A disabled woman was denied a boarding pass for her Ryanair flight and was told to ‘find another airline’ because her wheelchair would not fit in the hold.
Belen Hueso was about to fly from Seville in the southern Spanish region of Andalusia to her home city of Valencia in the same region.
However, the woman claimed that Ryanair refused to let her fly with her wheelchair as it would not fit in the hold and she was asked to ‘find another airline’.
Belen Hueso, who suffers from Friedreich’s ataxia, said: “They told me ‘go and look for another company.”
The airline even refused to refund her €70 (£85) but when the story went viral online, the company was forced to refund the amount.
A Ryanair spokeswoman later clarified: “This has been resolved with the customer directly, and a full refund has been processed. Per our terms and conditions, the dimensions of wheelchairs when collapsed must not exceed 81cms (height), 119cms (width) and 119cms (depth).”
“Unfortunately, in this case the customer’s wheelchair exceeded these dimensions. We regret any inconvenience caused.”
Hueso told local media that this is the first time she had to experience such a thing. She said: “I wish these things never happened to us. Maybe nobody complained or the rules were set up this year.”
The woman has also said that she will now fly with Vueling as they have no problem to take the wheelchair.
She said: “It costs double but they say there is no problem.”
Hueso, who suffers from Friedreich’s ataxia, published a book named ‘Los Musculos de la Sonrisa’ (The Smile Muscles) a year ago.
In her book, she told how she has lived her life with the disease since she was a child.
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