Blogger Detained In Minsk After Flight Diverted Not Entitled To Refund Says Ryanair

An opposition blogger who was arrested and detained in Minsk after a Ryanair flight was diverted to the Belarusian capital is not entitled to a refund, a Ryanair spokesman has said. Roman Protasevich, 26, was arrested after his flight from Athens was diverted from its scheduled destination of Vilnius in Lithuania.

“We feel sorry for the lad but at the end of the day it’s not our fault.” said Ryanair’s John Davis. “Although we specialise in landing miles away from your destination, we do insist on at least dropping our passengers off in the correct country.”

There are fears Roman Protasevich will be mistreated by the Belarus authorities and he faces up to 15 years in prison for inciting riots in the country after last year’s disputed election results. Mr. Davis said the captured blogger should probably concentrate on all that stuff and forget about a getting a refund from Ryanair.

“If Mr. Protasevich feels he is entitled to a refund he needs to take it up with the people who diverted the plane and arrested him. I’m sure when he explains the situation they’ll understand. They seem like reasonable people. I just hope the rest of the passengers who flew on to Vilnius realise that was an extra flight so naturally we’ll be charging them for that.”