Ryanair punishes you for their mistakes (ETA stamp)
(Note: a version of the below was originally posted in r/Ryanair and received about 170k views and 80+ upvotes, but I was then banned for no stated reason and also simultaneously muted by the mods so I couldn’t appeal)
I would give a 0 star if possible to Ryanair as a first time user. They prevented us from getting on board because they said we were missing an eta stamp on our boarding passes to get to the uk. My daughter has a uk passport and I have an eta that is automatically tied to my us passport. Never had any problem getting into the Uk. It turns out that the check in counter forgot to give me a stamp, but instead of letting us on after I produced the eta after 10 minutes of frantically trying to get someone to forward me the eta email, they insisted we couldn’t because the door closed. But they let on someone else already after we showed the email. They then admitted that it was their mistake to not stamp it and to go out of security to the customer service desk to get another flight for free. When we did, the customer service person was extremely rude and said it was our fault and that we had to get a stamp (no one told us) at the customer service desk AFTER checking in at the counter, which is not the rule according to their own FAQ. The eta is automatically tied to a passport and no print out or email is needed! They wanted to charge us for the change in flight. And then when they heard that I wanted their number to make a complaint, the woman rudely said “i am not going to do it; i was not rude, you go and buy the change in ticket yourself.” They treat you terribly. The worst airline I have ever been on.
Bought a new ticket with another airline instead of having to deal with them. They are incredibly disrespectful and made my 9 year old daughter cry.
I am attaching a photo of my printed boarding pass as proof that they did not put any stamp on it.
Update 1: For further clarification, we are flying out of Spain, not a non schengen zone. We already had our passports scanned and boarding passes printed at the check in counter staffed by real people. They simply forgot to stamp MY boarding pass to show that they verified my ETA. For some reason, they couldn’t or wouldn’t verify it at the gate and was super dismissive and didn’t believe me, and said “no stamp, no boarding.” They should have procedures in place for when the check in counter forgets to stamp your boarding pass. They also let in a man AFTER they told us it was too late and the doors were closed. They opened it for HIM and not for us.
Update 2: I am still at the airport and have heard the allegation from someone who said they previously worked for Ryanair that they do this on purpose to leave no time to confirm ETA and thus force purchase of another ticket. I do not take a view of the claim given lack of direct evidence but it would be interesting to know if others' experience or any internal whistelblower information would align or not. In my personal experience, it’s plausible because the check in was very understaffed and slow, and many people were desperate to get on their flights. And the boarding queue was long and super slow moving, so even though I got there 45 minutes before takeoff, I only got to the gate door 15 minutes before official takeoff. Just curious.
Apparently if there were sufficient legal evidence (again, I make no assertion as to the facts but invite others to provide any information if they have any to illuminate), a deliberate company practice of this hypothetical nature beyond incompetence would generate significant legal repercussions and fines to hit the bottom line.
Update 3: I finally arrived home at 3:08am, about 11 hours after when I was originally planning to be home. I had to fly to a different airport further away by over an hour with Jet2. Jet2 was very efficient. It took me only 13 minutes to check in at the counter after waiting in a fast moving line, compared to the nearly 2 hours with Ryanair. The staff were friendly and treated us like human beings, and the tickets were a quarter of the price that Ryanair wanted us to pay for a later flight (90 euros vs 350). Ryanair wanted to charge 350 euros instead of the 200 euro change fee because customer service refused to serve me after I told them I would complain because they had promised me a free change due to their own admitted error. There was no unnecessary stamp policy with Jet2 like with Ryanair. Thanks everyone for the support. My child and I went through a lot yesterday.