Maxine Haughian, a 63-year-old woman, has expressed her outrage on social media after being charged 89 euros for carrying a suitcase that Ryanair Check In staff said was too large, on her flight to Alicante.
While queuing at Leeds Bradford Airport, the mother of two was stopped by Ryanair staff, claiming her hand luggage was just 2cm over the permitted size.
Maxine, a former prison officer, explained that her case fitted into the luggage measuring grid but was sticking out slightly on one side. Despite this, she was told her bag was too big and that she had to pay to check it into the plane’s hold.
What infuriated Maxine was not just the charge, but the unequal treatment she saw of other passengers. She said other people with larger bags were let through without any problem. She described one of these passengers as “young and pretty,” and secretly took a photograph as evidence of the apparent discrimination.
Maxine took her frustration to Facebook, where she shared her experience: “I was held up for 20 minutes because they said my cabin bag was too big and I had to pay £75 extra to check it in. Funny (not funny) how other bags of the same size went through without any comment,” she wrote.
She added ironically: “It’s a good thing I took the photo of this (gorgeous) girl putting her suitcase in the measuring device and being let through. I’m obviously not young or attractive enough!”
Despite eventually being exonerated thanks to the photos she had taken, Maxine said the experience left a bad taste in her mouth. In an interview with the Oxford Mail, she said: “They let me through in the end, but it just confirmed what I was saying. I think it’s just another attempt to make money.”
Maxine added that her perception was that staff thought that, being older, it would be easier for her to simply accept the situation without protest. “A lot of people just paid the money,” she said.
She also stated that several passengers had suitcases similar to hers, which also stuck out a bit from the meter, but they were not charged anything. “It was the lack of consistency that bothered me the most,” he said.
The Sun Newspaper that also ran the story has contacted Ryanair for comment on the incident, but the airline has not yet responded, the outlet reported.
