A woman has blasted budget airline Ryanair after they allegedly closed the door of a flight on the face of a family who were late due to their autistic son needing the toilet.
Sinead Whelan took to Twitter to vent about the "horrendous experience" the family went through at Dublin Airport.
Despite explaining to staff that their four-year-old autistic son needs to get on the plane last, she claims the door was shut in the family's face and they were not allowed to board their flight.
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"We just had a horrendous experience in Dublin Airport. Ryanair closed the doors to our flight in front of our face," the maths teacher wrote on social media.
The mother claimed that people had walked through to board the flight just "seconds earlier."
She said they explained that their four year old is autistic and needs to get on the plane last and right as they were about to board he needed to pee.
"Then he lost his important flyer lanyard and we were looking for it. Staff didn’t care and kept repeating that it was closed. Nobody had even been allowed onto the plane at this stage and were all still queuing.
"We begged and pleaded to let us on," she said.
Sinead added that her son was having a "meltdown" because he was ready to get on the plane.
"How can Ryanair treat an autistic child with such a lack of understanding or empathy," she questioned, adding that Dublin Airport staff are 'angels.'
In response, a spokesperson for Ryanair said that the family arrived late to the boarding gate for the flight from Dublin to Faro (4 July).
"As the gate had closed before they arrived, they were unable to board and missed their flight," they said.
They explained that when boarding is closed, a legal report of the manifest is signed and sent to the captain, therefore boarding cannot be re-opened.
"As a gesture of goodwill, Ryanair reaccommodated them on the next available flight to Faro free of charge which departed Dublin 2 hours later," the statement from Ryanair added.
