Ref caught in airline scrum

Rugby referee Nigel Owens is more used to dealing with fly-halfs than flight schedules, but yesterday he found himself wading, not for the first time, into the hotly-contested public relations scrum between Ryanair and Aer Lingus.

The Welsh referee was the man-in-the-middle at last night’s Pro-12 match between Leinster and Zebre in Dublin. But more than 12 hours earlier, he found himself in a ruck when he realised Ryanair required him to have his passport to fly.

“Help @Ryanair didn’t now (sic) I had to have passport to travel with u to Ireland. Stuck in Bristol Airport. refin Leinster v Zebre tonite,” he tweeted followed by “Nightmare. Have to drive home from Bristol Airport to get my passport cos @Ryanair won’t take ID like @AerLingus. Hold koff for me Leinster”.

Within the hour, a response had appeared, not from Ryanair, but from Aer Lingus which said: “@Nigelrefowens Oh no! That’s a nightmare indeed, Nigel. You’d be welcome to join us on EI3281 departing at 0825.”

The airline prompted him to check his private messages after which he tweeted: “Massive thanks @aerlingus for sorting flight to Dublin for me from Cardiff now after RyanAir passport policy debacle” and “Will get to Dublin on time now to ref Leinster v Zebre thanks to @aerlingus for their genuine help and kindness”.

In the meantime, Ryanair had tweeted it was sorry to hear about the referee’s problem but added a link where, it said, Mr Owens could “get all of the relevant info regarding travel docs”.

Its not the first time the Welshman has found himself embroiled in the Ryanair-Aer Lingus scrummage, though last November it was Ryanair which was getting the plaudits.