Ryanair defends itself over in-flight scratch-card accusations
Ryanair has dismissed claims going viral on Facebook that it is being ‘utterly cynical’ in the way it sells charity scratch-cards on its flights.
It insists that a post on Facebook accusing the airline of donating only a tiny percentage of its proceeds to a sick children’s charity from the sales from scratch-cards was ‘fanciful and inaccurate’.
A spokesman for the airline said it had donated ‘over €2 million’ to 50 charities across 12 countries in the EU.
"These charities cover a wide range of hospitals, schools, child welfare and sports club fundraisings. Over the last 12 months alone more than €500,000 was donated to charitable causes," he said.
However, the airline did not say how much it had raised in total from scratch-card sales or what percentage was donated to charity.
In his Facebook message, passenger James McKelvie claimed the airline donated just 0.3% of the sale price to charities and pocketed the rest.
He said on his recent flight Ryanair was using children’s hospice CHAS to ‘punt’ its scratch cards, which he claimed was a ‘cyncial’ way to boost its profits.
He also pointed out that in five years, no-one has won the top prize of €1 million as the odds are stacked so high against them.
In his post, which has already been shared almost 16,000 times in five days, McKelvie said that by 2013 Ryanair had raised €16 million from the sale of scratch-cards, yet it had distributed just €55,000 to good causes.
The figures appear to come from an anti-Ryanair website set up by disgruntled airline staff four years ago.
A Ryanair spokesman added: "These numbers are entirely speculative and false. The author has no basis for his fanciful and inaccurate guestimates."
However, he did confirm that no-one had yet won the €1 million prize, but it said that over €1.5 million of free cars and cash prizes had been won by customers.
The airline’s spokesman confirmed McKelvie’s claim that Ryanair has only one scratch-card per year with a chance of winning the €1 million euro and the holder must then choose from 125 envelopes, only one of which contains a €1 million cheque.
"The million euro will only be won once every 125 years," wrote McKelvie. "This is an utterly cynical way for Michael O’Leary and Ryanair to increase their profits, using a children’s cancer charity to do so. They could hardly stoop any lower."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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