Ryanair scratchcards branded 'unfair'

Critics have blasted Ryanair's charity lottery scratch cards as "unfair".

It's thought the airline sells around 15 scratch cards per flight, of which there are around 1,600 a day.

The Mirror reports that the Ryanairdontcare website suggest the company would make around £12 million a year from the €2 Fly To Win cards.

The top prize is €1 million, but the website says to win the big prize you have to scratch a Yes on the card, before then entering a draw online.

You then have to attend an event where you have to pick one envelope containing the cheque out of 125.

It shout be pointed out, however, that all the other envelopes do contain €10,000, so you wouldn't leave the event empty-handed.

The campaign site is calling for an investigation into the cards.

But a Ryanair spokesman told the Mirror: "Our scratch cards continue to generate very significant funds for charity.

"Over the past six years we have donated well over €1million to charity."

As well as €10,000 prizes, customers can also win a car. We're sure the three passengers who all won a car with scratch cards on the same Ryanair flight back in April 2011 weren't complaining.

It should be remembered that if you do win a €10,000 prize, you cannot collect your winnings immediately. According to the BBC, back in 2010, one man flying from Poland to the East Midlands won €10,000, and was so outraged he couldn't pick up his prize straight away, he ate his ticket.

At the time, Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara said the cabin crew and some passengers urged the man not to eat the ticket, but he stood up and ate it anyway.

Mr McNamara explained that all winners must be verified before the cash prizes are handed out.

He added the airline crew did not have the cash "kicking around the aircraft" and the prize had to be collected directly from the scratchcard company.

Ryanair introduced the scratch cards back in 2008 as part of a wider scheme to increase revenue, reports the Metro.