Ryanair has hit out at accusations that it failed to act over the racist abuse of a passenger, insisting it reported the matter to police as soon as it became aware.
In a statement on Friday, Ryanair criticised “inaccurate and unfounded media reportage” about the racist abuse of an elderly passenger by a man boarding a flight in Barcelona to Stansted.
The incident was filmed by a third passenger and posted online, sparking widespread condemnation and criticism of Ryanair for not removing the passenger responsible for the racist abuse.
The airline said it “only became aware of this video late on Sat 20 October which showed racist abuse had taken place.
“Ryanair immediately reported this video and the racist abuse to Essex Police in Stansted Airport.”
It noted: “Ryanair’s Spanish cabin crew were aware of an argument between two passengers during the boarding process, but were not aware of, as they were not present when, racist comments were made.
“While these events were videoed by another passenger, this video was not shown to cabin crew until after landing in Stansted.
“Ryanair did not become aware of the video until it gained widespread coverage on social media.”
The airline said: “As the cabin crew believed they were dealing with an argument between two passengers, they followed company procedure to defuse the argument and separate the passengers by offering to move one to alternative seating.
“In this case, the female passenger was moved at her request to a seat adjacent to her daughter who was also travelling.
“After moving the female passenger, both passengers were asked if they were ‘OK’ and both confirmed they were.
“The captain was not informed of any argument between the passengers and nor were airport security in Barcelona alerted because as far as the cabin crew were concerned the argument had been defused.”
Ryanair said it had written to the woman abused “at 11am on Sun morning, apologising sincerely for what happened and advising her that the matter had been reported” to the police.
It insisted: “The claim made in the media in recent days that Ryanair did not contact or apologise to the female passenger is untrue.”
Ryanair spokesman Robin Kiely said: “We extend our sincere apologies to this passenger for the unacceptable remarks made to her by an adjacent passenger.
“We believe that by reporting this matter immediately to the Essex Police and by apologising in writing to this customer early on Sunday morning, Ryanair treated it with the urgency and seriousness it warranted.
“We trust that this will address the inaccurate media coverage of this incident over recent days.”
Ryanair said it continues to provide “full cooperation and assistance” to police investigating the incident in Essex and Barcelona.
This racist white man refused to sit next to an elderly black woman on a Ryanair flight.
He called her an “ugly black bastard” & threatened to push her to another seat if she didn’t move to another seat.
Ryanair – DOES NOTHING!!!
UK twitter identify HIM!!!
RETWEET THIS! pic.twitter.com/70XNsvTZBg
— StanceGrounded (@_SJPeace_) 20 October 2018