Alex Trelinski
RYANAIR stopped an 89-year-old Castellon man from flying back to Spain because they claimed his ID card was not suitable for travel within the Schengen zone.
The ABC newspaper said that Luis Carbo, his wife Elvira, and their daughter encountered problems checking in for a flight from Eindhoven to Reus.
A Ryanair employee carrying out checks saw Mr. Carbo’s DNI card and would not allow him to board the plane.
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His wife and daughter were allowed to proceed, but chose to stay behind.
They said they had to spend over €1,500 to spend the night in Eindhoven and on new tickets.
Luis said Ryanair staff behaved with ‘arrogance’ and they had to push their way through to leave the queue.
He added that the incident put extra stress on his wife Elvira who suffers with heart problems.
The rules are that any valid Spanish DNI card is fine for travel within the European Union’s Schengen area including to and from the Netherlands.
Being aged over 70, Mr. Carbo’s DNI does not need to be renewed, but it is possible that the card’s expiry date of 01-01-9999 may have been an issue.
Ryanair’s stance is that the DNI is ‘not valid documentation’ and is purely a residence permit- a contrary view to what is stated on the European Union’s website.
A spokesperson told the Mediterraneo newspaper: “The passenger was correctly stopped from boarding his flight.”
The Carbo family said they tried to file for compensation with Ryanair but were rebuffed.
They are now pursuing the matter with the State Aviation Safety Agency.
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