Passenger calling for better disability support after being left for hours without wheelchair in airport
Rebecca McCurry was not given access to a mobility aid after being detained at Marrakesh Airport when her passport was mislaid
Last updated 5th Sep 2025
A young Glasgow woman is calling for better treatment of disabled passengers, after she was left stranded in a Moroccan airport without a wheelchair, having mislaid her passport onboard a Ryanair flight.
Rebecca McCurry was detained in Marrakesh for around ten hours on July 31, after she was unable to be reunited with her travel documents, which were still onboard the aircraft she had flown from Edinburgh on.
The 22 year old has mobility difficulties, and usually uses a wheelchair to get through airports, but after to being unable to pass through border security without her passport, was then denied access to a wheelchair while she waited to be deported back to the UK.
She told Clyde 1 she tried to contact airport ground service provider Swissport for assistance, but no one was able to help her.
"It was horrible"
She said: “It was horrible, I think it was 46 degree heat the entire time I was just constantly trying to get help.
“Nobody was willing to help me, no member of staff would reply to me, nobody would get me a wheelchair, I was in agony, I was passing out from stress.”
A spokesperson for Swissport said: “We're really sorry to hear about Rebecca's experience.
“We pride ourselves on providing the right support for all passengers, so we will investigate what went wrong in this case."
"I'd also just like an apology"
Miss McCurry alerted flight attendants to her missing passport, but was told it could not be found onboard the aircraft when they searched it, leaving her to be deported from Morocco on one of the next flights to the UK.
She told Clyde 1 though, her passport was later found on the plane, when it returned to Edinburgh without her.
She said: “They told me that the air hostess had checked the entire plane for my passport, and it wasn’t there. This turned out to not be true.”
She continued: “It was on my seat in Edinburgh, exactly where I said it was.”
After being unable to get her passport back, Rebecca was deported back to Manchester, but was reunited with her documents after nearly a month on August 27, when she was able to pay for them to be released from Edinburgh Airport’s lost and found.
"They lied and allowed me to be deported"
She is calling for better support for disabled passengers in similar situations, as well as better communication channels with airlines after an incident, saying it's been "impossible" to contact Ryanair.
She said: “I would like some compensation, or some kind of refund, because this whole thing has really put me out of pocket, and I’d also just like an apology from them.
“Also just to make sure that this will not happen again to anybody, because it was such a horrific situation which really could’ve been prevented.
“All they had to do was let me onto the plane, and walk 30 seconds to get it, but instead they lied and allowed me to be deported and kept in the airport for over 10 hours without a wheelchair, and while being intimidated.
“So, an apology would be nice.”
"Ryanair hands over all lost property"
A spokesperson for Ryanair said: “This passenger misplaced their passport onboard their flight from Edinburgh to Marrakesh on the 31 Jul last and subsequently was denied entry into Marrakesh.
“As requested by Marrakesh authorities, Ryanair reaccommodated this passenger onto the next available flight to the UK later that day.
All passengers travelling with Ryanair must present the correct travel documentation for the country of destination as determined by that country, however it is each passenger's responsibility to carry valid travel documents.
“In this case the passenger was required to present a passport upon arrival at Marrakesh Airport which they failed to do, and they were correctly denied entry to the country.
“Ryanair hands over all lost property to the lost & found office at each airport.
“Once crew located this passenger’s passport, this passenger’s passport was handed over to lost property at Edinburgh Airport.”
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