Ryanair calls in long arm of the law over legroom row

RYANAIR has vowed to be nicer to its passengers. But one man has discovered the budget airline still has a mean streak.

After being denied a seat with extra legroom that he had paid £20 (€22) for, Bob Hamilton asked cabin crew to waive his £17 (€19) drinks bill to make up for the inconvenience of having to sit in a normal seat.

But the airline staff instead summoned the police when the plane landed to force him to pay up.

At 6ft 2in, Mr Hamilton, 64, said he always chose a seat with extra legroom. But when he boarded a flight from London Stansted to Malaga, he found someone was in his seat. He asked the crew why the man could not move to another vacant seat. A crew member told him the man was a Ryanair employee and Mr Hamilton would have to find somewhere else to sit due to ‘safety reasons’.

Mr Hamilton, a retired former oil broker who splits his time between England and holiday homes in Marbella and Budapest, reluctantly agreed and found a seat towards the rear of the plane.

Shortly after take-off, he ordered two small cans of beer and two miniature plastic bottles of wine, at a cost of £17. But his suggestion that the bill be waived in return for the £20 he paid for an extra-legroom seat that he didn’t get was rejected, and he was told he would have to claim his £20 back online.

Mr Hamilton refused to pay, and on landing at Malaga, he was met by two Spanish police officers. He said: ‘The police officers were very pleasant and were laughing about it. In the end, one of the crew came out to the air bridge with a card machine and I was forced to pay up.’

On his return to the UK, Mr Hamilton tried to get his £20 refund.

Ryanair twice refused, according to Mr Hamilton, before eventually buckling and paying up.

A Ryanair spokesman accused Mr Hamilton of becoming ‘disruptive’ and said he was asked to move a row forward to seat 16A – another exit seat near the wing which would have cost the same to reserve. But Mr Hamilton said: ‘This response is absolutely false. I was never offered 16A.’

‘Officers were laughing about it’