Ryanair tells mum son 'died 24 hours too soon' for her to get refund for cancelled trip
A mum has hit out at Ryanair after the airline refused to refund her cancelled trip following the death of her teenage son.
Tina McDermont, from Washington, Tyne and Wear, was set to travel from Newcastle to Alicante with Ryanair on 30 August with her husband. But the 45-year-old cancelled the trip because her son Billy McDermont, 18, died in a tragic accident on 19 August.
After notifying the budget airline of what had happened, Tina requested a refund which was denied because her son passed away more than 10 days before the departure date.
Ryanair's terms state that you may apply for travel credit if a passenger on a booking or an immediate family member (partner/parent/child only) passes away within 10 days prior to your flight.
Advert
Tina said she was ‘disgusted’ to find out that she wouldn’t be receiving a £350 refund for their trip, which she hoped would pay for Billy’s funeral costs.
'I'm arranging my son's funeral'
"Billy's death was a massive shock. He'd just turned 18," she said. "I could never have travelled and gone abroad. I just wanted to be at home with my family around me.
"I'm arranging my son's funeral. There's no way I could go. I thought when I got in touch with Ryanair there wouldn't be an issue.
"I thought we'd get that money back and put it towards Billy's funeral and then I hit these barriers because of this 10-day policy that I hadn't been aware of.
"[After they sent me a link requesting his death certificate] I couldn't get any further forward because they kept requesting the date of death. It was really starting to agitate me.
'It's disgusting and petty'
"It was raw emotion all the time. It wouldn't let me complete the form. I looked at the terms and conditions and thought that doesn't really make sense.
"I opened a chat on the app and they told me to 'no show' so I could get a letter off them and you can go to your travel insurance and claim off them.
"I thought that's passing the book. If he'd died a day later, I would've got my money back. It's disgusting and petty."
She went on to say that ‘Ryanair needs to change their policies’ and ‘have a bit of heart and compassion’.
Ryanair's response to the matter
A Ryanair spokesperson said: "Ryanair's bereavement policy allows passengers to apply for travel credit where the death of an immediate family member occurs within 10 days of their scheduled flight departure.
"As this bereavement occurred outside of that period, this passenger was not entitled to travel credit.
"This passenger was provided with the documentation required to submit a claim through their travel insurance provider."
LADbible Group has contacted Ryanair for additional comment.
Anish Vij