Criticism for Ryanair as airline requires South Africans to take pre-flight test in Afrikaans

RYANAIR HAS RECEIVED criticism over its requirement for passengers travelling on South African passports to complete a test checking their general knowledge about the country.

The test, which contains questions about landmarks, well known political figures and which side of the road South Africans drive on, is only available in the language Afrikaans.

Passengers who refuse to complete the test or who fail to answer the questions correctly will be refused travel.

Afrikaans is spoken by around 13% of the country’s population and is the third-most spoken language in the country. Critics of the move by Ryanair have pointed out the language’s apartheid association.

This is categorically insane (& discriminatory) from Ryanair 🤯 The airline is forcing South African passport holders, including UK residents, to complete an Afrikaans language test or else they’ll be refused at check in & turned away ‘due to high prevalence of fake SA passports’ https://t.co/VahQ2TXvtD

— Alex Macheras (@AlexInAir) June 5, 2022

I never thought I’d be excluded from flying @Ryanair because I’m a South African passport holder that doesn’t speak #Afrikaans, like 86.5% of the population.

— Quintin Balsdon 💙 (@qbalsdon) June 7, 2022

RyanAir is asking South African passengers to answer a questionnaire in Afrikaans before they’re allowed on the plane in order to prove their nationality? I was born & raised in SA & lived there for 47 years. Doubt I could pass an Afrikaans exam? 12% of the population speak it?

— 🌻💧😷 ✊🏾Yeah but, No but🇦🇺🇬🇧🇿🇦 (@choz51) June 7, 2022

How? Why? This is bizarre @Ryanair- wtaf? We have 11 official languages & Afrikaans is by no means a majority one. If this had been the 1980s, and you'd been working with the apartheid govt- sure. But 2022? Who told you this was a good idea? #Ryanair https://t.co/JElDqkRfQ8

— Kathleen Tagg (@kathleentagg) June 7, 2022

In a statement, Ryanair said:

“Due to the high prevalence of fraudulent South African passports, we require passengers travelling to the UK to fill out a simple questionnaire issued in Afrikaans.

“If they are unable to complete this questionnaire, they will be refused travel and issued with a full refund.”

The airline did not respond to questions from The Journal about why it only offers the test in Afrikaans, how it chose the questions, or whether any consideration was given to passengers with genuine South African passports who do not speak the language, do not know the answers or have literacy issues. It also did not clarify whether passengers were informed of this requirement before booking their flights. 

One English-speaking woman who was travelling home to Essex from Knock Airport with her son told Metro they were not allowed on their flight after she got some of the questions wrong.

“It was the first time I felt like I was being discriminated against for something out of my control – because it was immediately assumed that my passport was wrong,” she said.

“I know it sounds ridiculous but it actually felt traumatic, everyone was looking at me and I cried a lot.”

Reuters reports the South African Department of Home Affairs has said it is “taken aback” by the airline’s decision to introduce this requirement for its citizens. 

The department said all airlines have access to the ‘Advanced Passenger Processing’ system which enables them to screen passengers before they depart. The government also runs a 24-hour service which airlines can use to authenticate South African passports.

“It is not clear to which extent the airline has used these services before resorting to this backward profiling system,” the department said.