Mum accused of trafficking daughter in airline blunder

Monday, 27th February 2006, 10:02
Category: Crime and Punishment

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LIFE STYLE EXTRA (UK) - A horrified mum missed her own daughter's
christening and was arrested as a baby trafficker after a blunder by budget
airline Ryanair, it was claimed today.

Rachelle Murphy was interrogated for hours by armed Italian police, who
believed she was trying to sell her baby daughter Aria.

She was then deported from Rome, where the christening was to be held,
because baby Aria didn't have a passport.

And when she arrived back at Stansted more than eight hours later Rachelle
was then held by British police as a suspected baby snatcher.

Desperate Rachelle then bought more tickets after being assured by Ryanair
staff that she could travel with Aria if she produced a birth certificate,
but when she arrived for check in they refused to allow her to board.

Now the budget airline have refused to refund the £800 she paid for the
tickets or the £400 cost of cancelling the christening in husband Massimo
Guglielmi's home town.

Angry Rachelle, 32, of Bethnal Green, said: "I arrived at the Ryanair desk
at Stansted Airport last Monday with my mother and daughter. My husband was
already in Rome.

"We asked the staff there if we had the correct papers to travel and they
assured me that my daughter who was only three weeks old could fly on my
passport.

"That was it as far as checking my passport was concerned and the next thing
we knew we were landing in Rome.

"The minute I arrived at the desk in Rome Airport I was ordered into a back
room and half a dozen Italian policemen arrived with two immigration
officers.

"It was horrendous. I was treated like a criminal for several hours while
they interrogated me.

"They accused me of stealing my own daughter and then went as far as to say
I was going to sell her.

"You cannot imagine what it felt like. They asked the questions in Italian
and I could not understand what they were saying.

"I was terrified the Italians are not known for doing anything quietly. The
stress made it impossible for me to breast-feed my baby even though she was
very hungry.

"They then told me I would be deported and arrested once I got back in
England.

"I had landed in Rome at 4pm and did not board a return flight until 1am. I
was tired and scared and Aria was cold because of the stress I was in. You
cannot treat a mother and child in this way."

Australian-born Rachelle added: "When we finally landed in England I was met
by the police who again took me into questioning. Luckily when I had proved
who I was they let me go.

"I called Ryanair time and time again. When I finally got through they told
me to write an email as they would not listen to a complaint over the phone.

"They also said I had no chance of a refund as they just do not do them even
though it was their fault.

"When I phoned back to book flights again with Aria's birth certificate they
again said this would be fine after I explained what had happened they
promised it would not happen again.

"I thought we might save the christening but again when we arrived at Luton
Airport on Sunday morning they said I needed a passport for Aria at the
Ryanair desk.

"This is absolutely disgusting I feel we are the victims of heartless
uninformed fools who could not care less about the customer.

"I have spent over £800 on the flights and on top of that we have spent over
£400 on car hire and the christening itself.

"The whole experience has cost a fortune left me tired and stressed and
really shown the true colours of Ryanair.

"We will try again to get a refund but they have already made it clear they
are not interested in discussing it."

Ryanair confirmed they have mounted an invetigation in to the incident which
happened on February 8, but refused to comment further.

A Ryanair spokeswoman said: "We will be looking into this matter and
carrying out a full investigation. Until we have further information, I am u
nable to comment."
Copyright © 2006 National News +44(0)207 684 3000

On Mon, 27 Feb 2006 16:48:57 -0000, "Miss L. Toe"
wrote:

Monday, 27th February 2006, 10:02
Category: Crime and Punishment

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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LIFE STYLE EXTRA (UK) - A horrified mum missed her own daughter's
christening and was arrested as a baby trafficker after a blunder by budget
airline Ryanair, it was claimed today.

I don't know why this is considered a blunder by Ryanair. I think it
was a blunder by the family to ask an airline ticket clerk what travel
documents they needed for an infant. As I understand the article, the
child had no documents at all and was not on either of the parents'
passport. There has been a good deal of infant trafficking in Italy
recently and the Italian police were justifiably suspicious of a
totally undocumented baby being brought into the country.

Of course, they never should have been allowed to board the plane, but
the parents bear a greater responsibility than Ryanair in this matter.

--
Barbara Vaughan
My email address is my first initial followed by my surname at libero dot it
I answer travel questions only in the newsgroup

"B Vaughan" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 27 Feb 2006 16:48:57 -0000, "Miss L. Toe"
wrote:

Monday, 27th February 2006, 10:02
Category: Crime and Punishment


---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
----
LIFE STYLE EXTRA (UK) - A horrified mum missed her own daughter's
christening and was arrested as a baby trafficker after a blunder by
budget
airline Ryanair, it was claimed today.

I don't know why this is considered a blunder by Ryanair. I think it
was a blunder by the family to ask an airline ticket clerk what travel
documents they needed for an infant. As I understand the article, the
child had no documents at all and was not on either of the parents'
passport. There has been a good deal of infant trafficking in Italy
recently and the Italian police were justifiably suspicious of a
totally undocumented baby being brought into the country.

Of course, they never should have been allowed to board the plane, but
the parents bear a greater responsibility than Ryanair in this matter.

Do they - If they specifically asked Ryanair for specific advice ?
Who were they supposed to ask for advice ?

In the 'good' old days, the travel agent would probably have asked to see
their passports and checked everything was in order.

Miss L. Toe wrote:
"B Vaughan" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 27 Feb 2006 16:48:57 -0000, "Miss L. Toe"
wrote:

Monday, 27th February 2006, 10:02
Category: Crime and Punishment


---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
----
LIFE STYLE EXTRA (UK) - A horrified mum missed her own daughter's
christening and was arrested as a baby trafficker after a blunder by
budget
airline Ryanair, it was claimed today.

I don't know why this is considered a blunder by Ryanair. I think it
was a blunder by the family to ask an airline ticket clerk what travel
documents they needed for an infant. As I understand the article, the
child had no documents at all and was not on either of the parents'
passport. There has been a good deal of infant trafficking in Italy
recently and the Italian police were justifiably suspicious of a
totally undocumented baby being brought into the country.

Of course, they never should have been allowed to board the plane, but
the parents bear a greater responsibility than Ryanair in this matter.

Do they - If they specifically asked Ryanair for specific advice ?
Who were they supposed to ask for advice ?

Italian consulate, immigration office, etc.


In the 'good' old days, the travel agent would probably have asked to see
their passports and checked everything was in order.

Miss L. Toe wrote:\


Do they - If they specifically asked Ryanair for specific advice ?
Who were they supposed to ask for advice ?

I would guess the logical people to ask would be the representatives of
the government of the country they are going to.... you know, the
Italian consular people.

In message , at
05:16:31 on Tue, 28 Feb 2006, mrtravel remarked:
Do they - If they specifically asked Ryanair for specific advice ?
Who were they supposed to ask for advice ?

I would guess the logical people to ask would be the representatives of
the government of the country they are going to.... you know, the
Italian consular people.

That might cover the "getting into Italy" part, but not perhaps the
"getting out of the UK" or the "getting onto a plane" parts.

The three sets of rules are not necessarily identical!

The one organisation with experience of all three is the airline.
--
Roland Perry

Roland Perry writes:

The one organisation with experience of all three is the airline.

Yes. Sounds like the airline was negligent. Parents are used to
going anywhere with their babies. There's no particular reason why
they should assume that they would have trouble flying somewhere. The
airline has the experience: it should have warned her and verified
that she had at least a modicum of proper paperwork.

Some people don't even know they need a passport to travel abroad. If
travel professionals can't make them aware of this, how are they
supposed to find out about it? And if Ryanair lets babies board
without proper travel documents, who else do they allow to board?

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

"mrtravel" wrote in message
. com...
Miss L. Toe wrote:\


Do they - If they specifically asked Ryanair for specific advice ?
Who were they supposed to ask for advice ?

I would guess the logical people to ask would be the representatives of
the government of the country they are going to.... you know, the Italian
consular people.

How many times to people ask the consulate of the country they are going to
before boarding a plane?
The usual thing to do is to call the airline, after all it's their job to
know these things.

Mark Hewitt wrote:

How many times to people ask the consulate of the country they are going to
before boarding a plane?
The usual thing to do is to call the airline, after all it's their job to
know these things.



They don't have to go to the consulate. In a lot of cases, the
information is easily found online. I check the entry requirements for
any country I plan to visit. If you want to rely on someone at the
airline to know, that it up to you. Of course, she claimed she asked
Ryanair. This isn't always the same as actually asking them. She might
have said that to deflect the blame.

Mark Hewitt wrote:

"mrtravel" wrote in message
. com...

Miss L. Toe wrote:\


Do they - If they specifically asked Ryanair for specific advice ?
Who were they supposed to ask for advice ?

I would guess the logical people to ask would be the representatives of
the government of the country they are going to.... you know, the Italian
consular people.


How many times to people ask the consulate of the country they are going to
before boarding a plane?
The usual thing to do is to call the airline, after all it's their job to
know these things.

Exactly! It's not the poor passenger's fault if the airline
hires incompetents who are too stupid to confess they don't
know the answer to a question!