A college student is considering taking legal action after being left behind from a Ryanair flight from Dublin to London last week.
The Guardian reported 20-year-old Niamh Herbert, who suffers from Friedreich's ataxia and requires a wheelchair to travel, was asked to walk herself onto the plane and later asked to wait at the boarding gate before the plane ultimately took off without her.
"I was visibly distraught, and a few people in the airport came up to me, asked me if they could help or buy me tea, but Ryanair staff barely spoke to me," Herbert told the Guardian. "Ryanair is the only airline I've ever flown with that puts passengers in wheelchairs on last rather than first."
Herbert, who was eventually put on a later flight to London, tweeted about her experience from the weekly curated @Ireland account Friday.
A spokesperson for the Irish low-cost carrier confirmed the incident but said Herbert was at fault for missing the initial flight.
"While we regret any inconvenience, this customer arrived at the boarding gate 13 minutes before the flight was due to depart and had not booked any wheelchair services," the spokesperson told the Guardian.
"Our crew provided full assistance and as a gesture of goodwill, transferred this customer on to the next available flight, free of charge, and the customer flew to London Stansted. Had this customer booked wheelchair assistance and arrived at the boarding gate on time, there would have been no issue."
Herbert admitted that she changed her flight at the last minute when a friend dropped out of the trip but said she expected her wheelchair requirement information to be passed on. "I felt guilty about that at first but then I realized it's not my fault if they don't pass the information on," she told the Guardian.
Herbert is currently in communication with the students' union at Dublin's Trinity College in regards to potential legal action.
Last week's troubling incident came just two months after a terminally ill woman and her family were forced off of a plane in Malaga, Spain after oxygen canisters were deemed a security issue.
For the latest travel news, updates and deals, subscribe to the daily TravelPulse newsletter.
Topics From This Article to Explore
