This morning, thanks to my dear friend Sherlock, I read an almost-hard-to-believe story, which, thank goodness, has been picked up by a number of Italian newspapers. It concerns the mistreatment of a multiple myeloma patient on a Barcelona-Rome Ryanair flight. I couldn’t find an English translation for this news item, so what follows is my own rather hasty translation of the main points (the following links are for those who can read Italian: http://tinyurl.com/2wy87jb, http://tinyurl.com/3y5kpo2 and http://tinyurl.com/27ulw2z and then, to be fair, the airline’s own statement: http://tinyurl.com/22rx7ph).
The story…from what I have pieced together: a couple of evenings ago, a 57-year-old multiple myeloma patient, Mr. Angelo Pietrolucci, a Roman entrepreneur, was returning to Rome from Barcelona with his wife and granddaughter on a Ryanair flight. Because of serious mobility problems–Mr. Pietrolucci is 100% disabled–he had requested assistance. And here is the first thing that struck me as being odd: the Pietroluccis were the last to board the plane…
The second thing that struck me: Ryanair hadn’t reserved the first and second rows for the Pietroluccis, which is, if I am not mistaken, standard practice for any airline. These rows were already occupied by the time the Pietroluccis boarded the plane. The Pietroluccis therefore settled themselves in the third and fourth rows. But the flight attendant apologetically informed them that the pilot, for some peculiar reason of his own, wanted them to move down to row no. 32. Mr. Pietrolucci apparently pointed out his above-mentioned mobility problems, but, at the insistence of the flight attendant and to the utter amazement of the other passengers, he got up and made his way, slowly and clearly in pain, to the back of the plane…
As soon as he sat down, the flight attendant informed him that the pilot had ordered him to get off the plane immediately or he would call the police. Mr. Pietrolucci began to feel ill…and didn’t move.
Well, the pilot didn’t waste any time…three Spanish policemen arrived and tried to force Mr. Pietrolucci off the plane. They even threatened him with handcuffs…then one of them grabbed him by his arm, which had been recently operated on…and Mr. Pietrolucci cried out in pain. At this point, the other passengers began protesting very forcefully against this assault. The police finally left, and the flight took off…after a two-hour delay.
As soon as the flight landed in Rome, Mr. Pietrolucci was taken by ambulance to a hospital…an X-ray showed that his humerus (right shoulder) was fractured.
Okay, in all fairness, I also read the statement issued by Ryanair (see above link, no 3). The airline’s position is that Mr. Pietrolucci REFUSED to sit down in his assigned seat, which was one of the seats reserved for people with limited mobility (=the opposite of what Mr. Pietrolucci declared).
According to Ryanair, Mr. Pietrolucci was warned that the police would be called if he did not sit down. C’mon, doesn’t it strike you as being somewhat odd that Mr. Pietrolucci refused to sit down in his assigned seat??? Have you ever refused to sit down in your assigned seat? No, this makes no sense at all…
The airline also denies that any physical contact occurred between the patient and the police or any Ryanair employee. Uhm…right…Mr. Pietrolucci must have fractured his humerus on his own, then…
The airline also declares that none of the flight attendants noticed that Mr. Pietrolucci was in any pain during the flight to Rome. Hmmm…
And, as if this were not enough!, at the end of the statement, instead of apologizing for the pain and discomfort experienced by Mr. Pietrolucci, Ryanair expresses its regret that this episode caused a two-hour delay for the other 150 passengers on board that flight (are you as flabbergasted as I am???!!!). Shameful…
This is bloody O U T R A G E O U S. At the very least, I am going to boycott Ryanair forever…but no, I feel that more should be done…I will write a letter of protest…and I hope mine will be one of MANY.
I am sure that there will be more on this story in the days to come…I will keep an eye on it and give you an update (if I have one, of course)…
That is an amazing story. That poor man. really blown away at the airline and what is wrong with the pilot? And the police?! I hope they sue the … out of the airline!
Doesn’t it seem rather odd that a 100% disabled man, who was more than likely exhausted by the time he reached the plane, was LAST to board the plane, then asked to move from place to place on the plane then refused to be seated!!! I don’t think so! I can imagine he was grateful to sit anywhere by that time! I’m so sorry for the way he was treated…it could have been any of us!
Well that just beggars belief.
probably this spanish policemen is one of the authors of the study about the “high risk” smoldering myeloma patients(meeting him makes common cold patients to be at high risk)
Ryanair is notorious for its beastly treatment of ill, wounded and disabled passengers, but this is the lowest it can get. These policemen must still be living in the Fascist era of Franco when they could torture and abuse people at will. Boycott this despicable airline! Get it out of the sky!