Ryanair: Calls for people to boycott airline for shocking handling of racist incident

Yesterday, the budget Irish airline Ryanair came under fire on social media after footage of a racist passenger on one of their flights went viral.

The video which was reportedly filmed on October 18 sees an elderly white man racially abusing a black woman who was sitting next to him, something which he took objection to.

The incident took place on a flight from Barcelona to Stansted Airport and see's the man call the woman an "ugly black b*stard" and also complains about the language she was talking. There were also threats of physical abuse.

Although the woman who has been identified as 77-year-old Mrs Gayle from East London was eventually moved to sit next to her daughter, there were reports that none of the staff on board actually asked the man to move seats.

Ryanair put out a short statement on Sunday saying that they are "aware of the video and have reported the matter to Essex Police."

Considering that the video was allegedly recorded on October 18, the airline's slow response and overall poor handling of the situation has seen them on the receiving a heavy backlash on Twitter, with calls to boycott the airline altogether.

Others have asked why other passengers on board didn't do anything about the situation.

There have also been unverified reports that Ryanair of asking them to delete videos or tweets of the incident via direct messages.

Others have been mocking Ryanair with jokes.

Indy100 has received a statement from Ryanair in regards to the incident.

We have reported this to the police in Essex and as this is now a police matter, we cannot comment further.

Essex Police have since confirmed that they investigating the incident.

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