Ryanair refused to board us over confusing rule - 'I felt like a second-class citizen'

A family from Ireland has spoken out after they claimed Ryanair refused to let them board a flight from London to Dublin, erroneously informing them they needed a visa to travel from the UK to Ireland. Christina Finn and her husband, Cameron, were forced to miss their return trip to Dublin following a CBeebies event in London with their infant son when they were turned away by the budget carrier at Stansted Airport.

The pair had travelled trouble-free to London from Belfast on Friday but encountered issues when attempting to return home.

Christian said: "We had flown to London on Friday morning from Belfast for a meeting with the BBC, and we were to fly home from London to Dublin and then get the bus up to Belfast as that was the cheapest option, and it is something we would do all the time."

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The couple's journey hit a hitch when they struggled to check-in online due to technical issues which Christina initially thought were caused by her mobile phone, reports the Irish Mirror.

Stranded with their ill five-month-old baby who requires regular medication, Christina emphasised the urgency of their need to return home.

Christina said: "When we went to check in on the app, it wouldn't let me click through to our booking at all and I thought the issue was with my phone so when we got to the airport, we had to check in at the desk where we then had to pay a fine for not checking in online."

Following the unexpected check-in fee at the airport, Christina explained that the Ryanair representative asked to see their passports, despite having used their driving licences for the outbound easyJet flight, and offered their slightly expired passports as identification.

"My husband has an Irish passport and I have a British one, which have both recently expired. With the baby due, we were waiting until he was born to renew them so that we could just do it at the same time.

"We informed the staff that we had flown over on our driving licences so he took them away and came back with a man who told us that because my husband has an expired Irish passport, he would be allowed on the flight to Dublin but as my passport was a British one they couldn't let me on the plane.

"The staff informed me that as a UK citizen I would need a visa to travel to Ireland as it is in the EU and I tried to explain to them that that wouldn't apply due to the Common Travel Area.

"I told him that we lived in Northern Ireland and he then questioned how I had a British passport and couldn't seem to understand that it was a pretty common thing for people to fly to Dublin then travel on to Belfast. He also said that we would need to have evidence that we had booked onward travel from Dublin to Belfast.

"As I questioned it, he said that he was speaking to someone on the phone who told him that if they let us on the plane and if we arrived in Dublin we would be stopped at passport control and the airline would be fined between £500 and £1000 for allowing me on the plane without a valid passport."

Christina revealed that the staff member advised the only solution to their problem would be to book a new direct flight to Belfast, which would cost them €580 (£554).

In a frustrating situation, Christina had to turn to her mother for help with the flight costs. While sorting things out, her mother checked the official government website and found something that surprised them both.

"We had to borrow the money from my mum for the flights and while I was on the phone to her she looked up the Government website which stated that you did not need a passport or visa to travel between the UK and Ireland.

"She sent me a screenshot of this which I showed to the man and he said he would look into it then he walked away."

Determined to get to the bottom of the issue, Christina phoned the British embassy in Dublin who referred her to their Irish counterparts in London.

She said: "I decided to ring the British embassy in Dublin who directed me to call the Irish embassy in London and the woman on the phone was horrified.

"She said that there was no requirement for people to have a passport for travelling between the UK and Ireland and that there was also no need for a visa."

However, to her dismay, she discovered that Ryanair's own rules played a significant role in her travel woes. "However, she explained that Ryanair could have its own policy requiring travellers to have a passport."

Feeling mistreated, Christina recounted how the incident left her feeling less than respected. A Ryanair spokesperson defended the airline's position, emphasising their policy and the customers' agreement to it.

"In accordance with Ryanair's TandC's, which these passengers agreed to at the time of booking, these passengers failed to check-in online before arriving at London Stansted Airport (5 June).

"Therefore, these passengers were correctly asked to pay the required airport check-in fee (£55 per passenger), however refused to do so, and became aggressive towards the agents at the check in desk at London Stansted Airport."

They further reiterated the importance of abiding by their procedures. "All passengers travelling with Ryanair agree to check-in online before arriving at their departure airport and all passengers are sent an email reminding them to do so 24hrs before departure.

"These passengers were subsequently correctly denied boarding to this flight from London Stansted to Dublin (5 June) as these passengers' passports did not meet the requirements for travel as both passports had expired in 2024.

"It is each passenger's responsibility to ensure that their passport is valid for travel in line with the relevant State requirements at the time of travel. These requirements are clearly set out on Ryanair.com, and passengers are reminded with pop-up messages during booking.

"Passengers travelling between Ireland and the UK are required to carry a valid passport for travel. Therefore, as these passengers did not present a valid passport for this flight from London Stansted to Dublin Airport, they were correctly denied boarding."