A passenger on a Ryanair flight has said she was “almost killed” by the airline after a lack of air conditioning on a grounded plane gave her a “severe asthma attack”.
Charlaine Seaward, a hair stylist from Caerphilly, took to social media to detail her experience on the plane from Tenerife to Bristol after Ryanair, she says, failed to pay her appropriate compensation.
Seaward slammed the airline as “an absolute joke”, and warned people never to fly with them, saying: “It’s all cheap and cheerful until they almost kill you and take zero responsibility.”
In her account of the flight, she said she “got trapped on their plane with no air con”, which caused her to have “the most severe asthma attack of [her] life”, leaving her “genuinely believ[ing]” she was going to die.
Seaward said "200 people breathing the same oxygen in and out for a three-hour delay" gave her the asthma attack
Seaward said despite requesting to leave the plane – which “wasn’t taking off any time soon” – staff on board refused.
She said: “As you can imagine, 200 people breathing the same oxygen in and out for a three-hour delay is very dangerous, especially when you have extreme health conditions.”
Seaward continued: “I physically passed out and had to wear an oxygen tank because it was that bad.
“I witnessed six different groups of people, including young children, have panic attacks, hyperventilate and fear for their life.”
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Paramedics eventually arrived to see to Seaward on the ground in Tenerife
Every other passenger Seaward has spoken to had received compensation for their delay, she said, but she alleged “this cheeky company” was trying to tell her she was “never on the plane”.
She said: “If anyone deserves compensation – it’s the girl you almost killed. That’s me, by the way… the girl who was definitely on your plane.”
Seaward said she has given Ryanair “everything they asked for”, including documents and photo evidence of her ordeal, her case has “still gotten nowhere” – despite being “passed around from agent to agent more times than a gift in pass the parcel”.
She posted images on social media of paramedics attending to her and an ambulance on the tarmac, as well as a video of her wearing an oxygen mask hooked up to a gas canister.
A Ryanair spokesperson said: “This flight from Tenerife to Bristol (January 14) was delayed ahead of take-off due to a minor technical issue with the aircraft.
“To minimise disruption, passengers remained onboard while engineers serviced the aircraft, during which time this passenger became ill, and crew requested medical assistance.
“This passenger was treated onboard and provided with oxygen and crew offered to disembark her, but she chose to stay on the flight and received medics’ clearance to do so.
“This passenger submitted a refund request on January 21, which was responded to on February 1. As she travelled on this flight from Tenerife to Bristol (January 14), she is not entitled to a refund.
“However, as the delay exceeded 3 hours, she is entitled to €261 (£223) compensation, which was processed on February 2, as advised to this passenger via email on February 1.
“However, Charlaine claims she has not received any promise of €261 and has only got £50.”