By Noor Nanji & Faarea Masud
Business reporters, BBC News
An elderly couple have said they were “horrified” after being charged £110 by Ryanair to print their tickets at the airport.
Ruth and Peter Jaffe told the BBC they had to pay airport check-in fees after mistakenly downloading their return tickets instead of their outgoing ones.
It sparked a flurry of social media complaints about the airline’s fees.
Ryanair said the fees were in line with its policy, as the couple had failed to check-in online for the correct flight.
But consumer rights expert Martyn James said the couple’s experience had “touched a nerve” as many other people have also been hit by unexpected charges.
The Jaffes, from Ealing, were flying from Stansted Airport to Bergerac, France, on Friday.
Mrs Jaffe, 79, told the BBC’s Radio 4 Today Programme she found Ryanair’s website “very confusing” but despite this, she thought she had successfully managed to print their tickets the day before the flight.
It was only when she got to the airport that she realised she had accidentally printed the wrong tickets.
“I was then told that I had to go to the Ryanair desk to get a boarding card, and there they charged me £55 per person,” she said. “[I was] horrified.”
She added it wasn’t easy for her husband to walk from one bit of the airport to the other. “I was quite flustered and upset.”
Mr Jaffe, who’s 80, said that they had no choice but to pay, as they had people expecting them in France.
On Sunday, their daughter posted on X, the social network formerly known as Twitter, saying her mother had made “an honest mistake”.
“£110 for 2 pieces of paper which took 1 minute. Shame on you,” she told the budget airline.
She added that her parents had also had to pay an extra fee to sit next to each other, as her father has a disability.
Her post has gone viral, having been viewed more than 13 million times, with many social media users complaining of the high cost of printing boarding passes at the airport, and other “surprise” fees.
“I can feel the rage,” said one X user.
Another urged Ryanair “to do the right thing”, with a third saying: “There should be laws that protect the elderly.”
One user also pointed out that it would have been cheaper to go to the nearest stationery shop, purchase a printer and print the tickets themselves.
Asked about the huge reaction on social media, Mrs Jaffe said: “People hate Ryanair, I think.”
She went on: “If you’re elderly and haven’t been brought up using computers from day one, it can be very difficult.”
Mr Jaffe added: “It’s also the money-making aspect, like the fact we had to pay extra to sit together.”
The couple have complained to Ryanair but said they don’t expect to get anything back.
“I think they’ll say it’s in the small print and it was our fault. Which it was, but it was a genuine mistake,” Mrs Jaffe said.
‘It’s deeply unfair’
Mr James told the BBC that the couple’s experience highlighted “a real issue” about what happens if, like the Jaffes, you make a genuine mistake.
“It’s deeply unfair to penalise people who made an innocent mistake,” he said, adding that airlines should commit not to charge people in such cases.
He said that people do have options if this happens to them. They can complain to the airline, as the Jaffes have done, or take it to an alternative dispute resolution scheme or the small complaints court.
“But none of this guarantees compensation and a lot of people don’t have the time or energy,” he said. “If more people complained about a lack of transparency, more airlines start to reconsider these fees.”
Mr James said online check-ins benefit airlines, as it means they need fewer staff checking people in at the airport.
He added that these additional fees are nothing new.
“For years, airlines have been stripping out things that used to be free, and charging for them,” he said.
“[This story] resonates with people because they’re angry they’ve been hit with these prices too – whether it’s luggage charges, paying to sit next to your family, or something else.”
Ryanair said in a statement: “In accordance with Ryanair’s T&C’s, which these passengers agreed to at the time of booking, they failed to check-in online before arriving at Stansted airport (11 Aug) despite receiving an email reminder (10 Aug) to check-in online. These passengers were correctly charged the airport check-in fee (£55 per pax).
“All passengers travelling with Ryanair agree to check-in online before arriving at their departure airport and all passengers are sent an email/SMS, reminding them to do so 24hrs before departure.
“We regret that these passengers ignored their email reminder and failed to check-in online.”
Ryanair is not the only airline with an airport check-in fee – Wizz Air charges €40 to check in at the airport.
Other airlines such as EasyJet, British Airways, Jet2 and Aer Lingus don’t charge anything if you need to check in at the airport. They all have mobile check-in options, but if you miss the deadlines, it won’t cost you.
Additional reporting by Ez Roberts.
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