Ryanair has defended its policy on disabled passengers after it
was criticised for ejecting nine blind and partially sighted
passengers from one of its flights. The passengers, all from the
UK were escorted from the aircraft minutes before take-off from
London's Stansted Airport as the airline's safety rules
limit the number of “disabled/mobility-impaired”
passengers to four per flight. It was reported that some of the
passengers, who were on their way to Italy had to wait for six
hours for another flight, while others spent the night sleeping
on the airport floor. One passenger said, “It was dreadful.
You felt like a criminal. We were all devastated.”

Ryanair defended their decision as they say it is their policy to
ensure that crew could attend to disabled passengers individually
in the case of emergency evacuations. Ryanair also said that the
nine passengers were asked to take a later flight because they
did not, as required, notify Ryanair of their disability at the
time of booking and there were already three disabled passengers
on board. An official statement issued by Ryanair said, “It
would have been unsafe to allow a total of 12
disabled/reduced-mobility passengers to travel on board the
flight… Ryanair's number one priority at all times is the
safety of its passengers and crew.” The passengers rejected
Ryanair's argument saying that they could walk, had partially
sighted or fully sighted guides and would be able to leave an
aircraft in an emergency as quickly as anyone else.

As a result of the above case, Ryanair says it will change its
policy on carrying blind and partially-sighted passengers. Any
vision-impaired passenger accompanied by a sighted companion
would now no longer be required to inform the airline in advance,
the Irish carrier announced in what it called a “common
sense change.” However, passengers travelling alone would
remain part of its limit on four reduced-mobility passengers per
flight.

And still on the theme of visually impaired passengers, the Royal
National Institute of the Blind (RNIB) says that Ryanair appears
to be offering disabled passengers a lower standard of service
when they book over its website. The RNIB is investigating a
complaint that blind passengers are not entitled to the same low
fares as others when they book online. The RNIB cited an example
of a blind man who tried to book online. The website's
booking process states:

“Passengers with special needs requirements must pre-book
their requirement through Ryanair Direct on the same day as your
original booking”. It lists the telephone numbers of
reservation centres and warns: “Failure to advise Ryanair of
your requirements on the day of booking will result in the
service being unavailable on your arrival to the airport and you
being refused carriage.” The man called the number to make a
booking, only to learn that he would not qualify for the
discounts or special offers available online. This is likely to
amount to discrimination, says the RNIB, because Ryanair's
online booking system may be subject to the Disability
Discrimination Act.