A young Spanish woman took to social media to denounce Ryanair after the airline's staff prevented her from attending her grandfather's funeral. Carmen Díaz Guadamuro, who resides in Brussels, shared her experience in a TikTok video that accumulated more than a million views, according to Mundo Deportivo.
Díaz explained that on June 6, she received news that her grandfather was sedated in the hospital and had only a few days left to live. Prompted by the urgency of the situation, she purchased a flight to Asturias for 285 euros, according to La Vanguardia.
The preparation of this article relied on a news-analysis system.
The following day, when she arrived at the airport, she encountered a problem related to the dimensions of her carry-on luggage. A Ryanair employee demanded that she pay an additional 60 euros because her backpack did not fit horizontally in the measuring device, even though it did fit vertically. Despite believing the fee was excessive after paying almost 300 euros for the flight, she agreed to pay it.
"After 10 minutes waiting to pay with the credit card in hand, she tells me that she has already closed the door, that she has unboarded me, and that I can no longer enter the plane even paying," said Díaz. She claimed that Ryanair staff kept her apart from the other passengers and later informed her that the boarding gate had closed, preventing her from flying.
Díaz was unable to say goodbye to her grandfather due to the situation. "I explained to the flight attendants with tears in my eyes that my grandfather was dying and I wanted to get to Asturias to say goodbye to him. They didn't care. I lost the flight, the money, and worst of all, I lost the opportunity to say goodbye to my grandfather," said Díaz, according to La Vanguardia.
She also emphasized the poor management by the airline, noting that they did not give her any solution to catch that flight or any other. "Nobody gave me a solution to take that or any other flight, there wasn't even a Ryanair counter at that airport, because they prefer to save costs. I wrote complaints and nobody has answered me yet. The rights of passengers must be above the profits of airlines. I ask for an apology and compensation," she concluded, according to La Vanguardia.
In her video, which lasts almost four minutes, Díaz details how the airline denied her access to the plane, reported Mundo Deportivo. She denounced the injustice of her situation and noted that soon the European Parliament would vote on whether each airline can decide on its own baggage policies.
Díaz believes that allowing airlines to decide their own baggage policies is a danger because "passengers' rights must be above airlines' profits," as stated in El Mundo. She had not received any message from Ryanair regarding her situation and wrote to the airline to complain but was still waiting for a response, according to Mundo Deportivo.
Thanks to an airport employee, Díaz was able to see that in the official documentation it stated that she had not boarded the flight because she had refused to pay, according to La Vanguardia.