Man barred from Ryanair flight over wheelchair weight row

Brandon Aughton said he had been excited to travel following two years of shielding

A man says he was blocked from taking a flight as his wheelchair was too heavy.

Brandon Aughton, from West Bridgford in Nottinghamshire, had been due to travel with Ryanair from East Midlands Airport to Malaga on 11 October.

The 24-year-old said he was told he could not board the plane as staff were unable to lift his specialist chair, which weighs about 217kg (478lb), from the conveyor belt and the hold.

Swissport, Ryanair's baggage handler, said it was "saddened" by the incident.

Mr Aughton said he still did not understand what went wrong

Mr Aughton, who has cerebral palsy, said he was about to board when Swissport told him the electric wheelchair was too heavy.

He said the pilot then confirmed he would not be allowed on the flight and would have to get a later service, despite Ryanair having written to him beforehand to say his chair would be acceptable to take on board.

"I got really upset because I have been shielding for two years," he said.

He said he managed to fly the following day with a manual wheelchair - despite having flown with his electric wheelchair twice on Ryanair flights before.

"I didn't understand why this time they didn't accept it," he said.

Mr Aughton was travelling with his carer Orla Hennessy

Orla Hennessy, Mr Aughton's carer who was travelling with him, said the pair had also been "spoken to terribly" by a security officer before arriving at the gates.

"Brandon had his bag pulled to be searched, and when we went up to the customs desk she took one look at Brandon and said 'I'm not talking to him, I'll talk to you'," she said.

"She proceeded to chastise me for having allen keys in the bag, which you need to take the wheelchair apart, and you have to take the wheelchair apart before you go on the [plane]."

No holiday

Ms Hennessy praised ground staff at the airport for their assistance, but said further problems were encountered trying to get the wheelchair on to the plane.

"[Staff] said that the conveyor belt wasn't long enough to put the wheelchair on, and that they couldn't lift it over the gap between the conveyor belt and the hold," she said.

"By the time they had all stood round we were basically told Brandon's not going on his holiday.

"We came back into the terminal, the lady from Swissport was trying to blame us, she said we hadn't given them the correct information, but three different departments had the same information that we'd given."

She said Mr Aughton had not received a directly apology from Ryanair, Swissport or East Midlands Airport.

A spokesman for Right at Home, which employs Ms Hennessy, said it was "disappointed and saddened by the unfair treatment".

"People living with disabilities should not face such barriers to their day-to-day independence," he said.

Mr Aughton and Ms Hennessy ended up getting a flight the following day

A Swissport spokesman said: "We are saddened to hear about Brandon's experience.

"We take our responsibilities towards disabled passengers extremely seriously and understand how important it is that travel for all passengers runs smoothly."

East Midlands Airport said: "We were sorry to learn of the circumstances in which Brandon's wheelchair was considered too heavy to be loaded on to the aircraft.

"Having supported Brandon and his companion to the aircraft in one of our specially-adapted vehicles, we were made aware of the handling agent's decision not to accept his wheelchair.

"When a solution could not be found, we escorted him back to the terminal and we understand he was able to re-book a flight the following day."

Ryanair has been invited to comment.

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