The family of two Ukrainian refugees have pleaded with Ryanair to not increase their prices after they were forced to shell out over €1,400 for a flight from Poland to Ireland.
Dubliner Jade Dunne, whose eight-month pregnant stepsister Kristina and nephew Artem, 8, fled the war said she had been desperately looking for flights to bring them home to safety.
She told Dublin Live: "It was very difficult with Ryanair because their site crashed on Sunday and then the prices went up for flights to Poland and back.
"A lot of flights were sold out but eventually we got flights booked for my dad and step-mum."
But they were in for a shock when the price of the tickets came to a whopping €1,482.50 for four people.
She said the ticket costs have made it "impossible for people to come" to Ireland.
A screenshot of the ticket receipt shared with Dublin Live shows the overall cost for the group coming to 6,456 Polish Zloty or €1,482.50 for a flight from Katowice to Dublin Airport.
Kristina and Artem left their hometown of Ternopil in Ukraine with just a blanket and the clothes on their back.
After a heartbreaking goodbye to her husband Ruslan and grandmum Oksana, they crossed into Slovakia where they were in a refugee camp.
Jade immediately started searching for flights to Poland so her dad and step-mum could bring the pair back to Dublin.
Jade added: "Ryanair is literally making it impossible for people to come here even though it’s visa-free now. People are just trying to survive.
"How are others meant to get back to Ireland with prices that high? It’s crazy!"
A spokesman for Ryanair told Dublin Live: "Any claims that Ryanair is intentionally altering its ticket prices from Poland to Ireland are completely false.
"Ryanair has over 700,000 flights on sale [130m seats] at any one time and a number of yield and pricing factors dictate these airfares.
"We fly over 1m seats annually between Poland and Ireland and consistently offer low fares and great choice on these routes."
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