Outrage as Ryanair charges elderly couple £110 for downloading wrong boarding passes

An elderly couple were "horrified" when they were charged £110 by Ryanair to print their tickets at the airport.

Ruth, 79, and Peter Jaffe, 80, told the BBC's Radio 4 Today Programme they had to pay the fee after they mistakenly downloaded their return tickets instead of their outgoing tickets when travelling from Stansted Airport to Bergerac, France, on Friday.

Mrs Jaffe said she found Ryanair's website "very confusing" but despite this, she thought she had successfully managed to print their tickets the day before the flight.

But when she got to the airport that she realised she had accidentally printed the wrong tickets.

"I was then told that I had to go to the Ryanair desk to get a boarding card, and there they charged me £55 per person," she said. "[I was] horrified."

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She added it wasn't easy for her husband to walk from one bit of the airport to the other. "I was quite flustered and upset."

Mr Jaffe said that they had no choice but to pay, as they had people expecting them in France.

Then, after their daughter posted about the incident on Twitter, her post went viral with many criticising the airline.

Ryanair said in a statement: "All passengers travelling with Ryanair agree to check-in online before arriving at their departure airport and all passengers are sent an email/SMS, reminding them to do so 24hrs before departure.

"We regret that these passengers ignored their email reminder and failed to check-in online."

People on social media sympathised with the couple and thought Ryanair's statement wasn't appropriate:

Asked about the huge reaction on social media, Mrs Jaffe said: "People hate Ryanair, I think."

She went on: "If you're elderly and haven't been brought up using computers from day one, it can be very difficult."

Mr Jaffe added: "It's also the money-making aspect, like the fact we had to pay extra to sit together."

The couple have complained to Ryanair but said they don't expect to get anything back.

"I think they'll say it's in the small print and it was our fault. Which it was, but it was a genuine mistake," Mrs Jaffe said.

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