RYANAIR HAS APOLOGISED to a UK customer after refusing to give him a refund on a ticket he had bought for his deceased mother because she didn’t die closer to the date of the flight.

Yesterday The Huffington Post reported that Doug Parsons had been hoping to take his mother, who had terminal cancer, on one last holiday and booked flights for them both on an October flight to Fuerteverntura. Parsons’s mother passed away in June and when Ryanair was contacted for a refund of her £200 share in airfares, the airline refused.

In a letter, it expressed its condolences but said its terms and conditions dictated that refunds are only given in the case of bereavement within twenty eight days of intended travel.

When contacted by TheJournal.ie about the incident, Ryanair said that the issue has now been resolved with the passenger.

Spokesperson Robin Kiely said the airline has already written to Parsons, “apologising for the incorrect reply he received on 6 August from our Customer Services Department”.

“He was entitled to a full refund, and this has now been sent to him, with our sincere apologies for the incorrect letter and inconvenience to him and his family,” he added.

Parsons had been planning to strap his mother’s ashes to his chest before the flight and place them on the seat he’d booked for her.

Read: Ryanair loses ECJ case on reimbursing costs for stranded passengers>

Read: 69-year-old woman “humiliated” by Ryanair over colostomy bag ordeal>