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Should Ryanair have charged this very tall lad for extra legroom?
blueblade
Yesterday, 13:53
Jordan Hamilton is 19 and suffers from Klinefelters Syndrome, which means that his limbs grow abnormally large. As a result he's nearly 7' tall. Ryanair charged him for extra legroom on one of their flights recently - was this fair? He is registered disabled and also has learning difficulties.

Jordan says that Easyjet do not charge him extra.

I know this debate about charging for extra space in aircraft, has arisen before, but usually it is regarding very overweight individuals who take up nearly two seats.

link

Quote:
“The 19-year-old, his mother Dianah, 54, and sisters Samantha, 32, and Jenny, 33, are hoping to fly from Belfast to Malaga in Spain for two days next Thursday to celebrate Jenny's birthday.

Normally, the family from Belfast fly with easyJet, who are happy to oblige and let Jordan sit in the front row free of charge, Jenny said.

But when she phoned Ryanair and explained her brother needs to sit at the front to accommodate his legs, the airline insisted he pay £15 each way for the privilege.

A Ryanair spokesman said: 'While we regret any inconvenience caused, for safety reasons Ryanair does not permit the carriage of customers who require special assistance to sit in our emergency exit rows.'”

chrisbartley
Yesterday, 14:07
Even Emirates and BA are charging £20 now for 'normal' passengers to choose their seat, so not as if he was being discriminated against
D_Mcd4
Yesterday, 14:20
It's Ryanair. What did they expect?
Ashenden
Yesterday, 14:22
I think there may be something lost in the reporting here;
If Ryanair are saying that passengers requiring assistance cannot sit in the exit rows (standard with all airlines), they are not going to charge him an amount to sit there.

Assuming on the other hand, that he does not require assistance, then Ryanair would be opening a can of worms - how do you determine how tall is too tall? They would be coming up against similar claims every day - where would you draw the line?
mcal
Yesterday, 14:24
I'm extremely tall and always pay for extra legroom with Ryanair, should I get it free because I was born to be genetically tall?
walterwhite
Yesterday, 14:28
It's a very difficult one. Ryanair staff probably don't get trained for this scenario, so I don't think we should blame them.
Sassernach
Yesterday, 14:31
Originally Posted by blueblade:
“Jordan Hamilton is 19 and suffers from Klinefelters Syndrome, which means that his limbs grow abnormally large. As a result he's nearly 7' tall. Ryanair charged him for extra legroom on one of their flights recently - was this fair? He is registered disabled and also has learning difficulties.

Jordan says that Easyjet do not charge him extra.

I know this debate about charging for extra space in aircraft, has arisen before, but usually it is regarding very overweight individuals who take up nearly two seats.

link”


I cannot see why they needed to charge him when the seat was a necessity.
Ryan air are building themselves a bad reputation. They should have accommodated his needs as a registered disabled person. They also should have asked for wheel chair assistance so he could board first, It is a sad time when our own Country attacks and causes problems for disabled people. I have to say British Airways have always been excellent. When returning in a wheel chair with broken leg after being delayed in Spain due to miscarriage they moved us up to first class when travelling back via London and gave us good seats without asking or expecting it. Free drinks and food thrown in.

The world needs to think about how we treat our disabled and how we accommodate them at such times. People I have traveled with have been treated well as a rule with other companies. May be Ryan Air have not trained their staff correctly. But the airport staff are excellent to all intents and purposes with disabled people.
D_Mcd4
Yesterday, 14:32
Originally Posted by walterwhite:
“It's a very difficult one. Ryanair staff probably don't get trained for this scenario, so I don't think we should blame them.”

Yes, Ryanair is cheap, no frills and very much "one size fits all". Anything out the ordinary flummoxes them!
walterwhite
Yesterday, 14:34
Originally Posted by Ashenden:
“I think there may be something lost in the reporting here;
If Ryanair are saying that passengers requiring assistance cannot sit in the exit rows (standard with all airlines), they are not going to charge him an amount to sit there.

Assuming on the other hand, that he does not require assistance, then Ryanair would be opening a can of worms - how do you determine how tall is too tall? They would be coming up against similar claims every day - where would you draw the line?”

Yes, their response seems to imply they refused to allow him to sit there, while his side of it is that he was told to pay.
walterwhite
Yesterday, 14:35
Originally Posted by D_Mcd4:
“Yes, Ryanair is cheap, no frills and very much "one size fits all". Anything out the ordinary flummoxes them!”

It is a pretty unusual request.

However, the two parties are contradicting each other completely.
GusGus
Yesterday, 15:49
Originally Posted by Sassernach:
“I cannot see why they needed to charge him when the seat was a necessity.
Ryan air are building themselves a bad reputation. They should have accommodated his needs as a registered disabled person. They also should have asked for wheel chair assistance so he could board first, It is a sad time when our own Country attacks and causes problems for disabled people. I have to say British Airways have always been excellent. When returning in a wheel chair with broken leg after being delayed in Spain due to miscarriage they moved us up to first class when travelling back via London and gave us good seats without asking or expecting it. Free drinks and food thrown in.

The world needs to think about how we treat our disabled and how we accommodate them at such times. People I have traveled with have been treated well as a rule with other companies. May be Ryan Air have not trained their staff correctly. But the airport staff are excellent to all intents and purposes with disabled people.”


I always pay extra to get the front seats and extra leg room with whichever airline I travel with, I find the usual seats too claustrophobic. That is my choice
Regarding disabled travellers I think this is becoming a bit much. Recently at Alicante airport we were queuing to check in behind a young couple who were larking about in the usual way young couples do. Eventually they were called forward where they seemed to take for ever until they finally went running off in the opposite direction to the normal way
Queuing again to board, along came this couple, each in a wheelchair and with a minder to be boarded first. I nearly challenged them, in fact I now wish I had
I have noticed on other occasions that assisted boarders seem to make a miraculous improvement once on board and in flight
Ashenden
Yesterday, 16:45
Originally Posted by Sassernach:
“I cannot see why they needed to charge him when the seat was a necessity.
Ryan air are building themselves a bad reputation. They should have accommodated his needs as a registered disabled person. They also should have asked for wheel chair assistance so he could board first, It is a sad time when our own Country attacks and causes problems for disabled people. I have to say British Airways have always been excellent. When returning in a wheel chair with broken leg after being delayed in Spain due to miscarriage they moved us up to first class when travelling back via London and gave us good seats without asking or expecting it. Free drinks and food thrown in.

The world needs to think about how we treat our disabled and how we accommodate them at such times. People I have traveled with have been treated well as a rule with other companies. May be Ryan Air have not trained their staff correctly. But the airport staff are excellent to all intents and purposes with disabled people.”

Do British Airways still have First Class on flights to Spain?
Whenever I've travelled there with BA or Iberia, there has only been Economy and Business Class and apart from getting a spare seat next to you, BC hasn't had much of an advantage, leg room wise.
andy1231
Yesterday, 16:50
My son is 6'4" and always books the extra legroom seats and is quite happy to pay for it.
Nakatomi
Yesterday, 16:51
I'm a genetically tall person and always pay extra for more legroom. Just like if you are overweight, you might need to pay for two seats.

Personally I wouldn't fly with RyanAir anyway, but you can't really expect a low-cost airline to accommodate something that rarely happens.

Whilst he might be disabled (you can't be registered disabled, no such register exists) it does seem like this is something that doesn't really impact him that much other than his height. If it was a wheelchair user, it'd be different.
droogiefret
Yesterday, 17:10
RyanAir cut their processes to the bone.

I recently had to cancel a trip to Ireland and phoned them up to cancel my flight booking - not to receive any money back, just to save them having to call my name unnecessarily over the tannoy.

They explained to me that they have no cancellation process - they can't record that you are not going to turn up.
Hobbit Feet
Yesterday, 17:22
presumably he gets disability payments of some kind as he has a condition for life, surely this is exactly what he should be using them for

if he genuinely does need extra room and it isn't just a money grabbing exercise by the airline I don't see what the issue is
Hobbit Feet
Yesterday, 17:27
Originally Posted by Nakatomi:
“I'm a genetically tall person and always pay extra for more legroom. Just like if you are overweight, you might need to pay for two seats.

Personally I wouldn't fly with RyanAir anyway, but you can't really expect a low-cost airline to accommodate something that rarely happens.

Whilst he might be disabled (you can't be registered disabled, no such register exists) it does seem like this is something that doesn't really impact him that much other than his height. If it was a wheelchair user, it'd be different.”

of course being registered disabled is a thing

do you think it's like a big book somewhere? registering as disabled is taken to mean that you officially declare your condition for some reason

ie registering with your local authority (via an opthalmologist) as sight-impaired in order to recieve a blue badge
Nakatomi
Yesterday, 17:31
Originally Posted by Hobbit Feet:
“of course being registered disabled is a thing

do you think it's like a big book somewhere? registering as disabled is taken to mean that you officially declare your condition for some reason

ie registering with your local authority (via an opthalmologist) as sight-impaired in order to recieve a blue badge”

You're only registered disabled if you get the blue badge, technically. Which would require the lad to get PIP. That's why I thought he wasn't getting PIP - this is exactly what it's meant to pay for.

As I said, 'registered disabled' isn't a thing. If you're blind there is actually a national database of that, but there isn't for disabled people.
TerraCanis
Yesterday, 17:32
I'm just amazed that Ryanair don't charge extra for any seat. Everyone else gets to hang from a strap attached to the ceiling.
Hobbit Feet
Yesterday, 17:36
Originally Posted by Nakatomi:
“
As I said, 'registered disabled' isn't a thing. If you're blind there is actually a national database of that, but there isn't for disabled people.”

you can also be registered as deaf, it was just an example
Hilary22cat
Yesterday, 18:40
Originally Posted by Sassernach:
“I cannot see why they needed to charge him when the seat was a necessity.
Ryan air are building themselves a bad reputation. They should have accommodated his needs as a registered disabled person. They also should have asked for wheel chair assistance so he could board first, It is a sad time when our own Country attacks and causes problems for disabled people.”

You cant request wheelchair assistance at the airport AND book the extra leg room seats next to the exit on the flight. Not on Ryanair anyway - i know, i tried a few months ago. Its either/or.
If you qualify for assistance they don't want you potentially blocking the exit which is fair enough.
blueblade
Yesterday, 19:16
Originally Posted by Nakatomi:
“You're only registered disabled if you get the blue badge, technically. Which would require the lad to get PIP. That's why I thought he wasn't getting PIP - this is exactly what it's meant to pay for.

As I said, 'registered disabled' isn't a thing. If you're blind there is actually a national database of that, but there isn't for disabled people.”

You can have a condition which is classed as a disability under the Equality Act 2010. I suspect this is what Jason has.

link

Quote:
“You’re disabled under the Equality Act 2010 if you have a physical or mental impairment that has a ‘substantial’ and ‘long-term’ negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities.”

Blofeld
Yesterday, 21:01
I work in the industry so I am maybe able to offer another angle here.

On easyJet the front row is not considered an emergency exit row as thier cabin layout on their Airbus A319/20 fleet have a divider between the front row and the door. I am quite surprised to see that he is happy with these seats anyway as they really don't offer much, if any, extra leg room.

Ryanairs 737s have no such divider and as such, their row 1 is classed as an emergency exit. Under no circumstances could someone registered as disabled sit in an emergency exit row as the person operating it has to be fit and ready to help out in an emergency. It doesn't matter if he is actually fit and doesn't need a wheelchair, the fact he is openly telling them he is disabled prevents them from seating him there for the safety of others. If anything were to go wrong and the exit wasn't opened in time and it turned out they sat a registered disabled man in the exit row, that would not be looked upon favourably by the CAA.

So comparing these airlines like this is lazy journalism.

As for upgrades for disabled people, I've never seen such a thing on the numerous airlines I have worked with over the last 7 years. Same with people who want the exit row "for their bad leg, or bad back, or they just had surgery". All of those things will automatically exclude you from sitting in an exit row because you're openly declaring you're not fit.
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