A 55-year-old woman named Ann-Marie Murray from Gloucester was escorted off a Ryanair flight by police after she found herself in a disagreement over payment for a tube of Pringles. The incident unfolded when she was unable to settle the £7 bill for the snacks she had consumed from the in-flight trolley.
Ann-Marie had ordered Pringles, water, and a cola during a flight from Tenerife to Bristol on March 28. However, she ran into trouble when the in-flight card machine declined her payment and she had no cash on hand. This led to the intervention of three police officers who escorted her off the aircraft.
While the airline claimed that the passenger had become disruptive, Ann-Marie refuted these allegations, stating that she had made sincere efforts to pay for her items but was unsuccessful due to issues with the card machine. She even offered to settle the payment upon landing, but this was not accepted. Furthermore, she expressed her embarrassment at the turn of events, which had a significant impact on her birthday celebration trip to the Canary Islands.
Recounting another instance of a fellow passenger struggling with a similar card payment issue on a previous Ryanair flight, Ann-Marie expressed her disappointment with the airline’s handling of the situation. Following the involvement of the police, she was eventually able to settle the £7 bill at a cash machine.
Despite being informed that she was banned from flying with Ryanair, Ann-Marie expressed her reluctance to fly with the airline again after the distressing ordeal.
In response, the Avon and Somerset Police stated that the incident was related to a civil dispute, and no further action was taken. Meanwhile, Ryanair emphasized its zero-tolerance policy towards passenger misconduct and its commitment to ensuring a safe and respectful travel environment for all passengers and crew.