Ryanair today defended its policy on disabled passengers after it was criticised for ejecting nine blind and partially sighted holiday-makers from one of its flights.
Nine blind and partially sighted holiday-makers were escorted off a Ryanair flight
The passengers, from Britain, were escorted from the aircraft minutes before take-off from Stansted airport as the airline's safety rules limit the number of "disabled/mobility-impaired" passengers to four per flight.
Beryl Barton, one of the blind passengers
Some of the holiday-makers, who were on their way to Italy, waited six hours for another flight, while others were forced to sleep on the airport floor overnight.
"It was dreadful. You felt like a criminal. We were all devastated," Beryl Barton, one of the blind passengers, was quoted as saying.
Ryanair said it was sticking to its policy, which was intended to ensure crew could attend to disabled passengers individually in the case of emergency evacuations.
The airline said the nine were asked to take a later flight because they did not, as required, notify Ryanair of their disability at the time of booking and because there were already three disabled passengers on board.
"It would have been unsafe to allow a total of 12 disabled/reduced-mobility passengers to travel on board the flight . . . .
Ryanair's number one priority at all times is the safety of its passengers and crew," it said in a statement.
The Royal National Institute for the Blind said it had received a number of complaints about the way the company dealt with passengers with sight difficulties, but it could find no record of complaints about any other airline.
PA/Reuters