THE SHAMING OF RYANAIR
As storm over passenger’s racist rant grows, MP warns he may dodge justice ... thanks to airline’s thirst for profits
A RYANAIR passenger who racially abused a Windrush immigrant on a plane will ‘get away scot- free’ because of the airline’s profit-hungry tactics, MPs claimed last night.
Politicians said Ryanair staff ‘failed spectacularly’ by refusing to throw off the man or immediately report him to police despite watching his repeated abuse of Delsie Gayle, 77.
One MP said Ryanair’s ‘ perverse’ incentives mean that its staff are unlikely to hold up a departing flight even if a delay is to kick off an abusive passenger.
Cabin crew seek to avoid delays because under the company’s rules, they are paid only when flights have taken off.
The airline now faces the threat of a boycott over its handling of the incident on a flight from Barcelona to London last week.
Mrs Gayle yesterday expressed her disgust at Ryanair’s failure to offer an apology and vowed never to fly with the airline again. ‘They don’t treat you with respect,’ she said, suggesting staff would have reacted differently if a white passenger had been abused.
In a video of the incident filmed by a fellow passenger, Ryanair staff can be seen failing to intervene as the unidentified man calls Mrs Gayle a ‘ black b******’ and an ‘ugly f****** c***’.
The victim’s family said yesterday that when they complained, Ryanair staff claimed they did not hear any racism.
Police in the UK were yesterday helping the Spanish authorities with an investigation into the incident amid calls for the abuser to face punishment in Britain.
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said: ‘What we saw was totally unacceptable, and racist abuse of that kind is a crime.
‘If a crime is committed, it should be dealt with appropriately. I would hope… that the police would want to take action in such an extraordinarily unacceptable case.’
But shadow transport minister Karl Turner said Ryanair’s failure to act when the plane was grounded in Spain means the racist will almost certainly face no punishment. He added: ‘He should have been removed immediately from the aircraft and handed over to the Spanish authorities.
‘They are under an awful lot of pressure to get the aircraft turned around. They’ve clearly made the wrong decision – he should have been ejected immediately.’
Mr Turner, a qualified barrister who was once Labour’s shadow attorney general, said: ‘There’s a real chance that he won’t be prosecuted as a result. I think Ryanair failed spectacularly. It should have been dealt with. He has committed grotesque criminal offences. This isn’t just unruly, it is criminal.’
The UK’s Civil Aviation Authority said there was nothing it could do.
‘Grotesque offences’
Dublin-based Ryanair is regulated by the Irish Aviation Authority. Because the incident took place before take- off, Spanish police would be responsible if the plane’s doors were open.
The CAA said if the doors were closed, then the flight had officially begun and any criminal probe would have to be mounted by police in the country where the plane was registered. It is unclear where the aircraft was registered but the company’s base is in Ireland.
A criminal act on board could be dealt with by British police if it took place after the plane had taken off for the UK.
Mr Turner said: ‘The Crown Prosecution Service are going to be coming back to the police once they’ve reviewed this and will be telling police that they are not in a position to prosecute because of the jurisdictional point.
‘That means he will get away with it scot-free. He will be banned, but that’s not really a punishment when you’ve been racially abusing an elderly woman.’
Graham Stringer, a Labour member of the cross-party Commons transport committee, said the company’s pay structure may have been to blame.
‘Ryanair is an appalling airline which does not look after its passengers the way they should,’ he said. ‘But it also treats its staff badly and has perverse incentives in the system which may discourage them to hold up flights to deal with bad behaviour.’ Cabin crew are paid for time in the air but not on the ground.
Like all airlines, Ryanair is also under pressure to hit punctuality targets. Under EU rules, airlines must pay compensation for heavily delayed or cancelled flights. Ryanair said yesterday the claim that
‘An appalling airline’
its procedures were to blame was ‘nonsense’.
The airline added that it had referred the matter to Essex Police, although it is thought that this only happened after the video of the incident prompted widespread condemnation.
Ryanair also claimed yesterday that its customer care team contacted the Gayle family on Sunday, although they contest this.
The family criticised Essex Police last night for contacting them to take a statement over the telephone, rather than in a face-toface interview. The police force would not say whether it had spoken to the male passenger.
Huw Merriman, a Conservative member of the transport committee, said: ‘ Ryanair’s staff should have been standing up for this poor woman who was the victim of racial abuse.
‘Cabin crew clearly need better training. Action should be taken and this man should be hauled up in front of the courts.’
Labour MP David Lammy has led criticism of the airline by calling for a boycott and likening Mrs Gayle’s experience to that of American civil rights campaigner Rosa Parks during the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955.
Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said: ‘ Surely Ryanair should be contacting this woman and apologising for the racist abuse she suffered?’
Labour MP Ben Bradshaw said: ‘ I hope that Essex Police are knocking on this vile racist’s door this morning.’