Ryanair faces backlash over abusive passenger
Ryanair is facing a backlash from the public and politicians after a man who launched a torrent of racial abuse at a fellow passenger was allowed to stay on board. The man was filmed calling a 77-year-old woman an “ugly black b------” when she spoke to him in a Jamaican accent. Staff on the flight, from Barcelona to London Stansted, appeared to do little to silence the man. Eventually the woman was given another seat, while the man was allowed to remain where he was. Ryanair said it had reported the incident to police.
RYANAIR is facing a public backlash for its failure to remove a man from a plane after he launched a torrent of racist abuse at a fellow passenger.
The man was filmed calling a 77-yearold woman an “ugly black b------”, and shouting “don’t talk to me in a foreign language you stupid, ugly cow” when she spoke with a Jamaican accent.
The footage was recorded on Friday on a Ryanair flight from Barcelona to London Stansted, before take-off, by a fellow passenger who published it on social media. It shows the man yelling at the woman to move seats, while her daughter tries to stand up to him, telling him her mother is disabled.
He replies: “I don’t care whether she’s ------- disabled or not – if I tell her to get out she gets out.” The man then calls her “an ugly ------- ----” and tells staff to move the woman to another seat.
Staff on the flight appeared to do little to silence the man, while a passenger in the row behind intervened. The cabin crew can be heard to say: “Don’t be so rude, you have to calm down” as other passengers called for the man to be thrown off the flight. Eventually, the woman was given another seat, while he was allowed to remain where he was.
The video has attracted more than 10,000 comments and tens of thousands of retweets and shares since it was posted online by David Lawrence, from Kent, on Friday.
The victim was identified as a Mrs Gayle from east London, a member of the Windrush generation, who was left “feeling upset and very stressed”. Her 53-year-old daughter, who was not identified, called for an apology. She told the Huffington Post she had taken her mother on a break as she was grieving the death of her husband of 50 years.
“My mother has worked her all of her life, paid her taxes and her dues,” she added. “Why should she have to go through all of this?”
Several politicians voiced anger at Ryanair’s apparent lack of action. David Lammy, the Labour MP, said: “It’s 63 years since Rosa Parks said ‘No’ to sitting on the back of the bus and we ain’t going back.” Karl Turner, the shadow attorney general, tweeted: “He should have been removed from the flight and handed over to the police.”
Jeremy Vine, the broadcaster, said: “If this is Ryanair, they need to explain how this man’s disgusting racial abuse of the black lady in the seat next to him ends up with her being asked to move. It is beyond belief.”
Ryanair said yesterday that it had reported the incident to Essex police. It said: “As this is now a police matter, we cannot comment further.”