2cm too big case costs mum £385 in Ryanair row
MOTHER AND DAUGHTER SLEEP ON SPANISH AIRPORT FLOOR – THEN PAY FOR NEW FLIGHT WITH ANOTHER AIRLINE
A MUM and daughter were forced to sleep on the floor of a Spanish Airport after Ryanair rejected their hand luggage for being ‘2cm too big.’
The flight home to Manchester from Alicante turned into a traumatic saga for teacher Tania Alston, 51, and her daughter Malaika Alston-Ekpei, 12, when they found themselves at the sharp end of Ryanair’s baggage policy.
Arriving at the departure gate ahead of their evening flight, Tania, whose case was visibly bigger than her daughter’s, was waved through with no problem.
But Malaika was then stopped by staff who measured her bag, ruled it to be ‘2cm too deep’ and said she would have to pay £50 to place it in the aircraft hold.
Tania, who didn’t have funds ahead of pay day the next morning, attempted to empty Malaika’s belongings into her own suitcase.
She said another member of staff then stepped in – this time to point out Tania’s bag was also too big – and raised the fee to £100. Forced to miss their 9.10pm flight, they had to spend the next 14 hours at AlicanteElche airport, sleeping on the hard floor covered in holiday clothes.
The next morning, and with money in her account, Tania forked out £385 on flights with Jet2.com – which had no problem with their baggage.
Tania said: “We tried to be positive, but there were no spare seats in the airport and the floor we slept on was rock hard and freezing cold.
“It made no sense. We’ve used these bags as carry-on for the last four years. It was terrible and really traumatic for my daughter.”
Tania, from Levenshulme, said she tried to reason with staff – offering to leave their luggage at Manchester Airport on arrival until she could pay the fee. But she was told that was not possible.
The pair flew to Alicante on a Vueling Airlines service. The Spanish airline’s cabin baggage requirements are the same as Ryanair.
Tania added: “It all seems arbitrary. I don’t want others to have to go through this for the sake of a few centimetres.”
A Ryanair spokeswoman said: “All customers agree to adhere to our terms and conditions of travel at the time of booking. This customer’s bag exceeded our maximum cabin bag dimensions and they were given the option of checking the bag in to the hold upon the payment of our gate bag fee, but refused to do so and did not board the aircraft.
“We have repeatedly urged our customers to comply with our cabin bag rules, which are being continuously flouted, resulting in boarding delays during this peak summer season.”