Ryanair's chief executive Mr Michael O'Leary has described as "nonsense" a claim by a woman who had been offered free Ryanair flights for life when she became the airline's one millionth passenger that she was "harassed" by him when she sought to avail of a free flight to Scotland in 1997.
However, Mr O'Leary acknowledged his company was wrong when it sought that year to put a limit on the annual number of free flights which Ms Jane O'Keeffe could take.
Last week, the company's sales-marketing manager, Mr Tim Jeans, said he had sought to impose a limit in 1997 in the interests of proper administration.
In the High Court yesterday, Mr O'Leary told Mr Justice Kelly the first he had heard of the allegation made by Ms O'Keeffe that she had been "bullied" by him when she tried to avail of a flight to Prestwick in October 1997 was when he read about it in the newspapers last Friday.
He said the purpose behind the 1988 offer of free flights to Ms O'Keeffe was to mark the occasion of the one millionth passenger with Ryanair, then 3½ years in existence, and to generate some publicity.
Mr O'Leary, who was temporary chief financial officer with the airline in 1988, said Ryanair was then in financial turmoil. He was working for Mr Tony Ryan, who had asked him to put a stop to all the spending.
He denied having a "hostile attitude" towards Ms O'Keeffe when she called him prior to the October weekend in 1997 about a flight to Scotland. There was no need for him to be. Ms O'Keeffe might have raised her voice in their conversation but he did not. Just over a week later, she wrote to him and made no suggestion of hostility or bullying in her letter.
Yesterday was the third day of the action by Ms O'Keeffe (35), of Mount Eagle View, Leopardstown Heights, Dublin, who is seeking damages from the airline for negligence, misrepresentation and loss of expectation.
Ryanair is alleging Ms O'Keeffe has no enforceable contract in law. It contends that what she had received in 1988 was simply a gift bestowed on her by the company.
Yesterday, Mr O'Leary acknowledged Ms O'Keeffe was now suing the airline for more than £360,000.
Cross-examined by Mr Mark de Blacam SC, for Ms O'Keeffe, he said what she had been given was a "gift". Ryanair was wrong to put a limit on it because it was clear the woman had been given free flights for life.
He denied a claim by Ms O'Keeffe that he had said to her, when she phoned him in connection with the flight to Scotland in 1997: "Who do you think you are, ringing up demanding flights."
Asked by the judge if Ms O'Keeffe in her conversation with him about the Scotland flight in 1997 had asked him not to bully her, Mr O'Leary said that did not happen.
Ryanair's personnel officer, Ms Emer Purcell, said Ms O'Keeffe would normally call up a few weeks earlier before making a booking for a particular flight. That did not happen in October 1997. Ms Purcell said she was surprised by this.
The evidence concluded yesterday with financial and actuarial evidence for Ryanair, after which legal submissions began.
Mr Martin Hayden SC, for Ryanair, argued Ms O'Keeffe was seeking to turn into money a prize or a gift which she had received entitling her to fly on a low-cost carrier for the rest of her life. There was no contract with the plaintiff; it was purely a gift.
The actuarial value of the loss of the free travel came nowhere near that estimated by Ms O'Keeffe who, when asked about the £347,280 figure which had been put on the capital value of the loss, had said she had no idea where that figure came from.