I think Ryanair is taking lessons from American Airlines on how to mistreat flying passengers. Instead of graciously offering a drink to folks returning home aboard its aircraft, Ryanair chose to have them arrested by police. All for $9 worth of drinks and snacks.
Still, not having $9 cash on you when flying from Spain to England sounds odd. But that is probably the clientele that Ryanair attracts: pennyless voyagers!
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Moná Thomas
Wed, April 9, 2025
A Couple Ordered Pringles, a Coke and a Water on Their Flight. Then They Were Escorted Off the Plane by Police
Ann-Marie Murray, 55, says her credit card wouldn't swipe on a recent Ryanair flight, and the repercussions weren't what she or her fellow passengers anticipated
A British couple learned the hard way that the price of airplane snacks might be their dignity.
On March 28, a couple was escorted off their Ryanair flight from Tenerife, Spain en route to Bristol, U.K. after being unable to pay for the snacks they acquired onboard, according to a report from SWNS via the New York Post,
The wife, Ann-Marie Murray, 55, ordered Pringles, a bottle of water, and a Coca-Cola for nearly $9, but when she went to pay, she claims, the in-flight payment system wasn’t accepting her credit card and the couple didn’t have enough cash between them to pay.
Murray’s husband offered to pay for the snacks when they landed in Bristol, however, the flight crew reportedly declined this alternative and accused the couple of “refusing to pay.” The passengers alleged that the crew took their boarding passes and told them that the police would be waiting for them when they touched down in the U.K.
As promised, the police boarded the aircraft when it landed at Bristol Airport.
“I thought it was a joke when the crew said they had called the police,” she explained. “I was shocked when the police came on board and we were asked to leave. It was so embarrassing. I had done everything I could to resolve it.”
SWNS Cop looking at passenger from front seat of police van
In a statement from Ryanair obtained by PEOPLE, a spokesperson said, “The crew of this flight from Tenerife to Bristol called ahead for police assistance after a passenger and her travel companion failed to pay for their food and drinks onboard, and as a result, became disruptive toward crew and failed to follow reasonable crew requests.”
Murray claims that she “wasn’t disruptive,” per SWNS, and that “there were no raised voices” between her and her husband and the flight crew.
In a video of the altercation obtained by PEOPLE, Murray could be heard telling the police officers that the situation was “a silly misunderstanding.” She also added that a pair of passengers on their flight informed her and her husband that the card payment system had been broken on a previous flight as well.
However, the airline refuted the claim that the payment system was malfunctioning, alleging, “There were no issues with the card payment terminals on board this flight and no other passenger encountered any difficulty making payments.”
Murray said she also asked for CCTV footage of the incident, but was allegedly told that the airline could not release the video.
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