(Photos: Adam West on Facebook, CBS)
Adam Armstrong, 19, of Leeds, UK planned a trip to the Spanish resort island of Ibiza. His stepfather purchased airline tickets with Ryanair. Unfortunately, he purchased the tickets thinking that his stepson's last name was "West."
Armstrong tried to correct the error, but Ryanair presented him with a £220 ($336 USD) administrative fee for that task. Disgusted at this ridiculously high price, Armstrong legally changed his name--for free--to West. He then quickly got a new passport with the name West for £103 ($157 USD). The Guardian reports:
Armstrong said: “Her stepdad got my name from Facebook but I had put it as Adam West as a joke, because he was the actor who played Batman on TV.
“Ryanair were not helpful at all. We showed them we were not trying to change the person, just the name, but they wouldn’t back down.
“Ryanair pride themselves on being a customer-centric business, it just seems like a joke when they wouldn’t change the name. I just thought it was completely ridiculous. All they needed to do was hit the backspace key on a keyboard and they want to charge me £220?” […]
Ryanair is known for tempting customers with cheap fares but demanding fees for anything from printing boarding passes at the airport to checking in additional bags. The airline’s boss, Michael O’Leary, once mooted charging passengers to use the toilet mid-flight but the plans never came to fruition.
-via Marginal Revolution