Popular money-saving travel ‘hack’ backfires on frazzled  plane passengers: ‘We were lied to at the gate’

A common hack to save money on Ryanair backfired on a couple.

Scott McCormick and his girlfriend, Helena Boshwick, both 33, were set to fly from Birmingham Airport in the UK to Palma de Mallorca, Spain. In an attempt to save money, the couple decided not to pay to reserve seats on the flight.

“Me and my partner thought it’s not that much of a problem if we’re not sitting together for a two-hour flight, we’re adults here,” McCormick, a gym owner, told Kennedy News.

They were first in line to board when a staff member asked them to step aside as the rest of the passengers boarded.

“That moment was a red flag, I thought, ‘there’s something happening here,’” McCormick shared. “I asked her to tell us what is going to happen, and she said no.”

After everyone else was on the plane, the Ryanair staff member allegedly told them that the flight was full and there was only one seat left.

McCormick admitted that the two of them had a “meltdown” since they wanted to travel together — but they were told they were in this position because they “hadn’t reserved a seat.”

“There was no compassion or care whatsoever. After going back and forth, we said we’re not going to take separate flights and be in separate countries for hours,” he said.

After arguing with staff, the couple were reportedly told they could both get on the next flight and get refunded for both tickets.

But when they went to the check-in desk again, they were informed they would still have to pay for one of the tickets — and they claimed a refund was never issued.

“We went down to ticket sales and they said we still have to pay for one ticket, only one is reimbursed. One of the seats was put down as a cancelled booking and the other was a missed flight so we’d still have to pay for one seat and be reimbursed for the other,” McCormick said.

“That’s the biggest part of the [issue], we were just lied to at the gate but then we still sold us a seat and we still have seen no sign of reimbursement.”

The couple reportedly had to spend even more money on the new ticket and waited for four hours for the next flight, and McCormick claimed it felt like “discrimination.”

“Ryanair should have asked all passengers if anyone would like to volunteer their seats,” he said.

“…how do they pick out these people, is it because we’re young and we have no kids, so there’s just two of us, is it to do with something we don’t see or understand?”

He said he will avoid flying Ryanair in the future due to a lack of care and empathy. “You can be bawling your eyes out and they just don’t care, they’re deadpan.”

While some people on social media believed they were singled out for not reserving seats — debunking the so-called hack that doing so will result in lower airfare — Ryanair explained that it was because the plane itself was switched to one with fewer seats.

“This flight from Birmingham to Palma de Mallorca (1 May) was not ‘overbooked’ – it was scheduled to operate on a 737-8200 (197 seats) but for operational reasons had to be swapped to a 737-800 aircraft (189 seats),” the airline said. “As a result, one passenger was unable to travel on this flight and was reaccommodated onto the next available flight to Palma de Mallorca,” said a Ryanair spokesperson.

The airline’s rep noted that McCormick is not eligible for a refund since he was reaccommodated onto the next available flight.

“Mr. McCormick’s travel companion was not refused boarding but chose not to board and travel on this flight from Birmingham to Palma de Mallorca and was required to pay a missed departure fee to be booked onto the next available flight.”