Ryanair policy explained as holidaymaker 'booted off flight without full refund' after money-saving hack backfires

There are two types of people when it comes to going on holiday. Those who like to travel in style and those who like to go on a budget.

When it comes to the latter, there are few airlines that can rival Ryanair in terms of cost, even if you have to be careful about avoiding all the extra charges they might try and catch you out with.

Some of you loved-up couples or close friends might be willing to pay that booking fee to choose your seat, but if it's less than three hours then you won't catch me shelling out just to sit next to them.

And British couple Scott McCormick and Helena Boshwick recently decided to do the same, but the money-saving hack massively backfired when they were told they couldn't board together, and were instead offered seats on a later flight, something they didn't expect to have to pay for.

In a TikTok video, Scott said: "We checked in the night before and we didn't reserve a seat but you normally just get a random one.

"Me and my partner thought it's not that much of a problem if we're not sitting together for a two-hour flight, we're adults here.

Scott and Helena were left very disappointed (Kennedy)

"We said we wanted to get on the next flight together. They said 'you can do that, we will fully reimburse both tickets and put you on the next flight for free'."

However, when the pair made it to the ticket desk, they say they were informed they could only be reimbursed for one ticket, meaning they had to pay an additional £100 and wait for hours before travelling.

"We went down to ticket sales and they said we still have to pay for one ticket, only one is reimbursed. One of the seats was put down as a cancelled booking and the other was a missed flight so we'd still have to pay for one seat and be reimbursed for the other," Scott continued.

"That's the biggest part of the [issue], we were just lied to at the gate but then we still sold us a seat and we still have seen no sign of reimbursement."

What are Ryanair's rules and does it overbook flights?

The couple slammed Ryanair (Getty stock)

Unfortunately for Scott and Helena, it's further proof that you should always read the terms and conditions, as they've been caught out by Ryanair's official rules.

They state that: "Ryanair, as a policy, does not overbook its flights.

"However, in the unlikely event that a seat is not available for a passenger with a confirmed reservation, we will seek volunteers to surrender their seats in exchange for benefits that we and the volunteer may agree upon before involuntarily denying boarding to other passengers."

However, if there are insufficient volunteers and someone is denied involuntarily, then they are entitled to benefits such as reimbursement and refreshment vouchers, although if you follow Martin Lewis' advice then you might well end up with more.

What has Ryanair said about Scott and Helena's experience?

A Ryanair spokesperson told LADbible: "This flight from Birmingham to Palma de Mallorca (1 May) was not ‘overbooked’ – it was scheduled to operate on a 737-8200 (197 seats) but for operational reasons had to be swapped to a 737-800 aircraft (189 seats).

"As a result, 1 passenger was unable to travel on this flight, and was reaccommodated onto the next available flight to Palma de Mallorca.

"Mr. McCormick’s travel companion was not refused boarding but chose not to board and travel on this flight from Birmingham to Palma de Mallorca and was required to pay a Missed Departure fee (£100) to be booked onto the next available flight.

"Mr. McCormick was notified by email on the day of travel (1 May) that he was entitled to claim back reasonable receipted expenses, however Mr. McCormick has yet to submit any expense receipts to Ryanair.”

Have other Ryanair customers reported similar experiences?

You may not be surprised to hear that Helena and Scott are not the only travellers to face this issue on Ryanair.

One user on Reddit claims they were forced to pay €300 (£250) for an alternative flight to Brussels at 5pm the day after they were initially supposed to travel, while they also waited until midnight in the airport until it was sorted out.

Another shared a similar story of how they struggled to check in online due to issues on the Ryanair app and was told to check in at the airport, but was later involuntarily denied boarding due to overbooking.

At least they didn't get kicked off the flight for ordering Pringles, Coke and a water.

Ryanair told LADbible that it requires flight numbers and passenger booking references in order to comment.