Ryanair facing legal action from disgruntled passengers

RYANAIR is facing legal action from disgruntled passengers who missed their flights due to lengthy security queues.

In one week in September, 150 Ryanair passengers missed their flights at London Stansted, which is the budget airline’s main hub for flights to Europe.

They say Ryanair has too few check-in desks, meaning passengers face long queues and are unable to get through security in time.

Now consumer champions from Britain’s Which? organisation have revealed passengers are prepared to sue the airline after missing flights because of delays.

Among the disgruntled passengers is pregnant woman Lucy Cole, 36, and her husband, who missed a holiday flight to Bergerac in France.

“The check-in opened at 5.20pm and it was very slow as only two desks were open for our flight, and because people kept pushing in,” said Ms Coles.

“We pointed this out to a Ryanair employee but nothing was done. We then queued to get through security. This took some time because of the additional security checks.

The couple did not reach the boarding gate in time and were stopped from getting on the plane.

The couple’s luggage was taken off the plane and Ryanair refused to put them on another flight.

“In all they lost £654 (€976) — the cost of the flights, the hotel and car hire deposits,” Which? said.

Strict checks on passengers were introduced at British airports in August following a terrorism scare.

But Ryanair blamed BAA for the continual delays, saying the airport owner was failing to provide enough security staff at peak times.

Ryanair spokesman Peter Sherrard said the couple taking action against Ryanair had had enough time to get to the boarding gate after they checked in at Stansted.

“They were the 156th and 157th passengers to check in. There were 26 passengers who checked in after them and who departed on board the aircraft.”