Gerard Tyson sent a message to Michael OLeary - CEO, Ryanair - Email Address that said:
Dear Mr OLeary
We have been Ryanair customers for many years and usually fly twice a year with you.
I want to tell you about our recent experience coming back from Madrid on 6th September.
We missed our flight -entirely our fault.
We turned up early evening for a flight that had left in the morning.
We were obviously upset and worried about how we would get home. We went to the Ryanair desk and we were told the flight the following morning was full and that we would have to pay 100 euros each to be put on standby. I went to relay this to my husband and we agreed we would do that. However when we came to pay it had miraculously gone up to 550 euros - I couldnt believe that for a possible seat that had already been paid for by someone else that we could be charged 550 euros - we were also told that should we not get on the flight then although we were paying in cash we wouldnt be able to get our money back straight away - we would have to wait for a cheque to be sent. We did get on the flight but if we hadnt we would have had no money left after paying for the tickets to find a hotel or pay for food. Also we were told we wouldnt have to pay to get the boarding pass printed but of course when we went to do it they said we would have to - we didnt have the money for this.
I am 70 years old with severe arthritis and walk with a stick and my wife is 68 - we had to spend the rest of the evening and through the night lying on the floor of the airport as we had used all our remaining money to buy the tickets. Had we not got on the plane I dont know what we could have done - the attitude of the staff was buy the ticket and wait - nothing else could be done, thats the policy.
We dont carry credit cards with us as we have previously been robbed in Madrid.
I would appreciate your comments
Ged Tyson
