A pilgrim - upset that she would not be flying Aer Lingus to Lourdes - told check-in staff she would "have no problem" if the aircraft crashed and everybody died, a court heard yesterday.
Eileen Horgan (73), from Clontarf, Dublin, was not allowed to board the flight after being deemed a security risk. Yesterday, she sued Pilgrimages Abroad GLA, Middle Abbey Street, Dublin, which sold her tickets for the aborted trip last December.
Yesterday, in the Dublin Small Claims Court, Judge Mary Collins adjourned a decision to allow the travel company to produce evidence that a warning not to make comments about the plane crashing had been given to Ms Horgan before she was refused permission to board.
Ms Horgan told the court that when booking, she checked with a girl in the travel office that the carrier would be Aer Lingus and was told it would be, although she noticed that another girl was laughing at this.
When she received her ticket, she noticed the flight number started with the initials "FUA" (denoting the carrier as Futura Airlines). "I thought maybe it was a subsidiary of Aer Lingus," she said.
When she got to the airport, and after receiving her boarding pass, she realised that it was not Aer Lingus and that her seat number had been changed. She complained and was not permitted to board after being told she was being disruptive. Her luggage was returned and she said she flew with Aer France the next day.
Mr Kevin Gallagher, from Pilgrimages Abroad, said Ms Horgan had failed to mention comments she made at check-in which had led to boarding refusal.
"She said to the check-in staff member that if the aircraft were to crash and everybody died, she would have no problem with that," he said. There were a large number of experienced travellers on the flight, some of whom were behind her in the queue, and had heard the comment.
Following consultation with the pilot, it was decided to refuse to allow her to board because she was "a security risk and could possibly disturb other passengers".
Judge Collins said while her comments were totally inappropriate, if somebody had sat her down and told her she would not be allowed to fly if she continued making them, the matter may have been resolved.
"That she was a security risk, I find hard to see," the judge said of Ms Horgan. She adjourned the case to December 1st.