Hello everyone,

I'd like your advice on disputing with Ryanair about the ridiculous experience. Many thanks in advance!

I missed my Ryanair flight and what I have gone through is stated as below.

I arrived at Stansted Airport at about 4.45 am and my flight will depart at 6.50 am. I printed my boarding pass and weighted my luggage at the desk. Since the luggage was a little bit overweight I decided to rearrange it and I took some time to finish that. After I went back to the desk at Zone E I got the stickers for the suitcases and was asked to move them to Zone F because all the desks of Zone E were about to close. After I moved them to Zone F, I put my suitcase on the belt and asked a member of staff to help me move the belt to drop my bag.

However, the gentlemen scanned my boarding pass and told me, "It's too early to drop your bag." I told him it's about one hour to departure so it couldn't be too early and I've checked at Zone E but he kept telling me "Listen to me, it says too early. (Quote exactly from him)" He scanned it again and showed me the result on the screen which did say something like it's too early to drop. So I believed him and asked, will it be about half an hour before the departure that I can drop my bag and he said YES. Then I asked him can I wait inside the zone until I can drop my bag and he asked me to stay at the edge of the zone not to block other passengers.

The thing is, I used Ryanair for several times but only for short trips so I have never used checked luggage service. At that moment I was wondering maybe it's Ryanair's temporary rule or some newly adjusted policy so that I couldn't drop my luggage and I DO BELIEVE that member of staff so I chose to wait. Just imagine, a statement which was printed in advance VS an order which was given on spot right now, I definitely chose to believe the latter one!

I wait there for about 20-25 minutes and finally I went to ask another member of staff stating the situation. She scanned my boarding pass again and it still said "too early to drop". After I explained she said maybe because I've already got my stickers the system couldn't recognize the barcode on my boarding pass. She said that's fine and move the belt so I finally dropped my bags at around 6.15 am. Unfortunately, that was peak time and the security check took quite a long time and when I finished the security check, the gate has already closed.

What made me upset was, the gentlemen not only gave me the WRONG information (bag dropping half an hour before departure) but he also wouldn't listen to my explanation. I'm not sure if there is some problem with the system since it did say "too early to drop" but anyway he should have checked my flight time and considered other possible reasons but what he did was simply telling me "LISTEN TO ME" impatiently and rudely.

I've talked to the manager or the person in charge from Swissport and also a lady from Ryanair custom service. Both of them told me they would report this to their boss or someone else but so far I haven't received any follow-up feedback. I made a complaint online and it was refused with the reason "Please note that all our customers are advised to be at the boarding gate at least 30 minutes before the flight as the gate closes 30 minutes prior to the scheduled departure time. This requirement is stated on customers’ boarding passes and travel itinerary as well as in our Terms and Conditions, agreed to at the time of purchase."

But the problem is, I was REFUSED by a member of Ryanair staff to drop my luggage. So I made a complaint again but received a reply that "our position as set out in the letter remains unaltered" and they cannot be of further assistance with regards to this matter.

It cost me a lot not only for transferring a new ticket but also an extra night in a hotel and I really upset with their feedback. Really need your advice... Thank you all so much for spending time reading this!