Sometimes airline rules are necessary, and sometimes they make no sense whatsoever.
The safety of passengers is the most important thing, and it seems like this often gets pushed to the back by other trivial matters.
Ryanair is a budget flight operator in Europe, and has a couple of unusual rules itself.
If your bag is too big to carry on board, you have to pay an oversized luggage fee. All normal there.
But when one woman encountered this problem in Ibiza Airport, she learned that you could only pay the oversized luggage fee by card. Fine if you have a card that you can pay this with. She didn’t.
Imagine being given literally no other option apart from paying by card or abandoning your entire bag.
The woman, who wants to be known only as Stephanie, is a mom of three kids and had probably spent all her saved money on her vacation. She couldn’t have expected the surprise £50 ($65) bill.
It’s understandable that on footage filmed by a co-passenger, she looks distressed and at a loss on what to do after being told the news.
With no help from staff at the airport, Stephanie was left to fend for herself… or so she thought.
In the video, which was shared to Twitter by user @CoolCalmPoch, the camera pans to show the stressed mother standing a little off to the side while a young man nearby checks his phone.
The woman’s children are being typical boisterous little boys, with one of the older siblings chasing his younger brother. It’s good-natured fun, but their mom is clearly stressed, holding her head and raking her hair.
The young man must notice her stress – and his next act of kindness shows that he has heart of gold.
He says:
“It’s alright, it’s alright. “I’ll pay for you.”
Stephanie looks embarrassed to have resorted to having a stranger pay for her, but it seems there isn’t another option.
Even when airline staff see that a random man who isn’t even part of the woman’s party is paying for her, they’re happy enough to accept the £50 there and then.
The kind stranger quietly pays for Stephanie’s luggage while she attempts to get her kids under control.
The clip ends with the stranger waiting for his payment to complete while the oldest of Stephanie’s sons can be heard trying to calm the other, saying, “No, no, mama is upset”.
The caption of the video reads:
“Well done to this young hero for paying the ridiculous Ryanair baggage charges for a distressed mother travelling with 3 kids (who wasn’t getting any leniency from ground staff). The flight from Ibiza to Stansted was half empty, not sure what difference a few cm would make.”
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Stephanie said that staff had first told her that she didn’t need to check in her bag. But later on, she was told that her bag was too big, and she would need to pay a charge.
She added:
“The plane was half-full so I couldn’t understand why they couldn’t take my bag or put it in the hold.”
“I was told I had to pay on card but I only had cash with me, so paying it was impossible. I don’t travel a lot and it’s been a long time since I’ve been on the plane, plus with everything that’s going on, you can see on the video that I’m quite anxious.”
Stephanie had tried to make contact with the good Samaritan who had paid for her luggage, but to no avail.
The man wished to remain anonymous, but Stephanie said she just wanted to thank him because “I don’t think he realizes how nice a gesture it was and how much it meant to me”.
You can watch the moment that the stranger steps up to pay for a distressed mom’s luggage below.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
Well done to this young hero for paying the ridiculous Ryanair baggage charges for a distressed mother travelling with 3 kids (who wasn’t getting any leniency from ground staff). The flight from Ibiza to Stansted was half empty, not sure what difference a few cm would make. pic.twitter.com/RosvQKh8tw
— We are one (@CoolCalmPoch) October 17, 2020