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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think this racist should have been kicked off this RyanAir flight?

389 replies

WickedGoodDoge · 21/10/2018 10:44

I’m not going to repeat the language this passenger used here, but basically he refused to sit next to a black passenger resulting in her being moved and staff asking the man if he was OK once she was moved.

RyanAir have released a terse statement saying it’s been referred to Essex Police

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/amp/entry/daughter-of-ryanair-racist-abuse-victim-speaks-out-following-on-flight-attack_uk_5bcb4379e4b055bc94811e92/

OP posts:
smilingontheinside · 22/10/2018 21:28

And he was in....Blush

OhDearGodLookAtThisMess · 22/10/2018 21:49

I hope they upgraded her

What? Hmm This is Ryanair we're talking about. There are no upgraded seats. It's cattle class for all.

brimfullofasha · 22/10/2018 22:56

YANBU. He should have been removed from the flight

MissEliza · 22/10/2018 23:34

Did any of the passengers stick up for her? I bloody hope I would in those circumstances. I'm quite a quiet person but I hope I'd force myself!

VerbeenaBeeks · 22/10/2018 23:52

We have but one side of the story too. I will hold off until I get both sides, they could have both been as bad as each other, but we don't know do we?

Nah.What the HELL has the colour of her skin got to do with anything? NOTHING justifies being a racist arsehole, even if someone was mean to you first.
Appalling that he wasn't made to leave the plane.

Aintnothingbutaheartache · 23/10/2018 01:09

Watched it again on the news and it’s fucking disgusting.
Even take away the racism (and obviously that’s the whole point) it was an old lady getting a load of abuse and unnecessary shit.
I’d like to think that I would have intervened if I’d witnessed that.
Yes, he might have MH issues etc etc but it was appalling!
My heart aches for that poor lady

Aintnothingbutaheartache · 23/10/2018 01:12

James O’Brien on LBC said if he’d been there he would have quietly sat on the bloke and refused to move until he calmed down.
He said “think of me as the pineapple slice on your gammon-ness”
I liked that

DayAtTheRaces · 23/10/2018 02:37

Poor lady.

The video has even been shown here in the USA on the main news (NBC at 6.30pm Eastern Time). Just appalling :(

AnotherPidgey · 23/10/2018 06:49

Ryan Air has completely failed here and acted too late.

I can understand the bystander effect though, particularly in a situation where staff should be responsible for managing the situation. Many years ago, I was in a small, crowded shoe shop. There was a child sat on a seat and an obviously heavily pregnant lady politely asked him to move so that she could try some shoes on. The child quietly and pleasantly moved aside and stood by the seat.

The child's mother appeared and lauched into a foul mouthed rage about how dare she make the child move, "you're not his mother!". It was dumbfounding, and the shop fell into stunned silence. The sheer rage from the mother was frightening and I wouldn't have trusted her not to assault anyone trying to intervene because her behaviour was already that far beyond the boundaries of normality.

DayManChampionOfTheSun · 23/10/2018 07:31

Do any of you see these things and really hope they are a set up for one of those 'what would you do' TV show things? Then slowly realise, no, the world is actually this shit?

Roussette · 23/10/2018 09:10

Apparently Michael O'Leary is giving an interview this morning, I read somewhere. Given his bluntness and rudeness, I doubt he's going to make the situation better....

ImNotHeartlessHonest · 23/10/2018 09:27

NC just for this post because it relates to my job.

Sadly this does not shock me as much as it should. I recently fired a man for a racist incident at work. In the course of investigating, it emerged that he committed an offence very similar to this one during his probation period, whilst on company business.

The manager who let him off previously had the cheek to question 'whether I acted proportionately'. Yes I fucking did, it was he who failed to!

SinisterBumFacedCat · 23/10/2018 09:31

Poor lady was on a trip with her daughter to celebrate her wedding anniversary to her late husband. It should have been a lovely commemorative holiday and now it's been tarnished by that foul git. I'm really surprised his identity hasn't been outed yet, like the cat bin lady was pretty quickly. Amazing how much we protect and excuse older white men still.

Roussette · 23/10/2018 09:31

And this...

Helen Broughton ⛵ 🌊 💙 🌹 Retweeted

Sky News Breaking

Verified account

@SkyNewsBreak
43m43 minutes ago
More
Essex Police says officers "have worked to identify both parties" and information has been passed to Spanish authorities after a man was accused of using racially abusive language on a Ryanair flight

Good. Someone said upthread that this was going to go away tomorrow (Monday). Wrong.

DGRossetti · 23/10/2018 09:33

Essex Police says officers "have worked to identify both parties" and information has been passed to Spanish authorities after a man was accused of using racially abusive language on a Ryanair flight

Imagine if he had to spend a spell in a Spanish prison ?

Itsnotabingthingisit · 23/10/2018 09:41

Ryanair are only apologising and acting now because they have been caught.

They are not sorry, they are only sorry that they might lose a business over this.

O'Leary gloats and demeans his passengers constantly. They are a disgusting company. Dangerous and uncaring. No customer service whatsoever.

They rely on peoples need to have a quick , cheap,weekend break away trumping any ethics and morals the might have.

BigChocFrenzy · 23/10/2018 09:56

The aggressive racial abuse is on video.
Such hate speech is a criminal offence and the law should be enforced.

Witnesses - real ones, not the "my brother was on that flight" - have said the woman did nothing to provoke him beforehand

She may well have said he stank as reaction to the racial abuse

  • she did NOT retaliate by calling him an ugly white bastard, so the abuser and victim are very clear

The Twitter storm is just pressuring Ryanair and the authorities to enforce the law
That's not mob rule

If he is charged, any extenuating circumstances like dementia would certainly be taken into account, at least for the punishment.
Alcohol is not an extenuating factor,

However, Ryanair may have enabled him to escape justice, by flying him out of Spanish jurisdiction

  • this is another reason why police should be called to remove aggressive passengers, whether racists or just drunks.

The main reason of course, being safety in the air:
fortunately he doesn't seem to have caused further disturbance once he got his way and didn't have to sit next to an elderly disabled black woman.
However, it could have flared up later, especially if Ryanair continued to prioritsie profit and sold him more booze.

That is why, even if he escapes the law, airlines should ban him for life as a menace
They can do this to football louts etc

DGRossetti · 23/10/2018 11:31

Maybe why O'Leary was so quick to pop up ...

www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/ryanair-report-racist-passenger-row-13456960

Ryanair has recorded a 7% fall in H1 profits - just days after they faced backlash for not removing a racist passenger from a flight.

inashizzle · 23/10/2018 11:44

O'Leary hasn't been quick enough to deal with this. I'll pay aer lingus more to fly with them, unless a massive apology is made to victim.The staff did not deal with effectively- it is their fault.

DGRossetti · 23/10/2018 11:48

O'Leary hasn't been quick enough to deal with this.

Is one POV ... another is that "Ryanair" has started to fall down the trending ranks so now is the time to step in ... (if you ascribe to there's no such thing as bad publicity school of airline management)

Ellyess · 23/10/2018 11:49

SuzieCath I'm so sorry! I was dreading this would happen when Brexit won the vote and I have seen things become ugly. I live in the Midlands and many people here are not just "Anglo-Saxon White", many are from Easter Europe too and lots have returned leaving our hospitals empty. They were wonderful people and such kind and caring Health-workers as I knew at first hand. I live among many Indian and some Black friends. I can't stand what is going on, I really can't. I am so very very sorry to hear of the abuse you have suffered.

For totally different reasons I was abused recently, I think because I am disabled. I have started using a cheap "body-cam" . I wondered if that might be worth having for you? Mine was under £40, still a lot for me, but it makes me feel safe. Also record everything and report it to the Police.
Again, there are more of us who care and support you and are horrified that people are racist. It is abominable. I am so sorry! Flowers

Puzzledandpissedoff · 23/10/2018 11:54

They rely on peoples need to have a quick, cheap weekend break away trumping any ethics and morals they might have

Exactly

Cynical though it is, they know perfectly well that while folk will froth and threaten never to use them again, the vast majority will back down when it comes to their own interests/pocket

Ellyess · 23/10/2018 11:54

DayManChampionOfTheSun

the world is actually this shit?

Yes. I have found that for the last year or more, definitely.