A disability rights advocate has accused Ryanair of breaking her wheelchair during her journey from Dublin to Amsterdam.
Niamh Ní Hoireabhaird said her “worst fear came true” on Tuesday (30 August) when the electric wheelchair she relies on was found to be damaged after the flight.
Passengers cannot take electric wheelchairs or mobility scooters into aircraft cabins. They have to use mechanical airport wheelchairs until theirs are returned to them when they reach their destinations.
Ms Ní Hoireabhaird said the damage caused to her wheelchair that she discovered on arrival at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, has left her dependent on others, with little support from Ryanair’s customer service.
She had flown from Dublin to Amsterdam with the airline to start her second year of a journalism master’s degree in the city.
“Up until I got on the plane my wheelchair was working. But, when I got off, it was turning on but showing up an error screen – so I knew something was wrong,” she told The Independent.
“I’ve had problems with lost baggage before, so I knew to go to the desk at the airport. But the flight had been delayed by around an hour and 10 minutes, and then special assistance staff [at Schiphol] took a while to get me off the plane.
“So, by the time I collected my bags, it was 11pm and the Ryanair desk was closed.
“I knew that would create a problem for me. When you fill out Ryanair’s report form online, you need to fill out a report number from speaking to them at the desk.”
She says the wire that connects the electric system on her wheelchair to the wheels appears to have been severed during her journey.
But when she contacted Ryanair’s customer service, she could neither get through to a real person nor select her damaged mobility device as the problem, she said.
“The person I spoke to on Twitter direct messages – I assume it is a person, but it felt more like a bot,” she said.
“They sent me the claim form for lost or damaged baggage but they don’t seem to understand that this is not damaged baggage, these are my legs.”
The customer service representative told Ms Ní Hoireabhaird that Ryanair would respond to her enquiry within seven working days, “which could be into the week after next”. She said that, in the meantime, she’s reliant on friends at university, and her boyfriend who is visiting, to get around.
“I don’t have the time to sit around and wait for a response from Ryanair. I live in the same building…
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