Ryanair likens girl to golf clubs in pay-out fight

ITS long-suffering passengers have frequently complained that Ryanair’s cheap fares are little consolation for being treated like cattle.

But now the Irish budget airline has gone a step further – by comparing carrying babies with transporting a set of golf clubs.

Ryanair’s lawyers made the comparison in an unsuccessful attempt to stop a family getting flight delay compensation for their six-month-old daughter.

They appeared to suggest that just as a passenger who paid to bring golf clubs on to a flight would not expect a pay-out on behalf of the equipment, the same applied to little Crystal Varey. But a judge rejected their argument and ruled that she should also receive a £212 payout, even though she didn’t have her own ticket and was sitting on her father’s knee.

Andrew Varey booked with Ryanair to fly home to Birmingham from a Christmas break in Lanzarote in 2015 with his wife and their two children.

They were delayed by more than three hours and successfully claimed pay-outs. However, a claim on Crystal’s behalf was rejected and Mr Varey challenged the decision at Liverpool County Court.

In a written ruling, Judge Pearce supported the family and revealed how Ryanair had compared carrying Crystal on to an aircraft to taking golf clubs. It argued she was not a passenger as she didn’t pay for a ticket or have her own seat.

But Judge Pearce said the argument missed the point that the family had to pay the airline’s £20 fee for infants to take Crystal on board. ‘Her father had to pay for her to travel; and the defendant took her as a passenger,’ he said.

Addressing the point that Crystal didn’t have her own seat, Judge Pearce pointed out that this was frequently the case for people who travelled on trains and buses but they were still passengers.

Crystal’s solicitor, Kevin Clarke of Bott and Co, said the ruling could be used in support of future claims.

But Ryanair is planning an appeal and accused the Vareys of greed when they had already won compensation far in excess of their original fares.

It also threatened to double the £20 infant fee.

‘She flew as a passenger’