Son not allowed on flight, misses father's removal

An Irish teenager living in Britain missed part of his father's funeral last week after Ryanair refused to allow him to board a flight to Knock because he had no picture identification.

His father's body was on the same flight.

The airline refused to allow Mr Daniel Shiel (19) to transfer his ticket to a later flight until after all of his siblings had left the airport on the flight to Ireland.

Ryanair then charged him £40 (€61) to transfer the ticket to a flight to Shannon almost six hours later after a family friend drove from Bristol to London with his photo identification.

Ryanair said the requirement for passengers to carry photo identification forms part of its commitment to security. It said all passengers could change the details of their tickets as long as they did it three hours before their flight.

"Prior to booking, Ryanair passengers are clearly advised of all the terms and conditions," it said in a statement.

Mr Shiel was travelling to Ireland last Saturday with 12 other family members from Stansted airport in London to Knock. They were bound for Swinford, Co Mayo, where they were to bury their father who died in Bristol on December 29th.

The removal to a church in Swinford was to take place just hours after the family's aircraft was due to touch down in Knock.

Mr Shiel said when the party were checking in for the flight he discovered he did not have photo identification. When the family tried to explain their predicament to Ryanair, he said they were treated very insensitively.

"At first I panicked when I didn't have the ID, but then I just thought there was no way they'd stop me getting on the plane, what with dad's remains being on board and us going to his removal that night," he said. "But we were just simply told that I wouldn't be travelling. Every time we tried to speak to them they just rattled off like robots the reasons why I couldn't travel and then they walked away. It was like they were just reading from a textbook. It was very distressing for me and for everyone else there.

"There was no effort by them to help us out, to try and make a few calls and see what they could do for us. They didn't even take us into a room somewhere to explain to us what was happening, we were just in the main check-in area with everyone looking at us."

Mr Shiel eventually left on a flight for Shannon at 5.25 p.m. By the time he travelled by road from Shannon to Swinford, his father's removal was over.

The local priest arranged for the coffin to be reopened at almost midnight so that his youngest son could say his last goodbyes.

Mr Shiel's elder brother, Gregory, said the family was "stunned by the lack of empathy, the lack of any sympathy or understanding" from Ryanair.