A couple have told how they felt held to ransom by Ryanair after they were kicked off a flight to their dream holiday because they hadn’t paid extra to book their own seats – saying: ‘when you book a flight, you assume you will get a seat.’
Scott McCormick, 33, and Helena Borthwick, 32, had already paid the low cost carrier £384.55 for the return flights from Birmingham to Mallorca in Spain – their first trip abroad in two-and-a-half years.
Speaking exclusively to MailOnline following the disappointment, the young couple said they were ‘shocked’ to discover buying a ticket didn’t guarantee them a place on the plane.
Helena said: ‘The first thing they said to us is ‘you’re not both getting on this plane’.
‘I had no idea this could happen once we’d booked the tickets. When you pay for a flight you assume you will get a seat. I have never heard of someone getting kicked off a flight because they hadn’t reserved a seat.
‘I had a bit of a meltdown and was in tears because the flight was at 7am and we had to be awake at 2am, I’d only had three hours sleep and with everything going on work-wise it just got to me.
‘I immediately heard ‘you’re not going on holiday at all’ but we’d already spent a lot of money, maybe £2,000 on hotel, excursions and a dog-sitter and this just felt like the worst case scenario.’
They had chosen not to pre-book seats – normally costing between £4.50 and £33 each – to save money and were fully prepared to sit apart during the two-hour flight on May 1.
Despite checking in online the night before and being the first to arrive at the gate they were made to wait until everybody else had boarded before being told the airline had swapped planes for a smaller one, leaving only one seat available between them.
The couple were then given the choice of only one of them traveling on their booked flight or both catching a later flight – which they did after being assured they would be switched over for free.
But when they returned to the ticket office they were made to pay an extra £100 because staff argued only one of them had been cancelled and the other had chosen not to fly.
Meanwhile, they say the whole plane was delayed for 90 minutes while ground crew found and removed their checked-in bags.
Scott said: ‘We didn’t reserve seats because we didn’t have to, it’d never been an issue before but at the gate they told us because we hadn’t reserved seats there was only one remaining seat. It just feels like a scam by Ryanair.
‘There was just a complete lack of empathy, it was just ‘you’re not going to Spain, go away’.
‘We’d been fine to sit apart for two hours on the flight but we weren’t going to take separate flights and be in different countries for hours.
‘At the gate they told us if we wouldn’t separate we would be on the next flight at no extra cost and sent us down to the ticket office, at that point I asked for some proof but they just said it was written on the system.
‘But when we went down there they accused us of bending the truth and argued one of us had chosen not to fly so would have to pay an extra £100.’
The couple’s week-long break included a business mentorship event for their Birmingham-based More Life Coaching business and as a result of catching a flight four hours later they missed an important networking event.
Fitness fanatic Scott said he hoped never to fly with Ryanair again but accepted that they hold such a monopoly over some routes he may be forced to.
He said: ‘Ryanair should have asked all passengers if anyone would like to volunteer their seats.
‘It felt like discrimination, how do they pick out these people, is it because we’re young and we have no kids so there’s just two of us, is it to do with something we don’t see or understand.
When Scott shared his ordeal on social media, many were shocked to hear that airlines might overbook a flight – though some suggested reserving a seat can help avoid being ‘singled out’ for not getting aboard.
One person said: ‘Prepay for a seat, then problem solved. ALL airlines do this.’
When someone suggested queuing early to ensure you get a seat, another swiped: ‘Or just book your seat.’
A third wrote: ‘This is crazy! Surely if you pay and don’t reserve a seat, you still paid with the intention of getting on a flight how can they not allow you on?’
A fourth echoed the opinion of many commenters and said: ‘Why do people still fly with Ryanair? It blows my mind! It’s the most awful airline.’
Ryanair have been contacted for comment.
