3 days ago
Woman baffled by 'ridiculous' armrest on Ryanair flight from Mallorca
A 'frustrated' holidaymaker has accused Ryanair of 'ridiculous' cost-saving tactics - by giving her only 'a third of an armrest' on her flight. Becky Shaw was flying home at midnight from a four-day trip to Palma de Mallorca, Spain, on but was surprised to discover she only had an armrest 'stump' on her right-hand side.
The 28-year-old was left 'frustrated' after not being able to rest her head on her hand and was forced to stay awake for the two-hour flight so she was 'really tired' for work that day. Having forked out £150 for the return flight from Manchester Airport, the accountant couldn't understand the 'really stupid' decision not to have a full-length armrest.
She believes it to be a way for the low-cost airline to cut costs but claims that passengers expect to be able to rest their arms during even low-budget flights. Taking to TikTok, Becky shared footage of her seat captioned 'you can't seriously call that an armrest', which has now gone viral with more than 8,576 views.
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In the clip you can see Becky strapped into her chair with only a tiny portion of armrest and the rest just empty space. One user took to the comments disagreeing with Becky as 'nobody can complain' because it is a budget airline.
Becky, who lives on the Wirral, said: "I don't know why it wasn't a full-length arm rest but it was ridiculous. It was one third of an arm rest and you could rest your elbow on it. There was literally no point in it being there. I had a full one on the other side but I didn't on my right side. It was a bit mad.
"It was frustrating because it was a late-night flight and I wanted to sleep because I was working the next day but I couldn't put my arm down to rest my head on my hand because there was no armrest there. I wasn't going to lean on the person next to me. I was awake for the whole flight which was not ideal because we didn't land until nearly 2am and then I was really tired for work the next day."
The accountant, who'd flown to Palma de Mallorca with a friend to enjoy the bank holiday weekend, admitted she thinks it was a 'cost-saving' tactic by the airline. Becky said: "There was no benefit as to why it wouldn't be a full-length one. I just assumed it would be cost-saving because that's what they tend to do. They cut costs wherever they can.
"I know that they charge stupid money for bags and stuff but that's an armrest, it's a given with a flight isn't it. It's a cheap flight but realistically it doesn't end up being cheap when you have to take bags and I expect to be able to rest my arm, that's a given. You don't expect free food and stuff like that but you'd expect your seat to have an armrest."
Ryanair has been approached for a comment.
