Devastated mum whose son died before Ryanair flight won’t get refund

A grieving mum has said Ryanair is ‘inhuman’ for refusing to refund her cancelled trip after her teenage son died.

Tina McDermont was due to fly with the budget airline from Newcastle to Alicante in Spain on August 30 for a four-day getaway with her husband.

Their trip was cancelled after their son Billy McDermont, 18, died in a tragic accident on August 19.

45-year-old Tina began amending her travel arrangements and contacted Ryanair customer support to notify them and request a refund.

After providing a copy of her son’s death certificate, the mum-of-two said she was told she was not eligible for a refund due to Billy passing more than 10 days before the departure date.

According to Ryanair’s policies, travellers may apply for travel credit if a passenger on a booking, or an immediate family member, passes away within 10 days before the flight.

Tina was ‘disgusted’ to learn she was not entitled to a refund of her and her husband’s £350 flights as her son died 24 hours before the airline’s cut-off date. She had hoped to use the refunded money to pay towards Billy’s funeral costs.

The civil servant described the policy as a ‘slap in the face’ and is calling for the airline to review bereavement claims on a case-by-case basis.

Tina, who lives in Washington, Tyne and Wear, said: ‘Billy’s death was a massive shock. He’d just turned 18. I could never have travelled and gone abroad. I just wanted to be at home with my family around me. I’m arranging my son’s funeral. There’s no way I could go.

‘I thought when I got in touch with Ryanair there wouldn’t be an issue. I thought we’d get that money back and put it towards Billy’s funeral, and then I hit these barriers because of this 10-day policy that I hadn’t been aware of.

‘It was raw emotion all the time. It wouldn’t let me complete the form. I looked at the terms and conditions and thought that doesn’t really make sense.’

‘I was outraged. Nobody wants to lose their child. It was disbelief in their policies. It’s not about the money. It’s the principle. £350 for a huge company like Ryanair is chicken feed,’ she added.

Ryanair stood by their policy and said that it was correct that Tina should not be covered.

A Ryanair spokesperson previously said: ‘Ryanair’s bereavement policy allows passengers to apply for travel credit where the death of an immediate family member occurs within 10 days of their scheduled flight departure.

‘As this bereavement occurred outside of that period, this passenger was not entitled to travel credit.

‘This passenger was provided with the documentation required to submit a claim through their travel insurance provider.’

Metro has contacted Ryanair for a statement.

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