Passenger accuses Ryanair of forcing them to sit next to vomit due to lack of cleaning crew in London.
A passenger aboard a recent Ryanair flight out of London Gatwick Airport (LGW) is calling foul against the airline, claiming the flight crew forced him to sit next to vomit. BBC News reports Noel O’Hare, 24, was forced to deal with the mess while aboard Ryanair Flight 113 from LGW to Dublin Airport (DUB) on Sunday, August 16.
According to O’Hare’s account of the incident, posted to Facebook, he found an uncleaned pile of vomit next to his seat when he boarded. A picture posted via Twitter shows a heap of papers on top of the supposed vomit was, including paper towels, wrappers and air sickness bags. When O’Hare asked a crewmember if it could be cleaned, he claims they would not comply because there was no cleaning service available at LGW for the low-cost carrier.
@Ryanair boarded flight FR113, looking forward to next 1.5hrs looking at vomit, was told will NOT be cleaned #filth pic.twitter.com/W4FItJlVPs
— Noel (@noelohare) August 16, 2015
“Me and my friends were disgusted really,” O’Hare told BBC. “There was a smell of [the vomit].”
O’Hare claims that the airline has only posted an apology on Facebook and has made no further effort to reach out. Despite the episode, O’Hare told BBC that he would be willing to fly aboard Ryanair again, assuming the airline better addressed the situation in the future.
In a statement to BBC, the airline apologized for the situation and justified their handling of the incident:
“We sincerely regret this incident which was caused by a shortage of cleaners at Gatwick Airport, which would have delayed the return flight by more than one hour,” the airline told BBC News. “The cabin crew blocked off the row of seats in order to minimize any delay to the return flight, and we apologize for any inconvenience caused.”
[Photo: Noel O’Hare, Twitter]
drvannostren
August 19, 2015 at 2:50 pm
I normally stick up for the airlines in the face of ridiculous complaints and sob stories, but this is BS. They have how many flights a day to LGW and can’t get ad-hoc cleaning done? Come on Ryanair.
STBCypriot
August 19, 2015 at 4:30 pm
It’s RyanAir, where everything costs extra. You have to pay extra to have vomit cleaned from your seating area.
HomerJay
August 19, 2015 at 6:21 pm
Well, he DID fly Ryanair, and you get what you pay for.
payam81
August 19, 2015 at 9:33 pm
I agree with everyone, there has been so many stories about Ryanair over the years that serve as buyer beware, there really isn’t any low this airline couldn’t or wouldn’t sink to.
razorbite
August 20, 2015 at 2:28 am
Should have at least opened a window to let the smell out.
mvoight
August 20, 2015 at 7:33 am
I am surprised they didn’t charge extra for the vomit
SimonB77
August 20, 2015 at 1:10 pm
This is a smelly health risk and therefore grossly unacceptable. No one should have to endure this type of treatment. Raynair or not. They should be called Vomitair from now on.
brumbrum
August 21, 2015 at 5:13 am
covered by papers, row blocked, so no “sitting next to it”. Another passenger wanting to be famous for hating ryanair…tiring.
ChrL
January 9, 2016 at 12:01 am
Why not choose a different seat? Or do ryanair have allocated seats now?