An elderly, disabled woman was left "very upset" after missing her Ryanair flight to Spain after staff 'failed to help her on board'.
Sheila Cottrill, aged 87, says she's been "put off ever travelling again" following the traumatic incident.
The wheelchair user was due to fly out over the May bank holiday weekend to visit her son Jeremy, who she had been separated from due to the Covid pandemic.
Jeremy told how she had arrived at Birmingham Airport three hours before her Ryanair flight to Barcelona. She was then taken through security by assisted passage staff, left close to her gate and told someone would return to help her board the plane.
But she waited alone and had to watch the flight leave.
Upset Ms Cottrill said she was later told there had been a shortage of "Ambulift" drivers to help those with mobility problems. Her son Jeremy told BirminghamLive: "It's not the way to treat an elderly disabled passenger who was travelling on her own on her first holiday post-Covid situation.
"Prior to all of this she said she had lost her confidence in travelling. Now I fear this will be the last time she’ll consider doing so.
"Help is supposed to be there for disabled people. There was a total lack of care and sympathy.
"My mum who is 87 years old and disabled arranged a probably last trip to see me who lives in Spain. This was something which wasn’t possible during the Covid pandemic.
"She arranged 'assisted travel' with Birmingham Airport via the Ryanair ticketing process. She arrived on Sunday (May 1) three-hours early and presented herself to the “assisted travel” desk.
"She was guided in a wheelchair through security by staff and placed at the departure gate in plenty of time for her flight. Eventually the flight left without her despite her sitting at the gate because there were apparently not enough 'Ambulift' staff available.
"She was then unceremoniously basically taken back to landslide and dumped at the 'Assisted Travel' desk six-hours after arrival at the airport. She was told to make her own way home and if she wished to travel again to make her own way back to the airport the next day where she could book another Ryanair ticket for the additional cost of £100 (€116)."
She re-booked a flight for May 2, but also had to endure another stressful build up to leaving the airport. She arrived three-hours early and was taken through security by assisted passage staff.
Ms Cottrill was told help would be on hand 45-minutes before her flight. But when heard the final call for her flight she was was forced to stop a member of staff who took her to her gate.
There were no specialist drivers available again. So his mum decided to leave her wheelchair behind and try to walk to the plane while being assisted by a staff member carrying her case.
"They forgot her again and she had to remind staff to take her to the gate," he said. "Then she had to get out of her wheelchair and 'run' onto the tarmac to the aircraft and climb the steps or it would have left her behind again. What’s the world coming to?"
Ms Cottrill added: "I was very upset. It has put me off ever doing it again."
Birmingham Airport said they are investigating what went wrong. A spokesman told BirminghamLive: "We feel dreadful about the experience Mrs Cottrill had. We are looking into what happened with a view to making things right.
“We had over 110,000 customers travel through between Friday and Monday. Nearly 57,000 were departing passengers and 99.6 percent successfully caught their flight.
"We will look into the circumstances of anyone who missed their flight. We thank everyone for their patience and understanding.
“As always, our message to departing customers is: Help us help you keep queues moving by presenting at security 60 minutes before their flight time and removing any liquids, gels, pastes and electrical items from your bags before our security x-ray scanners."
A Ryanair spokesperson told BirminghamLive: “Wheelchair services at Birmingham Airport are operated by OCS, who failed to assist Ms. Cottrill to her flight on time for its scheduled departure at 15:50, May 1.
"As a gesture of goodwill, Ryanair re-accommodated Ms. Cottrill on the next available flight from Birmingham to Barcelona the next evening, at 20:50, May 2, free of charge.”
Read more: Spain holidays: Irish tourists warned of potential airport issues despite 'preferential treatment'
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