Family 'in total shock' after Ryanair boarding pass havoc costs them £165

Damian Lloyd, 50, of Neath, Wales, had already checked his family in online before their flight to Gran Canaria but was told he had also 'unchecked' his family meaning he had to pay the premium fee to do the process again at the airport.

The father of two said he was left "in total shock" when his, his wife's and daughter's boarding passes didn't scan.

The Ryanair employee at the check-in desk also didn't know what had gone wrong but would not let them through. They also couldn't contact anyone at Ryanair customer service because it was an early morning flight and the phone line wasn't yet open.

Instead of giving him the benefit of the doubt, Mr Neath was told he either wait for the customer service telephone line to open - and miss their flight - or pay the fee for new boarding passes and claim the money back.

Mr Lloyd, a health and safety manager, chose to pay but when he requested a refund it was refused, with Ryanair telling him he had 'unchecked in' the day before the flight.

Mr Lloyd said he was "so mad" and it ruined some of his 10-day holiday with his family.

He took the case to AviationADR, an independent airline dispute resolution scheme.

But he lost the dispute, being told Ryanair had followed its terms and conditions.

He told the BBC he didn't regret taking on the airline because they were "really rude" and "came up with every excuse under the sun".

Mr Lloyd could take the case further but said he didn't want to spend money going through the complaints court.

Erin Yurday, CEO and co-founder of NimbleFins, said: "You can't help but feel for the Lloyds who thought they'd done everything right ahead of their holiday.

"Ryanair is renowned for these surprise charges on anything from hand luggage to printing tickets at the airport and is prolific for drip pricing too.

"Unfortunately many people have reportedly gone through the same thing, being unchecked from their flight without realising. This would suggest it's either a glitch in the system or warnings and notifications are not clear enough.

"Their customer service seems to be letting down the customer, with teams more than happy to let the plane go without you if you don't cough up the cash.

"Until there are rules to clamp down on these 'gotcha' pricing tactics, travellers might want to double check they are checked in at least two hours before their flight to avoid falling victim to unwanted charges."

NimbleFins has contacted Ryanair for comment.

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