Something for Martin Lewis to investigate? (Ryanair wheelchair levy)

PolishBigSpender

As you all know, Ryanair charge a 'wheelchair levy' to cover the costs of providing a wheelchair to disabled passengers in airports after losing a court case a few years ago.

As of ten minutes ago, this levy is still charged on all Ryanair flights.

However, I stumbled upon EC Regulation 1107/2006 - which to cut a very long story short, requires the AIRPORT to provide assistance from arrival to the plane and from the plane to the front door.

The regulation can be found here - http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2006:204:0001:0009:EN:PDF

The Disability Rights Commission has a comprehensive guide on the matter at http://83.137.212.42/sitearchive/drc/Newsroom/media_briefings/eu_regs_air.html

I stress this part from the DRC website -

• Assistance
  All airports which have more than 150,000 passengers a year will need to have arrangements to assist disabled passengers in the airport. This will mean providing help to get from arrival through to the point of boarding the plane. It will also include assistance at the destination airport from the plane to the airport exit. These services must be provided free.

It seems to me that Ryanair have been charging people for something that they don't have to provide. Comments?

lijaloo

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It seems to me that Ryanair have been charging people for something that they don't have to provide. Comments?[/QUOTE]


Are you now saying that Ryanair IS ripping us all off!!

The now defunct Disability Rights Commission has been replaced by the Equality and Human Rights Commission and the regulations apply to disabled people and those with mobility problems. Remember that not all disabled people are wheelchair users. The law covers everything from making the booking, arriving at the airport, checking in, getting on and off the airplane, leaving the airport.

My understanding is that he airport authority has the right to pass any additional costs onto the airlines. It would appear that Ryanair is the only airline which actually passes this charge on to its customers at 50p per passenger. It doesn't take much working out to see how much Ryanair is (and has been since the wheelchair levy was introduced) actually making out of the levy.

budgetflyer

This charge came about after Ryanair lost a court case back in 04 , when Bob Ross had to pay the £18 cost of wheelchair assistance.
This levy was put on in a big wave of publicity as a protest at the "injustice" Michael O'Leary felt Ryanair had suffered.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3443739.stm

fifeken

It's not mentioned in most of the reports but the court found against Stansted airport as well and both companies were ordered to pay half each.

headpin

Do Ryanair show this cost as a separate line on their build up of fees, charges, etc. If so what do they call it?

fifeken

headpin wrote: »

Do Ryanair show this cost as a separate line on their build up of fees, charges, etc. If so what do they call it?

It's grouped together under "Insurance/Wheelchair Levy/Aviation Insurance" in their "Taxes/Fees" section.