Michael O'Leary, the over-the-top CEO of Irish-based airline Ryanair, is at it again. This time he has called thousands of passengers "idiots" and saying they are "stupid" for not printing their boarding passes ahead of time, and therefore having to pay at the airport, reports the Mirror.
His rant was prompted by the case of Suzy McLeod, who was charged €300 to print out five boarding passes before an Alicante to Bristol flight, according to the Telegraph.
McLeod did print out boarding passes in advance of her family's Bristol to Alicante flight. But, since Ryanair only allows boarding passes to be printed up to two weeks prior to departure and the family would be in Spain more than two weeks, she couldn't print passes for their return. To make matters more difficult, they were staying at a rural villa with no internet connection, the Mirror reports.
McLeod took to Facebook to share her grievances, getting 500,000 "likes" of support. However, O'Leary had this to say in response:
We think Mrs McLeod should pay 60 euros for being so stupid. She wasn’t able to print her boarding card because, as you know, there are no internet cafes in Alicante, no hotels where they could print them out for you, and you couldn’t get to a fax machine so some friend at home can print them and fax them to you.
According to The Independent, O'Leary claims that 99.98 percent of passengers print their boarding passes in advance. To those who don't, he says "bugger off." As for McLeod: "It was your f**k-up," he said.
Gripes over Ryanair's boarding pass fee are nothing new. Last year, singer Lily Allen took to twitter to complain about having to pay £40 to print out her boarding pass. Also last year, a Spanish judge knocked down the fee, saying airlines, not passengers, are obliged to issue boarding cards.
As for another crazy fee, Ryanair was being investigated by the Irish Aviation Authority due to concerns that it is not allowing passengers to sit in the emergency rows unless they pay a fee.
Related
Before You Go
