Hina Muneer, 29, has vowed never to fly with Ryanair again after she was hit with a £55 airport check-in fee – the pharmacist abandoned her holiday and went for dinner instead
A fuming Ryanair passenger was so enraged by the airline’s £55 check-in fee that she abandoned her holiday altogether and went out for dinner instead.
Hina Muneer, 29, arrived at London Stansted Airport on May 13 for a five-day solo trip to Kaunas, Lithuania, but the traveller admitted she forgot to check-in online because the email had gone to her spam folder. The 29-year-old said she thought it would be fine to go to the desk while at the airport, an hour before her flight, to check-in but she was met with a costly shock. She claimed a member of staff told her to cough up a whopping £55.
Hina said she refused to pay the “ridiculous” fee – which cost almost as much as her £67 plane ticket to Lithuania. The pharmacist was celebrating passing her prescription course but she ended up ditching her holiday altogether after that encounter.
Hina, from Slough, Berkshire, said: “It was my first trip in eight months, I just finished my prescribing course and I was going to treat myself, I thought why not.
“They sent me an email to check in but it went to my junk and I genuinely forgot to check in. There was a sign on the website saying you can check in up to 40 minutes before so I thought that’s fine.
“About an hour before I made it to the desk and I asked if I could check in and she said yes but it will cost £55. I’d rather not, I can have a health assessment for £55 from someone with a degree, not for someone to put my passport details in.
“I decided not to go but there was nowhere immediately saying on the website that this is the amount that they’d charged.” Hina said she partially ditched her solo trip due to this “ridiculous” cost.
The pharmacist added: “Part of abandoning the trip was just my annoyance, what they were charging was really unfair for the job that they had to do. It was almost as expensive as my actual flight there. Everything I had booked was refundable anyways so in this situation I’d rather not.
“I went up to her and said ‘are you serious, £55?’ I said I’m not going to pay that, and she said ‘okay, fine.’ I know what you’re doing, checking my passport, putting in my passport number and a few details and that is it. The charge in relation to what you’re doing is ridiculous.
“I thought it was free but people have said on my post that Ryanair had been doing this for three or four years, but I had no idea.”
Hina said she decided to ditch the trip and go out for dinner instead, saying: “I went to a Nepalese restaurant an hour away from Stansted. I thought I won’t think about the fight, I’ll go and have some momos [steamed dumplings]. My money is better spent getting food than paying £55 to check in.”
The TikTok creator said that while Ryanair has cheap fares, it is not worth the “inflexible” customer service and disregard for their passengers. She vows that she will not be travelling with Ryanair again and would rather spend more money for a more reliable airline.
A RyanAir spokesman said: “In accordance with Ryanair’s T&Cs, which this passenger agreed to at the time of booking, this passenger failed to check-in online before arriving at London Stansted Airport (13 May). Therefore, this passenger was correctly asked to pay the standard airport check-in fee when checking in at the airport.
“All passengers travelling with Ryanair agree to check-in online before arriving at their departure airport and all passengers are sent an email reminding them to do so 24hrs before departure. This passenger chose not to pay the airport check-in fee and board her flight from London Stansted to Kaunas (13 May).”