Sri Lankan cricket legend Kumar Sangakkara has rejected Ryanair’s claims that he refused to provide visa documents at Dublin Airport, revealing details of an alleged discriminatory encounter involving him and his wife.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, Sangakkara said a female staff member behaved rudely towards his family and made what he described as a racist remark while they were preparing to board a flight from Dublin to Bristol on Wednesday (28).
According to Sangakkara, the staff member told him: “You people with your kinds of passports should expect this.”
The former Sri Lankan captain said the incident occurred after confusion over the electronic visas required for his family, who were travelling on Sri Lankan passports.
Sangakkara explained that he had visited Ryanair’s visa check desk nearly two hours before boarding to ensure his family had completed the necessary procedures. He said staff had assured him that he would not need to display the electronic visas again at the boarding gate.
However, when the family reached the gate, they were asked to access and display the documents on their phones.
Sangakkara said he agreed to comply but requested additional time because accessing the electronic visas involved several steps.
He alleged that a female staff member repeatedly shouted at him to hurry up and threatened to close boarding.
When Sangakkara told her she was being rude, he said she accused him of being argumentative and aggressive and threatened to deny him boarding, claiming he could be considered a threat to other passengers.
His wife, Yehali, then intervened and challenged the staff member over her remarks.
Sangakkara said he considered the reference to their passports offensive and discriminatory.
Rejecting Ryanair’s earlier statement, Sangakkara said the airline’s claim that he had refused to provide his visa documents was completely untrue.
“I never play the race card for the sake of it, and this was an offensive comment,” he told the Daily Mail.
Ryanair had earlier maintained that Sangakkara refused to provide the required visa documentation when requested by a gate agent conducting mandatory immigration checks.
The airline said the family was eventually allowed to travel after the necessary checks were completed.
Sangakkara confirmed that he and his family boarded the flight but said the incident had left them deeply disappointed following an otherwise enjoyable visit to Dublin to celebrate his 49th birthday.
He has since submitted a formal complaint of approximately 2,000 words to Ryanair, detailing the incident, and said he was informed that a response could be expected within eight days.
Sangakkara said he had not sought publicity over the incident but believed such treatment should not happen to anyone.
“It’s just a case of this is wrong, and it shouldn’t have happened – to me or to anyone,” he said.
Ryanair’s publicly reported response addressed the visa-documentation issue but did not specifically respond to Sangakkara’s allegations of racism and discriminatory behaviour.(Newswire / Source: Daily Mail)