Ryanair refuses to allow child travelling for organ transplant to fly

Ryanair refused to fly a sick child who was travelling for an organ transplant - because he arrived at the airport "too close to the departure time".

The boy's family, from Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands, were phoned on Saturday 14 March by La Paz hospital in Madrid to say the life-saving surgery could take place immediately as a liver and kidney donor had been found.

They rushed to the airport, reportedly arriving at around 3pm, and tried to book seats on the first available flight, the Ryanair RYR2012, departing at 4.50pm.

But they were apparently too late to board it.

According to the Independent and the Daily Mail, a Ryanair statement said: "We have looked into this matter with our handling agent at Las Palmas and unfortunately, we were unable to accommodate this family onto our flight as it was too close to the departure time.

"We offered full assistance to the family regarding their flight requirements."

According to The Local, the family managed to find a flight with Air Europa that took off one and a half hours after the Ryanair flight, and the boy, thought to be around 10, was rushed to the hospital.

The hospital transplant team reported a large amount of "anguish" when they they were not sure if the child would arrive on time to receive the organs.