A woman was told to wear a disposable face mask already used by a stranger or face getting kicked from her flight.
The incident happened in Italy where UK-based model Bluebell Wooi was boarding a flight to the UK following a vacation in Calabria.
As the model from London explained, she was trying to board the plane when Ryanair staff told her she was required to put on a disposable surgical face mask or face getting kicked off the flight.
Even though Wooi was already wearing a reusable mask of her own at the time, the staff insisted she was required to wear a disposable one in order to fly with them.
With no surgical masks in her possession, the model was forced to ask other passengers if they could help her out. Since no one had a new surgical mask to give away, Wooi was forced to accept a mask that was already dirty and used by a complete stranger.
After complaining to the staff about her situation, the Ryanair employees allegedly insisted she would have to cope with the dirty mask if she wanted to board the aircraft.
“It was dirty and I really didn’t want to [wear a used mask]. I showed it to the Ryanair staff and was told I must wear that mask over my own,” Wooi recalled.
“I just think it’s completely bonkers. It doesn’t make any sense to wear a mask used by a stranger over my own reusable one.”
As the model went on to say, she was being forced to wear a used disposable face mask rather than her own reusable mask even though some of the Ryanair staff wore reusable face masks themselves.
“And to make things even more bonkers, all the cabin crew on board the flight were wearing reusable masks themselves, so I don’t know what it was all about,” she added.
Following the incident, a Ryanair spokesperson insisted that “in line with the requirements set out in the Italian Decree, DCPM N.15, 7 Aug, the use of surgical face masks is mandatory on all flights to, from and within Italy.”
In addition, the airline claimed that all “customers are informed of this requirement by email and SMS ahead of their journey, as failure to comply can result in passengers being denied boarding.”
Replaced!