A bereaved mother has condemned Ryanair as “greedy” and “inhuman” after the airline refused to refund a cancelled holiday, because her teenage son died just 24 hours outside the carrier’s eligibility deadline.
Tina McDermont had been scheduled to travel from Newcastle to Alicante, Spain, with her husband on August 30 for a four-day break.
The couple cancelled the trip following the death of their 18-year-old son, Billy McDermont, in a tragic accident on August 19.
Ms McDermont, 45, said she began changing their travel plans and contacted Ryanair’s customer support team to explain the circumstances and seek a refund.
After submitting a copy of Billy’s death certificate, the mother-of-two said Ryanair told her the booking did not qualify for a refund because his death occurred more than 10 days before the scheduled flight.
Under Ryanair policy, passengers can apply for travel credit when someone included on the booking, or an immediate family member — defined as a partner, parent or child — dies within 10 days of departure.
Tina McDermont had to cancel her holiday after the death of her son Billy, pictured
Tina said she was “disgusted” to discover that she and her husband could not recover the £350 cost of their flights, as Billy died only a day before Ryanair’s bereavement cut-off would have applied.
She had planned to put any refunded money toward the cost of Billy’s funeral.
Ryanair responded by restating its policy, saying Billy’s death fell outside the airline’s bereavement window and that Tina was therefore not entitled to compensation or travel credit.
Tina, who lives in Washington, Tyne and Wear, said: ‘Billy’s death was a massive shock. He’d just turned 18.
‘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 ten-day policy that I hadn’t been aware of.
The mum was ‘disgusted’ when she found out that she was not entitled to a refund
‘[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 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.
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‘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 [buck].’
Tina added: ‘If he’d died a day later, I would’ve got my money back. It’s disgusting and petty.
‘It was like a slap in the face. It should be done by a case by case basis. It’s a blanket policy, but it isn’t human.
‘I felt very insulted. He wasn’t meant to die. It was a tragic accident, so surely there should be special circumstances.
Tina said that is has ‘it’s made the grieving process worse’ for her
‘I was devastated. Everybody I’ve dealt with has been compassionate except for them. They’re greedy. I was outraged. Nobody wants to lose their child. It was disbelief in their policies.
‘It’s not about the money. It’s the principle. £350 for a huge company like Ryanair is chicken feed. It’s made the grieving process worse. I’m a mother who’s grieving. It felt very personal and I know the terms and conditions are not.’
The civil servant described the policy as a ‘slap in the face’ and is calling for the airline to review bereavement on a case-by-case basis.
Tina said: ‘Ryanair needs to change their policies. There needs to be a special circumstances clause for close relatives like children. Have a bit of heart and compassion.
‘I feel so deflated by them. I’ll never fly with them again.’
However, Ryanair stood by its policy and said Tina was not entitled to travel credit under its policy.
Tina has said she will no longer fly with the budget carrier any more
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 ten 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.’