Ryanair passenger cancels Spanish vacation to plan her 18yo son’s funeral, then receives the worst policy response: ‘not entitled to travel credit’

Tina McDermont said a four-day trip from Newcastle to Alicante never happened after her 18-year-old son, Billy, died. The 45-year-old civil servant told Kennedy News, as reported by the New York Post, that she and her husband had booked Ryanair for August 30 and paid £350 ($467).

She said Billy died in an undisclosed tragic accident. McDermont said there was “no way” she could take the vacation while arranging his funeral and that she wanted to remain at home with her “friends and family.”

She later asked the airline for her money back. McDermont said she expected there “wouldn’t be an issue,” then described Ryanair’s reply as “like a slap in the face.”

Travel credit depends on death falling inside a 10-day window

McDermont said she used Ryanair’s website to seek a refund and then ran into a time limit she “hadn’t been aware of.” “I hit these barriers because of this 10-day policy that I hadn’t been aware of,” she said.

She said staff sent a link asking for a death certificate, then kept asking for the date of death. “[After they sent me a link requesting his death certificate] I couldn’t get any further forward because they kept requesting the date of death. It was really starting to agitate me,” she said.

A phone call, she said, confirmed the cutoff had been missed by a day. “If he’d died a day later, I would’ve got my money back,” McDermont said. “It’s a blanket policy, but it isn’t human.” She added, “It should be done [on] a case-by-case basis.”

A Ryanair representative told The Post, “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.” The representative added, “As this bereavement occurred outside of that period, this passenger was not entitled to travel credit.” For Ryanair, the complaints don’t stop at bereavement policy, as a passenger was once partially sucked out of a broken window.

According to the Ryanair Help Center, fares are non-refundable, and travel insurance is strongly recommended. They say an application must be filed before the travel date and must include the reservation number, the relationship to the deceased, and a death certificate or notice.

If a claim is accepted, Ryanair says credit equal to the booking goes into the lead passenger’s myRyanair wallet. That credit, the airline says, can be used to rebook flights within 12 months, cannot be exchanged for cash, and expires if unused. Immediate family, it says, means a husband or wife, legal civil partner, parents, and children, not siblings or grandparents.

The representative also said that McDermont was given the documents needed to submit a claim through her travel insurance provider. She said she contacted Ryanair again and asked it to review the decision, but the carrier kept the same position. Beyond bereavement credits, Ryanair’s policies can leave passengers without recourse, as when a traveler who left carry-on luggage on a plane shared how she retrieved it despite being told the airline doesn’t handle such items.

McDermont said the £350 was meant to help pay for Billy’s funeral. “It’s not about the money. It’s the principle,” she said. “£350 for a huge company like Ryanair is chicken feed. They’re greedy.” She called the stance “disgusting” and “petty.”

“Ryanair needs to change their policies,” she said. “There needs to be a special circumstances clause for close relatives like children. Have a bit of heart and compassion.” She said she felt “deflated” and would “never fly” the airline again.

The New York Post also noted a 2024 complaint from Anita Kozłowska, 36, who said Ryanair charged her about $140 to amend a booking after her sister died before the trip. “I just feel it is absolutely disgusting to be paying that much,” Kozłowska told BPM Media.