Furious Ryanair customer abandons holiday over £55 charge
(Image: Kennedy News/@hina_st)
Hina said she refused to pay the 'ridiculous' fee - which cost almost as much as her £67 plane ticket to Lithuania.
The pharmacist, who was celebrating passing her prescription course, said she went to eat at a Nepalese restaurant instead, as she felt it was a better way to spend money.
Hina claims that the charge does not correspond to the service provided, which consists of the staff member entering her passport details into the system.
Hina, from Slough, Berkshire, said: "It was my first trip in eight months, I just finished my prescribing course and I was going to treat myself, I thought why not.
"They sent me an email to check in but it went to my junk and I genuinely forgot to check in.
"There was a sign on the website saying you can check in up to 40 minutes before so I thought that's fine.
"About an hour before I made it to the desk and I asked if I could check in and she said yes but it will cost £55.
"I'd rather not, I can have a health assessment for £55 from someone with a degree, not for someone to put my passport details in.
"I decided not to go but there was nowhere immediately saying on the website that this is the amount that they'd charged.
"Part of abandoning the trip was just my annoyance, what they were charging was really unfair for the job that they had to do.
"It was almost as expensive as my actual flight there. Everything I had booked was refundable anyways so in this situation I'd rather not.
"I went up to her and said 'are you serious, £55?' I said I'm not going to pay that, and she said 'okay, fine.'
"I know what you're doing, checking my passport, putting in my passport number and a few details and that is it. The charge in relation to what you're doing is ridiculous.
"I thought it was free but people have said on my post that Ryanair had been doing this for three or four years, but I had no idea.
"I went to a Nepalese restaurant an hour away from Stansted. I thought I won't think about the fight, I'll go and have some momos [steamed dumplings].
"My money is better spent getting food than paying £55 to check in."
The TikTok creator said that while Ryanair has cheap fares, it is not worth the 'inflexible' customer service and disregard for their passengers.
Hina vows that she will not be travelling with Ryanair again and would rather spend more money for a more reliable airline.
Hina said: "If you go to any other airlines they'll make every effort to make sure you're on the plane, but with Ryanair I don't think they care.
"People jump on the bandwagon of getting cheap flights and don't realise there's all these hidden charges.
"There's also the inflexibility of customer service that makes me think I'm not getting my money's worth.
"It was the right decision, I'd rather do that than take a flight with them, which I won't be doing in future."
A Ryanair spokesman said: "In accordance with Ryanair's T&Cs, which this passenger agreed to at the time of booking, this passenger failed to check-in online before arriving at London Stansted Airport (13 May).
"Therefore, this passenger was correctly asked to pay the standard airport check-in fee when checking in at the airport.
"All passengers travelling with Ryanair agree to check-in online before arriving at their departure airport and all passengers are sent an email reminding them to do so 24hrs before departure.
"This passenger chose not to pay the airport check-in fee and board her flight from London Stansted to Kaunas (13 May)."
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