Athens, Greece Working class couple, Nigel and Mary Woods, are furious with Bryanair CEO, Mick O'Leery. Having rented Mr. O'Leery's yacht, Bourguignon de Boeuf, at the reasonable price of £1.50 for a leisurely week of cruising on the Mediterranean, the couple thought they had died and gone to heaven. That was until they got on board and found they had to pay extra for amenities.
"About an hour into our little cruise, we found that we could only use the washrooms if we stuck our credit cards in the card swipe. Having done this, we get a receipt back stating we have just been charged £5,546.99 for the privilege. You could quickly see how things could add up over a week," said Mary.
"Then when we go to dinner, the cook informs us that there is a charge of £500 for each plate of food. Of course, wine was extra. A bleeding bottle of water was £75. Outrageous. And they try to feed you more and more saying that the food will spoil if it doesn't get eaten promptly which could lead to dysentery. Well you could see how the costs could skyrocket if that happened," said Nigel.
All told, their Greek holiday cruise cost £467,650, about £100,000 more than what a yacht in its class would normally go for when rented in the traditional way.
Mr. Nobbing-Brook feels they have a good chance of winning a countersuit against Mr. O'Leery who sued when the bills weren't paid by the Woods.
"It was a classic 'Pump and Dump' scheme," said their solicitor, Brendan Nobbing-Brook. "They pump you full of food and then charge you an exorbitant amount of money to take a dump. A classic swindle."
