’s fault. Clearly she considers herself extremely important. I loathe Ryanair but their rules are crystal clear. No sympathy from me and all that horrifies me is that people are “influenced” by a highly opinionated and entitled nobody like her.
if ypu are in Rome…
Like pedos she's a waste of oxygen. Good riddance.
If she arrived so late for the flight, I think she was exceedingly lucky she was even allowed to board. On many mainline US airlines she would have been told to pound sand.
She would have been better off just doing whatever the check-in agent wanted, without being a drama queen.
Seems she's got a lot of learning ahead of her in being a ecent person.
In my view, she deserves no sympathy, but primarily for flying Ryanair in the first place.
Why are we giving these losers more publicity? As much as it highlights an issue, they tend to gain more followers even from negative publicity.
I imagine her rude behaviour was great for view numbers and the algorithm.
Crying all the way to the bank.
It's wild that this person who keeps saying how positive and friendly they are called a stranger a b*tch... Wild. America's brand ambassadors need some work lol
For all the crap Ryanair gets, they still are an incredibly reliable, safe airline. I used to avoid them until I realized that I'd been overpaying for legacy airlines to get steadily declining service. I've had no qualms about booking Ryanair ever since—even for flights that are 4+ hours.
You need to follow the rules, set expectations correctly and not be a dick to staff.
LOL ... Totally clueless ... She's running late (for whatever reason) and should be worried about making the flight yet the greedy self-centered absorbed fool has the time to bring out her phone and record ? Then she screws herself by dropping a profanity at the people who have the authority to can her & her EUR75 & luggage. I'm sure she thinks too highly of herself to learn a lesson .... Just another embarrassing American ....
Gate staff are not Ryanair staff. They are contract staff employed by airports.
"Influencer"? More like self centered, whiny victim, CUNT !!!
I've scheduled Ryannair this summer because it gives me a cheap, nonstop option for a city pair where land transport isn't an option. I know the rules (when checkin closes, no paper passes, etc.) and woulb never be a pain to staff. It's that simple. BTW, some words of advice: don't p!ss off people who can have you strip searched, handcuffed, or booted off a plane. In general, I find it much easier being a...
I've scheduled Ryannair this summer because it gives me a cheap, nonstop option for a city pair where land transport isn't an option. I know the rules (when checkin closes, no paper passes, etc.) and woulb never be a pain to staff. It's that simple. BTW, some words of advice: don't p!ss off people who can have you strip searched, handcuffed, or booted off a plane. In general, I find it much easier being a guy who avoids p!ssing off people in general (ex wives excluded).
Is this another Ohio-thing?
In Europe it’s generally prohibited to record employees without permission. Most airlines have it in their conditions of carriage . It’s also covered by GDPR. In France they also have specific privacy legislation. US Americans of course and an “ influenza “.
GDPR is irrelevant here as it doesn't apply to private individuals. As to other laws, these vary a lot across the EU, and usually it depends on the context. If someone walks into your video as you're filming a street, that's usually fine, but in most states you can't "target" someone as the object of your video without their permission.
I don’t understand people. There’s a lot of of stupid people out there. I worked for an airline at Berlin’s Tegel Airport.
There are rules and there are rules. As a supervisor I had a lot of leeway regarding accomodating passengers who didn’t comply. Regardless if it was check-in or boarding closure, excess baggage, or other regulations. Of course if I could accommodate a passenger I would. Why ruin someone’s day.
If a...
I don’t understand people. There’s a lot of of stupid people out there. I worked for an airline at Berlin’s Tegel Airport.
There are rules and there are rules. As a supervisor I had a lot of leeway regarding accomodating passengers who didn’t comply. Regardless if it was check-in or boarding closure, excess baggage, or other regulations. Of course if I could accommodate a passenger I would. Why ruin someone’s day.
If a passenger is an asshole, however, there was no chance in hell I would bend the rules by one iota. As soon as someone is verbally abusive, they will not board a flight. Some people have to have the last word and often it was a curse. At that point, the passenger is denied boarding, regardless if I had to delay the flight to offload their baggage. Conversely, there are a lot of friendly people who I would bend over backwards for.
How some people don’t understand this, is a mystery to me.
I question the 58k+ people that gave the video a heart.
Maybe they liked her suffering
Ok Ryanair are a bottom end airline but I always find you get at least what you pay for.
Also I have experienced some great staff with them - some genuinely nice - especially when you acknowledge that they have a hard job
100% right how they treated this influencer
Why are you writing about these ppl? This one is clearly an absolute simpleton.
Tho I wouldve sent the video to someone on whatsapp, I certainly woulldnt have deleted it because the gate agent has no power to demand that.
One cannot find a molecule of sympathy for the subject rude, crude and repulsive creature. One thing which she can be assured of is that nobody will ever accuse it of being a Lady …. ;-(
At least no one was jerkin’ it, like the Mosaic4 on jetBlue…
I often wonder if people are getting more entitled and rude because of social media or have they always existed in the same proportion and social media is just revealing them. Cos the number of people who don't see how bad their behaviors are is quite mind boggling.
Whilst I won’t negate the role of social media factoring into the entitled attitudes emanating from a sizeable portion of Gen Z (and to a slightly lesser extent from Gen Y), it really is the fault of their parenting. As a citizen of the first country on Earth to ban it for under 16s, believe me - we’ve said enough is enough down under.
However, it is their parents and grandparents that put them...
Whilst I won’t negate the role of social media factoring into the entitled attitudes emanating from a sizeable portion of Gen Z (and to a slightly lesser extent from Gen Y), it really is the fault of their parenting. As a citizen of the first country on Earth to ban it for under 16s, believe me - we’ve said enough is enough down under.
However, it is their parents and grandparents that put them onto a lofty pedestal that fully supports this entitled attitude. Then when they get out into the real world, they self-implode when they realize nobody gives a shit about them or their delusions.
This reminds me of when Chris Rock commented on the absurdity of telling kids that they can be anything. No - they can’t. Only if they’re very good at it, and the company is currently hiring!
How's that working? I was in Australia when the requirement to verify age for porn sites went into effect. I, for general curiosity, tried a site. It required age verification. i fired up a free VPN, and wasn't required to prove age. My guess is modern children are better versed in internet work-arounds than I.
People love to hate Ryanair but I need to fly from Tirana in Albania to Naples in Italy in September. Ryanair have a nonstop that departs at 10.00am. The legacies would have me departing around 6.00am and take between 5 and 7 hours with a connection. I also don’t have the risk of a missed connection through a congested hub.
The legacies have the same seat pitch as Ryanair.
I paid €19. The cheapest legacy...
People love to hate Ryanair but I need to fly from Tirana in Albania to Naples in Italy in September. Ryanair have a nonstop that departs at 10.00am. The legacies would have me departing around 6.00am and take between 5 and 7 hours with a connection. I also don’t have the risk of a missed connection through a congested hub.
The legacies have the same seat pitch as Ryanair.
I paid €19. The cheapest legacy fare was €159.
I paid €16 for a bundle that includes a full size carry-on and priority boarding. I can pay €16.50 for an exit row. I can preorder a sandwich, snack an a coffee for €12.50 if I wanted to.
They offer a perfectly good product fo great prices. They also have an incredible safety and maintenance record.
I also like that their CEO is a no bullshit guy and is in a public fight with Elon Musk.
Yeah when there are no other direct options you might as well take them.
They are certainly convenient on a lot of routes, and if you know what to expect, it's a perfectly fine experience. I flew them in January for the first time years - same scenario as you. It was ~1 hour flight and other than the standing/waiting to board, there was nothing to complain about.
The lateness and even the recording can be excused, but her rudeness crossed the line. Well done ground staff.
I think rudeness is a requirement for working at Portugese airports. Those employees certainly don't care. Thank goodness she didn't need to clear passport control in Lisbon in the morning.
Isn’t there CCTV at airports and everyone present at an airport is presumed to have agreed to being recorded anyway?
Recording on planes is a different thing and airlines have varying policies on this (there was a good article on OMAAT a few years ago).
Being recorded by public safety and security officials in a public space is not the same thing as being recorded by an individual on their individual, private device - false equivalence, Voian.
Laws of which jurisdiction are you specifically referring to? Care to quote relevant provisions?
GDPR Purpose Limitation Principle. You're welcome.
GDPR Purpose Limitation Principle applies to data controllers and processors. An individual taking a video at the airport isn’t one. You’re welcome.
The person has published the data and it looks like she is engaged with social media in a 'professional' capacity (that bit says more about society than it does about herself).
It's not up to her to decide that she's exempt from the obligations that natural persons have when handling personal data for commercial purposes.
Even if this were correct (spoiler alert: it is not), GDPR compliance is not something that is enforced by a Ryanair agent at the gate. This argument is completely absurd.
GDPR doesn't apply to private individuals.
Gosh. Everything worked out for her. Despite being late she was able to board and killed her chance by being a b****. The lack of self awareness is astonishing.