The High Court has awarded €67,500 to Ryanair's millionth passenger in compensation for breach of contract.
In his reserved judgment, delivered yesterday, Mr Justice Peter Kelly said he found that the chief executive of Ryanair , Mr Michael O'Leary, had been hostile, aggressive and bullying towards the plaintiff.
The case was taken by Ms Jane O'Keeffe, an account manager with a marketing agency, who was nominated as Ryanair's millionth passenger in October 1988.
Ms O'Keeffe claimed Ryanair had breached a contract to supply her with free air travel for life in return for participating in a publicity event around her nomination as the millionth passenger. Ryanair denied that any contract existed, and claimed that the offer of free travel was a gift.
Outlining the facts of the case, Mr Justice Kelly said that in October 1988, Ms O'Keeffe was 21 and working as a secretary in London. On her return from a visit home for her grandmother's funeral, she was told at the Ryanair check-in desk that she might be the airline's millionth passenger, and was asked to participate in publicity. She agreed.
She was told by the then chief executive, Mr P.J. McGoldrick, that she would have unlimited travel for herself and her nominee for the rest of her life.
The arrangement worked smoothly until 1997, when problems arose on October 15th in relation to a trip she wished to make at the end of that month to visit family members in Scotland.
She claimed in evidence she tried to make a reservation for herself and her husband on this date, but ran into difficulties when no booking number was forwarded to her. The company denied she had attempted to make such a booking at this time, but Mr Justice Kelly found that her evidence was more credible than that of the Ryanair representative, Ms Emer Purcell.
On October 28th, 1997, Ms O'Keeffe attempted to make the booking again. After a number of phone calls, she was put through to Mr Tim Jeans, the marketing director, who told her that, in the absence of a written contract, limits would be imposed on her entitlement and that she would be limited to one flight a year.
The issue of this booking was not resolved, and the plaintiff telephoned the chief executive, Mr Michael O'Leary. In her evidence, she had said he was extremely hostile to her, and asked her who did she think she was, phoning up and demanding flights. She asked him not to bully her and found it difficult to make herself heard.
Mr O'Leary had described the allegation of hostility as "nonsense", and said he had told her she could not have free flights on the basis of phoning up the day before.
In relation to this conflict of evidence, Mr Justice Kelly said: "I found the plaintiff a more persuasive witness than Mr O'Leary and I therefore find that the version of events given by the plaintiff is what occurred. I reject Mr O'Leary's assertion that he was not hostile or aggressive or bullying towards the plaintiff. I find that he was."
Later, following Ms O'Keeffe sending in a video of the "millionth passenger" award, Mr Jeans wrote to her offering her limited free travel, in return for her availability for PR and promotional activity. She did not find this acceptable, and took legal advice.
Mr Justice Kelly found that there was a contract between Ryanair and Ms O'Keeffe, and that this was breached by the airline. "There is no question of a gift being involved here. The defendant had a very clear idea as to what it wanted from the plaintiff and it got it," Mr Justice Kelly found.
He calculated the damages due on the basis of an estimation of the number of flights she would have taken, with a companion, since 1997 and the number of flights she and her companion were likely to take in the future, which came to €66,000. He awarded her €1,500 for the "unpleasant and shabby treatment" she suffered in October 1997. She was also awarded her costs. A stay until Friday was granted, to allow consideration of an appeal.