THIS is the shocking moment a female Ryanair passenger was left sobbing on her knees after being banned from boarding her flight.
The tearful woman was left hitting a door in an emotional outburst as airport staff reportedly told her that her hand luggage was too big.
At Sofia Airport in Bulgaria, a scene of chaos erupted as a woman yelled, cried, and expressed her anger about Ryanair’s rigid baggage rules.
A packed flight was due to board a bus to their plane when the female passenger was stopped in the queue.
An eyewitness, Nikolay Stefanov, observed the upsetting incident, noting that the woman was charged for additional baggage since her luggage exceeded the holdall’s size requirements.
The woman refused to pay as she explained her bag could in fact fit.
Footage shows her trying to force her bag into the luggage rack by slamming it in.
The bag does eventually fit but the staff still refuse to let her board.
She then breaks down in tears as she pleads with a member of the border police and takes a video of the bag which is now wedged inside the rack.
Dozens of the passengers were seen watching on from behind a glass door which was all that separated them from the weeping woman.
Determined to board, she then starts to bang on the door and ask for help as Nikolay films the sad ordeal.
More staff quickly surround the woman as her begging grows louder.
At one point she even drops to her knees before placing her hand on the door as tears roll down her face.
Nikolay said the whole situation “escalated quickly”.
Stefanov mentioned, “She begged us not to depart, yet we were warned that our flight might be called off if we didn’t board the bus, which led passengers to panic and proceed onto the bus.”
Nikolay said many onlookers were also shocked by how the staff treated her with next to no compassion.
It has also been claimed that another passenger stood behind the woman in line was removed from the flight.
A Ryanair staff member allegedly said that they couldn’t let him on because “reopening the gate risked the woman trying to get on the bus”.
The viral footage soon caught the eye of Bulgaria’s parliament.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport Grozdan Karadjov has reportedly ordered an inspection of the airport’s security cameras.
Mr Karadjov is even said to have described the behaviour of employees in the video as “outrageous”, Fatki.bg reports.
He has assured people that the main ground operator will be found and given the “highest fine” and a verbal warning.
In response, Goldair Handling Bulgaria insisted their employees acted “professionally and without any physical contact with the passenger”.
The handling company released a statement to BNT News that read: “All rules regarding passengers’ baggage, its permissible size and the fees payable for baggage are determined solely, entirely and unilaterally by the airlines.
“Goldair Handling Bulgaria OOD is solely obliged to monitor compliance with these rules by the airlines.
“This also applies to hand luggage, as Goldair Handling Bulgaria OOD is obliged to monitor the dimensions of this baggage and collect excess baggage fees.
“[Staff] acted professionally and without any physical contact with the passenger.”
It comes as Ryanair’s CEO is considering increasing bonuses paid to staff for spotting oversized luggage.
The budget airline currently pays staff approximately €1.50 (£1.30) for stopping passengers with oversized bags from boarding the aircraft.
Currently, staff bonuses for doing this are capped at €80 (£70) a month.
Passengers who are unlucky enough to get caught out by the airline’s staff are charged a fee of up to €75 (£65) for bringing luggage that is larger than they paid for while booking their journey.
