Budget airline Ryanair allegedly turned away a fleeing Ukrainian family hoping to arrive safely in the UK after uprooting from their bombed home in Kyiv, because they were unable to print their boarding passes in advance.
It has been reported that since the family was unable to print their boarding passes in advance, check-in staff demanded a £50 ($65) boarding card reissue fee which they didn’t have the funds to pay as they left their country with nothing.
Venera Muminova, 30, her husband Azamat, 31, and two-year-old daughter Kamila were granted emergency visas late last week from the Home Office. Under the Homes for Ukraine scheme, the family was offered a place to stay by hosts Michelina and Richard Primrose in Nottingham, UK.
En route to London Stanstead, the Muminovas were held for almost two hours by airline staff, who questioned Azamat, a Ukrainian citizen, about his Turkmenistan passport and British refugee visa, according to the Daily Mail. The family then missed their flight from Poland to London as a result of this delay.
Luckily, Venera was able to call the host family explaining the situation and the Primroses agreed to pay the fees by credit card over the phone.
Michelina Primrose, a support worker in a children’s hospice, told the Daily Mail that she was “disgusted” by Ryanair’s treatment of the family’s situation.
“Their daughter was in the hospital with dehydration a couple of weeks ago and I know how quickly children can deteriorate,” Michelina said. “We linked up with the family on Facebook about a month ago and managed to get them through the visa process, which wasn’t easy.”
“They haven’t got much money and we were happy to pay for their flights, but now we’ve had to pay double, about £550 [$720], because of this morning’s flight” she continued.
A spokesperson for Ryanair said: “Ryanair is accommodating thousands of Ukrainian refugees on its flights from neighboring countries Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland. As a Turkmenistan citizen, Mr Muminov was not a “Ukrainian refugee”, and we sincerely regret the visa difficulties encountered by this Turkmenistan citizen in Krakow Airport, however we repeat that he was not charged a boarding card re-issue fee and the only reason he missed his early morning departure from Krakow was the time necessary to check his Turkmenistan passport and visa to travel to the UK.”
Ryanair have since offered to refund the Primroses’ expense.
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