I was due to fly with Ryanair From London Stansted (STN) to Prestwick Glasgow (PIK) on Friday, 19 January 2007 Flight FR411 Depart STN at 11:55 and arrive PIK at 13:05 and returning from Prestwick Glasgow (PIK) to London Stansted (STN) on Sun, 21 January 07 Flight FR422 Depart PIK at 17:35 and arrive STN at 18:50 together with my husband, son and future daughter-in-law who are getting married in Glasgow in the very near future. My son had booked these tickets on November 23, 2006. I had telephoned Ryanair prior to this date confirming with them that I would be taking with me my portable electric scooter as I suffer from Multiple Sclerosis and would need this until I boarded the aircraft such confirmation I received.

We arrived at Stanstead with at least an hour to spare and duly went to the Check-in desk that was specified. Upon producing our valid photographic driving licenses I was informed that as I was born in the USA my BRITISH driving license was not good enough and I would not be allowed to board this internal flight without my passport which I had not brought with me because nowhere on their website does it state that if you are not UK born your driving license will not be acceptable and one would need to bring along a valid passport for an internal flight. There was no budging anybody on this as the young lady had called out another of Ryanair�s employees who was introduced as the Supervisor of the Day who confirmed that I would not be allowed on the flight without my passport. I didn't argue much at the time because I wasn't 100% sure that this information was not on their website but on checking and re-checking since I have found that it doesn't say this anywhere on their website.

I have lived in the U.K. for 45 years and am, in fact, a dual national, but neither the young girl on the Check-in desk nor the Supervisor of the Day were interested in anything I or any of my party had to say, and what's even worse they couldn't care less about my state of health or the fact that they were going to be leaving alone a disabled person in the airport for a number of hours. As far as they were concerned rules were rules and it wasn't their job and it was totally my fault but I would like to know how as nowhere is this stated. I have never ever before in my entire life been subject to such apathy as I encountered last Friday.

My only option now as I had to be in Glasgow the weekend of the 19th - 21st was that my son and husband went to the Easyjet desk who had absolutely no problem with my driving license being proof of who I am and selling me a ticket. So my son purchased yet another ticket for �223.98 return this time. My flight number was 237 leaving Stansted at 15:00 and arriving in Edinburgh at 16:20 on the 19th January 2007 and the return flight was Flight No. 216 leaving Glasgow Intl at 16:20 and arriving at Stansted at 17:40 on the 21st January 2007. In actual fact the return flight left early and arrived at Stansted at 17:15 and the flight from Prestwick left late and didn't arrive at Stansted until 19:20 leaving me there alone once again for 2 hours!

So I, a Multiple Sclerosis sufferer in a wheelchair, was left at Stansted alone whilst my husband, son and future daughter-in-law boarded the Ryanair flight to Glasgow with me going to Edinburgh where my son had to collect me from, adding insult to injury and incurring further costs in his having to hire a car in order to collect me and my wheelchair from there instead of his future in-laws just collecting us all from Prestwick which was the original plan.

Had Ryanair stated anywhere on their website that a passenger not born in the U.K. had to bring their passport as opposed to their driving license for an internal flight I would have course have done so but they didn�t state this anywhere and I am not psychic.

To say what was supposed to have been a very pleasant weekend was traumatic is putting it mildly. I want my son's credit card reimbursed, I also want him reimbursed for the price of the car hire as well as compensation for the hell they put me through that I am now, almost a week later, still confined to my bed as through their total ineptitude and lack of consideration and concern I have had a serious MS attack which I put down 100% to Ryanair and the stress they put me through.

I have sent this letter to every Ryanair address I could find - which was hard in itself and no wonder they have less complaints than any other low cost airline - you can't find out where to send a complaint to unless you really look plus they do not have a customer complaints department nor a phone number you can call. I attached with this letter that I eventually able to send to Ryan Air

1) A photocopy of the ticket my son had to purchase from Easyjet
2) My Ryanair confirmation email via my son
3) A photocopy of my driving license

To say I am angry is really putting it mildly.

Welcome to FlyerTalk Pattimyself !

I'm sorry to hear that it's related to such a sad experience, and I hope other travelers will heed your warning.

Your sad tale really does not have much to do with Budget Travel, plus I feel that it will receive a wider audience in the TravelBuzz! forum, so I am moving it there.

Thanks for understanding ! And hoping your future travel experiences will be better.

EmailKid
Budget Travel Moderator

I'd leave the part out about you being born somewhere else. It's sufficient that you are a UK Citizen (if I read this correctly) and they would not accept your driving license as ID, despite saying on the

I think you should be given compensation for denied boarding under the EU regulations:

I don't think the grounds of inadequate travel documentation are "reasonable" especially when it says a driving license is fine on their web site.

Write Ryanair and appeal to the Air Transport Users Council and the small claims track of the courts as necessary. (No, I am not a lawyer.)

Just curious What are the rules in the UK for travel within the UK for citizens?

How did they know again that she was not born in the UK? that part I couldn't figure out in the OP

I'm not sure what to say but I feel compelled to do so anyway. Anyone who has ever heard of Ryanair is aware that they are a LCC and naturally you get what you pay for, if I need special consideration, this is the last airline I would choose.

I would also take away a lesson from this experience; never go to an airport without your passport, even if its domestic travel. You never know when it might come in handy. The excerpt below is taken from Ryanair.com under the travel questions tab for passports and visas.

Passports & Visas
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Do I need a passport? < BACK

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It is the passenger's personal responsibility to ensure that they have valid documentation which meets the requirements of Ryanair, immigration and other governmental authorities at every destination.Any fines, penalties, payments or expenditures incurred as a result of breach of this requirement shall be paid by or charged to you. In order to ensure compliance Ryanair recommends that you carry your valid passport (and visa if applicable) on all journeys.




There's more there but this is the pertinent information.

As a first time poster I understand if you just wanted a place to rant and we'll never hear from you again and certainly not outside of this thread.

I would not use you disability as a factor in this event as it had nothing to do with their decision and would have happened regardless. That said I would call Ryanair and ask them what kind of identification you would need without referencing this incident and see if you get the same answer. Then go from there. If they tell you that you need a passport then I'd say live and learn. If they tell you your Drivers Lisence is just fine then I'd tell them about what just happened and ask for a supervisor to request compensation.

A similar issue and outcome is discussed here:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...html?p=4076068

Apparently this little bit of verbiage on the Ryanair site is what they can rely upon, given the original poster was not born in the UK:

A valid European Economic Area (EEA) driving licence with photo, presented by a passenger whose place of birth is within the EEA is acceptable only for travel on internal flights within the UK, internal flights within Italy and UK-Republic of Ireland-UK.

Where did you find that bit? The wording I found (by following the "PHoto ID" link) simply says:

This is the URL:

http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/faqs....&quest=photoid

To answer Trojanhorse: Until very recently there was no government requirement to show any kind of ID at all on internal flights. I have a feeling this may have changed within the last few months (Aurigny - whom I use a lot for flights to the Channel Islands - started requiring ID some time last year), but I believe it's still up to airlines what they accept, and Ryanair is far more restrictive than most. This is what FlyBe will accept:

Note the last bit - they will even accept some types of non-photo ID

The "place of birth" qualifier is available on a cached version of the Ryanair site, and was quoted at the previously listed link. If the cached version remains operational, you can see the same verbiage here:
http://tinyurl.com/2hwbsm
The question then is whether the cached version or the current version was in effect when the original poster attempted to fly.

Your experience, although distressing, is not unusual.

I agree you seem to have a legitimate complaint. Unfortunately the chances of you getting satisfaction depend on your willingness to fight Ryanair to the bitter end.

For more advice on how to deal with them try - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ryanair/ where all the painful tales and practical advice is located

Very true, and I would probably have made a very similar mistake myself. Incidentally, I don't believe I was even asked for ID on my last two UK domestic trips.

Call your credit card company and let them hash it out with Ryanair, especially if it is not completely clear on your booking confirmation, or on the website, that you require ID.

Ridiculous, IMHO - but sadly I've come to learn that booking with these people is always a risk, and wouldn't consider it for crucial trips anymore.

Hi
On my picture driving license it says your place of birth next to your date of birth but I didn't even see that until it was pointed out. Also if they wanted my passport because I wasn't born in the UK surely they should say this somewhere on their website and not in some obscure place that nobody can find and I know what I'm doing with computers as I have a degree in computer science and am not a fool. But rest assured I shall follow this and fight this to the bitter end as I am not on a mission. Ok let's leave the fact that I am disabled aside and let's assume that I am as able bodied as the rest of the British population their behavior towards me was totally unacceptable and fight I shall to the bitter end trust me!

I tried to follow your tinyurl link and got a "site not available" error message.

As I pointed out earlier, the current version does not say anything about a requirement to have been born within the EU or EEA. If there was such a requirement in the past (and it would appear that there was) then I suspect it was removed for a good reason - it was probably deemed to be illegal under race discrimination laws as the vast majority of British citizens born outside the EU/EEA are Black or Asian.

Sorry, but what did you expect for 1p + tax? Like all tings in life, you get what you pay for and you paid virtually nothing.

The 'customer service' or Ryanair is well known - none. You've lived in the UK now for a number of years so you should be used to these sort of things - every other Daily Mail has a story like yours.

My advice - claim the Easyjet flight off your travel insurance, learn from the (hard found) lesson and don't fly with the budget guys if you need to be somewhere important. Oh, and tell all your friends to avoid them as well.

Sorry for the lack of sympathy, but you were taking your son to his wedding and you went on a budget airline who have a reputation for poor service ??

Firstly I did not book the tickets my son did and secondly it was not his wedding - his wedding is on the 15th of April and thirdly my favorite saying is you get what you pay for and I had absolutely no idea how much he paid for the tickets they were a present and fourthly I am not going to give up under any circumstances.

Please don't make yourself ill with worry or stress. Perhaps to say 'get over it' is insensitive, but you really need to do some more research before committing a lot of physical or emotional energy to this. Do a search here on FT, see what other folks' experience has been and then make a decision on what to do next, if anything.

I have never flown with Ryanair, and never will either. Others do and have had mixed experiences. The one constant though seems to be their lack of customer service and inability to show any sort of care for their passengers.

I'm glad you've heard of 'you get what you pay for' and I didn't mean to insult when I quoted that - regardless of who paid the cash, you paid in time and stress.

My advice - learn from the lesson and move on. More seasoned travellers than you or I have tried to take on Ryanair before and given up. What's the most you'll get anyway? A refund of the 1p+tax ?

Sorry, but that's how I see it.