Arthur's Blog: Airline Charges Family 300€ for Failing to Print Boarding Passes; Company President Calls Mother "Stupid"

Although his astonishing comments been reported by a dozen news outlets in Britain and Canada, I feel obliged to bring your attention to remarks by the president of Ryanair, Michael O'Leary, who called a passenger -- Suzy McLeod -- "stupid" for failing to print boarding passes for her family of five before they arrived at an airport in Spain to board their Ryanair flight back to the U.K. Because of the oversight, she had to pay a penalty of 300€ -- 60€ per person, the total equivalent of about $378 -- for the privilege of using her already-purchased tickets on Ryanair.
McLeod had explained that she had vacationed in a rural area of Spain and had no access to the Internet for printing such boarding passes. O'Leary responded, among other suggestions, that she could have phoned her relatives back home in England and asked them to print out the passes and presumably mail or fax them to her. Because she didn't, she should pay this horrific fee of $378 "for being so stupid." She is being charged, added O'Leary, "for being an idiot." To passengers failing to print their boarding passes within the several days prior to the return leg of their flight, O'Leary concluded (in an interview with a London newspaper), "bugger off."
This is not the first time that Ryanair's CEO has expressed such disdain for the people who support his airline. He is the same person who actually contemplated charging passengers for the right to use the airplane's toilets mid-flight. He has recommended -- in jest, of course -- shooting environmentalists and travel agents.
You might keep him in mind the next time you think about buying an air ticket for an intra-European flight. Do you really want to do business with this gentleman?
$378 for failing to print out your boarding passes! What kind of airline would impose such a charge?