Unbelievable, my mother has a colostomy bag and I would dread to think she would be treated like this. Shame on them

Ive travelled with them before and I swore never again as I found all the staff so rude, I watched as they humiliated an elderly gentleman and others, the flights might not cost much but manners and respect cost nothing.. That poor woman should not have had to go through that.. Shame on them.

The exact same thing happened to me last summer.
I had to lift my t-shirt to show the person that was checking hand luggage my ostomy bag.
I did receive an apology from Ryanair later, plus they told me that they would contact ground staff to make sure that this wouldn’t happen again.
I’m disgusted that the exact same thing has happened again.

That company has no shame. Pathetic.

Shame on you O’Leary

Stay classy Ryan Air.

Its simple, any route that has a choice I always use Aerlingus. Even if this is 50 more or so. When there is no choice I go with them. If that was my mum and I was with her the only people crying could be their staff at the gates.

Stay classy, Ryanair…One company that I have been boycotting for a long time. They are simply beyond reproach as a company and as human beings. I hope they are hauled in front of whatever body deals with such disgraceful behavior and whipped.

Ryanair is not really an airline, but a gigantic human experiment called “how low can you go”. The majority of staff and passengers are apparently willing collaborators in this.

I have been on that fuerteventura run many times the girl on fuerteventura is a full on pig and I have no doubt this woman is telling the truth. All the people who witnessed this despicable incident and the many more should write in!!

That poor lady has had enough trauma and indignity in her life without this disgraceful treatment by a company that’s makes millions of euros profit. shame on Ryanair, you can’t excuse this. Animals wouldn’t get that kind of treatment.

So in order to receive any kind of “deal” in this world we need to learn to expect a pure lack of empathy or indeed just good manners in dealing with people???.. Sorry I don’t get that deal…

I’ve flown with Ryanair dozens of times but use easyjet as a low cost alternative whenever possible. Just as cheap, but there must be a completely different ethos in the company as I have continually found their staff friendly & helpful – qualities far removed from most of my Ryanair experiences. God help everyone in Ireland if they are allowed buy out Aer Lingus.

Is this not the company run by the same person that everyone wants running the country?

Michael O’Learly is a mannerless ignorant man – why should anyone be surprised when some of his staff emulate him?

I hope he doesn’t get his hands on Aer Lingus because I will not fly across the Atlantic on one of his planes. I will fly American or British airways.

People will give out all the want about Ryanair but people will still fly with them due to their cheapness.

Feel for this lady, no one should be out through that, Air hostess could have used some common sense and moved on.

Does anyone REALLY want this pack of clowns running Aer Lingus? At least this poor lady can rest assured that Aer Lingus wouldn’t treat her in the same way. Disgusting behaviour from Ryanair, competition is good! #2seperatecarriersforireland

I used to fly from Belguim to Shannon return a lot and I always found the Belgian Ryanair staff the most horrible you could meet.. cold & rude….I never had a problem with the staff in Shannon, Eindhoven or Dusseldorf either… It’s awful to see staff so miserable though..I feel so sorry for this woman, it’s difficult enough for her at the best of times I’m sure, Michael O Leary should apologise really .. not good enough…

This is a bloody outrage and possibly the lowest Ryanair has stooped. Ryanair need to be reprimanded about this. It doesn’t matter how sh!t people should expect their service to be but this is unacceptable and there should be laws to prevent this kind of behaviour from any professional organisation – low fairs does not mean licence to treat people like crap. OLeary needs to have his head pulled out of his arse and be thought a lesson on good manners. People pay for poor service not to have their dignity taken from them.

I was in Fuereventura a few weeks ago. A lovely place but the Ryanair staff were brutal! Our bags fitted but because it didn’t slide out without been pulled out, we had to take out clothes.
Very rude staff! What a disgrace!

Look does the phrase ‘ What do you expect from a pig, but a grunt’ mean anything to anyone. O’Leary has made €500M profit this year on the back of noone manning helplines etc etc etc. we need a moral code of practice for business in Ireland whereby if you do not comply you cannot avail of tax perks. Anyone?

Next time you go with them make sure it’s full and when they ask to look at it give it a bit of a squeeze.

Sean Slevin: I enquired about wages in Ryan with friend of mine who knows someone who worked there and you are not making this story up my friend…I am shocked. He told me Ryan only paid him for time spent in the air, all other time was unpaid, so official rate is more than 5 an hour, but after deductions and calculations it works out indeed in that region. This is utter disgrace and I promise I won’t use them ever again from now on, unless completely desperate with no other option. I hope more people can join me. Michael Oleary what a greedy filthy pig.

That staff member should be named and shamed.there are times when common sense is needed.The person involved here would need to wise up. I certainly would never employ someone like this. This was a personal call for this Ryan air staff member. I am sure they would not be sacked for something like this, and if they found that they were, then they should asked them self why they could work for this type of employer.

That’s not one bit fair I must say. The poor woman. She rang 3 times and didn’t get threw and now there blaming her for what like?? We all get sick one day in one way or another and it’s no one fault. The poor woman!!! Michael and his company were wrong and that’s it. It’s a health reason.

From personal experience, the Ryanair check in staff in Fuerteventura are rude and ignorant. Not surprised to read this story as I have seen many a person humiliated at the boarding gate in Fuerteventura. Very good publicity for the island, not.

This is one of the many reasons why Ryanair should’t be allowed to buy Aer Lingus.

I will not fly with this shower. I AVOID at all costs. it’s not worth the stress. Pay more if you have to in order to fly with someone else. If fact you may find it cheaper anyway. It’s only a KNACKER that runs it anyway IMO .

I would gladly fly air lingus any day than use these ,being a regular traveller i have found that on a lot of cases its a myth that swineair are truly low cost, in fact the only low thing with swineair is their customer care, I would rather walk than use this crowd from top to bottom they reek of disservice and most of the staff seem to have a chip on their shoulder and litlle or no customer skills, since stopping using these it has again become a pleasure to fly and no more being treated like a 2nd class citizen that has paid to be treated like dirt , no service + stress+no big saving = Oleary and his ever obdieant army of underlings Swineair

Perhaps it is about time Ryanair began to offer flights for nothing at all? That would be an accurate reflection of how much their ‘service’ is worth to consumers.

I seen O leary at Dundalk races with two big minders, Now I know why he needs them the jumped up bully.

What a bunch of ignorant and arrogant fu***ers

Ryanair are an absolute disgrace I have refused to fly with them for the past 5 years and will never fly with them regardless of the price, if you shop around you can get excellent deals.

There has to be a time when you draw a line in the sand. As people have said, this is not about baggage allowances or assigned seating. At this stage, continuing to fly with Ryanair is contributing to the denigration of basic human dignity. If that was your mother their position would be harder to rationalise, and there’s no reason why it won’t be them next. Each to their own, of course, but that’s it for me.

jody, reading your article I can’t help thinking your commentating on a football match or something of the sort. Surely a woman of 69 deserves some formality and respect in how you refer to her? Especially in light of the story!
Duff this Duff that….. how about Mrs Duff or Frances Duff. eh? Clarke!

And people want this Pri@k to but Aerlingus??

Let me make a point here about Ryanair staff. Cabin crew earn €5 / hour. I say again €5/ hour. They are treated like dirt. Sometimes they may be abrupt but the culture comes from 1 horrible man at the top.
The man who has given false evidence to the courts of this land yet so many say he should be running the country.
My niece worked there as cabin crew and earned €5 / hour. It started as €12 but after a series of deductions like rental of a 10 yr old uniform. Yes, she rents her horrible uniform. They devise a series of schemes and presto €5 / hour.
Business genius?
Easy make money when you circumvent the rules.

Just when you taught RuinAir couldn’t get any worse , people of Ireland need to wise up and avoid this lot like the plague . After all how many times has MOL publicly abused Irish Citizens . Aer Lingus offer a far better service and most of the time with Ruinairs hidden costs Aer lingus are as competitive in price but MOL s gang come no where close in terms of customer service .

How sad to live in a world where one human being treats another like this. Shame on Ryanair.

I booked a flight to London city airport with air France to avoid being treated like crap

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/magazine/2012/0128/1224310781008.html I read this article by Conor Pope in the Irish Times Mag, after reading it you get a real sense of the companies work -and I use the word loosely-ethos. No wonder the staff are rude and grumpy. We regularly fly with them to Leeds Bradford as choice is limited, with three kids it is always stressful, at this stage we are pros at the packing having been walloped with overweight fines on a couple of occasions, but you can never plan for rudeness or ignorance. On one occasion they wouldn’t let me or my husband carry our 5 year olds hand luggage….1 piece per passenger so she has to carry it to the plane herself!

Manners and respect don’t cost anything, simply there is no excuse for this person to be treated this way, Ryanair had a chance to redeem themselves and still refused to apologise.

Having travelled with Ryanair many times I have lucky enough not yet to have any issues, but this would definitely make me book elsewhere in the future. Remember Ryanair will continue with their ways if people continue to reward them with their custom, if you want them to change don’t use them.

Would never fly ryanair…..! Aer Lingus all the way…..and no I’m not a trolly dolly….!

This company should not even have the license to carry animals never mind people. He is disgusting but sadly will continue to make millions of euros from us people that have no choice but to fly with them.

Has anyone ever tried calling ANY of Ryanairs phone lines? I was calling their reservations enquiry number before..took hours to get through!!!

Lets hope O’Leary’s kidneys or bowels packs up sometime in his old age and he see’s how it feels to have the discomfort of having to live with such a medical condition nevermind having to deal with an arrogant completely out of touch airline like Ryanair making matters 100 times worse, shame on him and the awful disrespect shown to this poor lady, i hope she goes to her solicitor and sues Ryanair for the terrible unnecessary stress and humiliation they caused her.

He’ll apologise once he gets the publicity out of it

Ah yes the Ryanaer ethos raises its head yet again. I haven’t flown with this shower in many years & never will again. MOL is without a doubt one of the most contemptible arrogant wastes of skin that ever breathed air. This company is the very essence of capitalism at its worst! I would live to see a boycott of this insufferable mob but it won’t happen. And they know this. Have people forgotten how MOL used every loophole to limit his tax liabilities in this country? How he has a taxi plate just so he can abuse bus lanes? This poor lady is the most recent in a litany of cases; everyone who had been treated in this manner by Ryan air should sue them. No doubt MOL will crawl out from under his rock to make some snide comment.

Ryanair a a– holes poor woman.

Not too sure how much control Ryanair had over this. We had an awful experience there last year. The usual over the bags not fitting in the cradle but I had 3 kids in tow, 1 legged it down the gangway and they wouldn’t let me go after him. These were fuerteventura ground staff, not Ryanair.

Don’t forget folks, Ryanair are also trying to scare you in to buying their designer luggage.

That is terrible my man has a colostomy bag and needs to bring spares with her as it cud burst or leak at any time

Btw does Richard Branson or southwest airlines behave this way?

no sympathy no appolgy no frills airline now peeps would you expect anything less infairness

Couldn’t Care Air ! Dreadful behavior >:(

In many cases it’s cheaper to fly art fungus to the canaries,
And their crew don’t treat you like crap

shame shame shame on you Ryanair.

One Word For This , Disgraceful !

The great Nile Rodgers was refused water to take with his medication recently on a Ryanair flight, this isn’t an isolated incident it seems.

It’s a simple as this………Aer Lingus provide a proper service, Ryanair don’t. I have flown with both airlines and feel qualified to make such a statement. I don’t work in the aviation (or related) industry BTW.

I agree with you competely Sinead about finding alternative airlines to bring you where you want to go but sadly in most cases unless you can fly from Dublin finding anyone other than Ryanair go get you there isnt always an option, the smaller airports such as Kerry or Knock for example dont in most cases give you any other option to Ryanair other than the expense of travelling to Dublin, toll and airport parking charges, etc..

Saw are disabled guy on crutches in Friedrichsavin airport get marched from the priority boarding Area (not his fault as no signs indicated it was a priority board area) to the average joe area only for them to announce (as he struggled to go to the correct place) that all can board now! oleary is a complete sadist. Forget shareholder value for disabled/ persons requiring assistance. Hell awaits the senior management team at Ryanair.

This certainly is outrageous. Sue him is right.

What an absolute disgrace that any person would be treated in this manor. There is a lot to be desired for the level and standard of customer service training provided by Ryanair. Mayber refresher courses should be incorporated and reviewed often. Personally, I refuse to fly Ryanair and have successfully managed to avoide a flight with them for several years now…..

I don’t get this story at all. Why was she even asking permission? You have to do practically a strip search to find a colostomy bag in the first place. This wasn’t at security, it was at the gate. And there is no rule against bringing empty plastic bags in your carry on luggage either.

A colostomy bag isn’t specialist medical equipment either, it’s about as specialist as a tampon. They come in different sizes, but that’s about it. They roll up and are tiny.

I dunno, something missing here.

Shocking, just shocking. I’m travelling Ryanair next week, lucky me :-(( Now I feel really bad about using them. Next time Aer Lingus (if they haven’t been taken over).

Despite my utter contempt for O’Leary & Ryanair I don’t want to too much love go the way of Aer Lingus either.
Remember Aer Lingus robbed this country blind for many years with their militant unions and exceptional terms and conditions. Having said that, the answer to these unions is not the O’Leary approach. The answer to finding Siberia too cold is not to go live in the Sahara.

This has disgusted me! I had two grandparents who had Bowel cancer with the same colo bag. Ryanair maybe cheap and an inspiration to business’ but this is down right violation! I will never fly to Europe with Ryanair ever again and if Aer Lingus is taken over by Ryanair I will use connection flights from the Uk or any other European city to get to my destination! And If I am flying transatlantic I will never use Aerlingus!
I flew from Eindhoven to Dublin once on a Ryanair flight. There was an elderly Dutch man in front of me with his two daughters; the hostess came to collect the trash and the man in front let it drop by accident when giving it to the hostess. She raised her eyes as if she thought he was a simpleton. That is my lasting impression of Ryanair they are a horrible airline to travel with.
I worked in the Aviation industry and I can tell you one thing Ryanair are only about money they don’t care about their customers. They will drop aircraft mechanic apprentices like hot snots if their exam results aren’t up to scratch.
Dislike this comment if you want but I will never fly Aerlingus again if Ryanair takes over! EVER!

Stay classy O’Leary … No point in being ignorant unless you can show it

Have people not learned yet, why fly ryanair? We here nothing but bad press and all to save small monies. I gave up flying with them 8 years ago. Join me its good for competition.

in principle we should treat our elderly and sick with utmost respect – but the combination of the “ive been crying ever since” and gerry adams kinda puts me off!

Another ryan air story that stinks

This sickens me, though it doesnt surprise me, what i wonder is why no one stood up and said something, if someone was being so unjustly humiliated I couldnt stand there watching, its almost as bad

If you fly Ryan Air you get what you deserve. Pay peanuts, get treated like a monkey.

and some people thought this guy would be good to lead the country. Ya couldn’t make it up!

Ryanair do things by the book, their book granted, but if you know the rules going into the game you can’t complain later. I don’t like it any more then you lot.. and I’ve been burnt by them too but there’s no point complaining..It’s the other 50 or more times when things went fine and I saved a packet that keep me going back to them.

I have flown with Ryanair from Spain and its never Ryanair staff at the gate!!!!! So was it not airport staff that that this sould be directed at?? I have crohns and always carry a letter from a gp in case I get stopped at security it’s common sense

This should not have happened. I use Ryan air on a regular basis and I think they are an excellent airline. They are always on time, my biggest problem is having to stand in the q and listen to all the whingers moaning about how bad they are. Why don’t they shut up and travel with aer lingus no one forced them to go with Ryan Air. They don’t want to pay for the over priced tickets that’s their problem. Ryan AIr is an example of how a company should be run. They are not perfect but the world is not perfect either but they carry more people in one month than aer lingus carry in one year do they must be doing something right

This story doesn’t really add up at all. Has anybody tried calling the special assistance line? It doesn’t take long to get through. Also, anybody who is familiar with colostomy bags knows they’re small and very discreet. I can’t understand how or why the cabin crew needed to know about it at all.

Additionally, I know several people with medical issues, including one who travels frequently on Ryanain, because they’re cheap not because they’re the only airline service a destination, with an oxygen concentrator (which requires permission and careful checking to bring on board any plane) and has never had any problems with Ryanair.

Why the attack on Ryanair staff? This was ground staff in FUE. From all the comments above it seems that other people have had problems but always at foreign airports. This was a lack of common sense from the ground handler at FUE, but because they are the agent for Ryanair, O’Leary has to stand behind them with the “Terms and Conditions”. No need to be taking it out on the hundreds of Ryanair crew that do their job properly and with the common sense needed in this situation. As always another great excuse for the usual Ryanair bashing!

For over 40 years I’ve travelled with different airlines to different destinations. If the choice is there, I Choose the airline I will use and I generally find all airline staff pretty much the same, if not courteous but professional. In my opinion, Ryanair does exactly as it claims, it gets you to the destination you paid them to take you, on time. Airline Staff throughout the world are Human and being such are prone to emotion and reaction. If they react unfavourably to a customer it’s unfortunate. They have to adhere to the rules of their Airline, a breach may result in the staff member being reprimanded or dismissed. the customer is always right does not apply with airlines and as such customers should adhere to the rules that apply to them. It cause less embarrassment for travellers and staff alike

I made a point last time about the propossed Ryan air take over of Aer lingus and how bad this would be for Aer lingus with its focus on customer care great flights and friendly staff and a great service all round a credit to Ireland let’s face it we have sod all else to be proud of here.. this woman was treated exactly as I would expect from these ass holes at Ry**air. I used to travel with them on the short hual to England through work after a hand full of attitude and crap flights I refused to board another one and paid xtra for Aer lingus out of my own wages… could you imagine if they had the monopoly their standards would drop even more

People wants pay low fare and this is what they get in change of savings few bobs. Looking forward their business closure. In general I would have to say that the Dublin airport security staff at the entrance of the boarding area are little bit grumpy and sometimes they loose that humanity touch while you are scanned and searched for any imaginary weapon that can be used for terrorism purposes.
In my personal experience with Ryanair as I am strictly follow their rules, because I don’t want to deal with any of their staff, my hand bag was in perfect size but according to an hostess she wanted to check putting into that sort of metal cage and she were little sad because she couldn’t get any extra charges off me. The worst it happened at Gatwick airport where like crows, Ryanair hostesses walk around each queue with their carton boxes to check the size of each hand bag and also during the way to the gate they are located with electronic scales like it was an ambush.

It’s time for EU politicians to introduce legislation for one price air tickets- no extras!

If I was given a ticket for nothing I would not fly with RYANAIR!! They are trained robots no manners! That poor lady…

I have travelled with both airlines as well and lost my luggage with aer lingus as well as delays on many occasions. Some of their service is better than Ryan air but you get what you pay for. The public vote with their pockets and they have not bought into the aer lingus model. It’s an over staffed badly run company and has been for a long time. It’s run by unions at the expense of the tax payer.

Empathy & Compassion =Frills aka if we decide a market exists we will kindly request you swipe card here if you wish to receive or ‘choose’ another airline… For now

Just another marketing stunt.. No such thing as bad publicity!!!

Ryanair – the private sector airline with the public sector level of service.

Except their monkeys are paid peanuts.

Don’t like Ryanair don’t fly Ryanair… 75 million people disagree with you, if she followed the rules there wouldn’t be a problem or put it in her bag.

She swore she was the only person who got humilated by Ryanair. Ryanair are a business and are there to make money. They dont care about passengers personal problems.

Ryanair. Taking the p***! or not in this case.

Colostomee, colostoyou, if podge and Roche sang it then so can you… Perhaps Ryanair’s new motto shall be “we don’t take shite from anybody.” either way a case of over the top rule implementation. Use your discretion flight crews if it’s not a security issue, a bag of crap isn’t taking the jet down

Rules are rules

There are a lot of Muslim academics who become doctors who could give medical Certs saying one of their terrorists has an colonostomy bag and they could b carrying dangerous substances .. Better b safe than upset. There is a less crude way of dealing with this tho. but michael o leary always goes for the option that will get him publicity

g