She felt like they enjoyed a beautiful privilege.
An elderly passenger in the United Kingdom claims she was discriminated against by Ryanair after having to pay a $100 fee for checking bags while younger, “attractive” passengers boarded without penalty.
“I am absolutely disgusted with Ryanair! They just kept me on hold for 20 minutes because they said my cabin bag was too big and I have to pay an EXTRA £75 for it to go in the pit,” said Maxine Haughian, 63, in a September. 10 Facebook posts. “Otherwise, I might drop it and lose the bag and its contents!”
She added, “It’s funny (not funny) how other bags that are exactly the same were allowed through without comment. It’s a good job I took the picture of this (gorgeous) girl putting her bag in the box and was allowed.
“I’m definitely not young or pretty enough!!!!!”
Included in her post was a photo of the passenger in question, who was younger and had pink hair, shorts and flip-flops.
The mother-of-two and grandmother of 11’s saga unfolded last month as she boarded a Ryanair flight from Leeds, UK, to Alicante, Spain, Kennedy News and Media reported.
It is said that she was stopped in line so that her bag could be measured.
The York resident saw the special measure as she had previously flown with the airline without a problem with the same suitcase, which she had owned for 10 years.
She claimed that the bag fit on the steering rack, sticking out only “very slightly” by 2 centimeters to the side, which was apparently too much for the supervising officer.
“He said the measurements are spot on and clearly says they have to sit within the rack rows,” complained the passenger, who had paid $32 for priority boarding. “It seemed so unfair to me. The bag fit.”
As a result, authorities tried to hit the sexagenarian with a $98 fee for checking the bag.
Things appeared to be getting even more unfair for the crooked Brit as officials began seemingly randomly selecting people to carry regardless of the size of their suitcases, according to Kennedy News.
“People were walking through with bags that clearly wouldn’t fit in the guide rack and weren’t even being stopped,” Haughian complained. “And a number of people were charged £75 instead.”
The worried passenger added, “Some people had suitcases that looked exactly like mine, and they put them on the rack and it was coming out a little bit – but they were allowed through.”
It was then that Haughian felt that the authorities were discriminating against people based on their appearance.
She noted that they left the aforementioned “young and attractive” woman she photographed without food, despite her bag also being large.
“I can’t see what reason there would be for that to have happened — that it was OK for some people to go through and not for me to go through,” she told Kennedy News. “And in that case, the only thing that set us apart was the fact that she was a young, good-looking woman, and I’m not young.
“It’s not like I’m a lunch or anything, but I’m older.”
The fed-up flyer said she was eventually allowed through “without additional charge” after showing authorities a photo of the other woman and her bag.
“I’m stressed as hell and hoping I can calm down and get into vacation mode before we land,” Haughian said in the post.
In retrospect, Haughian thinks that while she may have overreacted, she has no other explanation for being singled out than her age and looks.
“That remark [about her being younger than me] it was a little bit fantastic,” Haughian told Kennedy News. “I think I was just angry at the time and I felt, ‘Why else are you letting this person through?’ Because to me, I can’t see anything that differentiates that person or her bag and me and my bag, except the fact that that person is significantly younger than me.”
Haughian said she ultimately believed the policy was a “money making” scheme and further claimed she was shocked because she was older and therefore more “compatible” in their eyes, adding that “many people they just paid the money.
“It was the incongruity of it all,” she concluded. “If you have rules, they should be applied fairly and equitably.”
The Post contacted Ryanair for comment.
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