Disabled people stage Madrid protest against Ryanair ¡°discrimination¡±
Demonstrators claim low-cost carrier forces those with disabilities pay extra for travel companions
More than 250 disabled people protested against Ryanair at Adolfo Su¨¢rez-Madrid Barajas Airport on Saturday afternoon. They accused the Irish airline of ¡°systematically and permanently¡± discriminating against disabled travelers by adding unnecessary obstacles to their flights.
The Spanish Committee of Representatives of Disabled People (CERMI) organized the protest after receiving numerous complaints against the low-cost airline for ¡°multiple cases¡± of discrimination.
The airline conjures up hare-brained security reasons and excludes disabled passengers directly Luis Cayo P¨¦rez Bueno, President of CERMI
¡°The airline conjures up hare-brained security reasons and, without any kind of social commitment, excludes disabled passengers directly, either by not allowing them to board, or by obliging them to bring a travel companion at their own expense,¡±?said Luis Cayo P¨¦rez Bueno, President of CERMI. ¡°It uses an abusive and discriminatory European rule to tell us, as passengers, that we aren¡¯t welcome.¡±
The latest story to make news was that of Javier Garc¨ªa Pajares, a deaf and blind Spanish student who was studying abroad in London. According to his testimony, Ryanair did not allow him to travel last Christmas, citing security reasons.
¡°The case of our friend Javier Garc¨ªa Pajares is proof of something devastating that it wants us to accept as natural. It is the moment to tell them that low-cost cannot be translated into fewer human rights,¡± said Cayo P¨¦rez.
CERMI also said that the European Commission should urgently change a rule related to passengers with reduced mobility that has been in effect throughout Europe since 2006.
¡°This rule allows companies that don¡¯t have any social conscience to apply it in its worst version,¡± said Cayo P¨¦rez.
Ryanair¡¯s response
Ryanair denied practicing any type of discrimination.
¡°Thousands of passengers who need special assistance choose to fly with us every week, a service that usually takes place with normality,¡± a Ryanair spokesperson told the Servimedia news agency.
The company also refuted the story of Garc¨ªa Pajares. The spokesperson said that a customer-service representative asked the disabled passenger for documentation to make sure he complied with the security requisites that allowed him to travel without a companion.
¡°Once those documents were received, more than a week later, we confirmed that he could travel alone, although in the end he decided not to,¡± said the spokesperson.
¡°We are proud of the service we offer to all of our clients and we will continue to make an effort to improve our service every day,¡± he added.
English version by Alyssa McMurtry.
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