The airline told Insider that customers will be refused travel if they cannot complete the test.The airline has faced accusations of discrimination from passengers as a result.
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Ryanair is refusing to let South African passengers board flights if they fail a language test
Ryanair is forcing South African travelers to answer questionnaires issued in Afrikaans, per reports.
Ryanair aircraft pictured at Dublin airport.
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Ryanair is facing accusations of discrimination and racial profiling after telling South African passengers to fill out a questionnaire written in the Afrikaans language before travelling.
Multiple outlets, including The Financial Times and The Guardian, reported the news.
The airline said that South African customers would be refused travel home from the UK and Europe if they could not complete the test, which included questions such as identifying the side of the road that people in South Africa drive on, per the FT.
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The budget airline's new requirement comes as the South African Department of Home Affairs recently accused criminals of identification fraud and creating fake passports for sale in South Africa, the outlets reported.
In a statement sent to Insider, the airline 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 statement added.
Customers have since accused Ryanair of racial discrimination over the questionnaire since the language is not used by a majority of people in South Africa and was historically imposed on black people during apartheid, the outlets reported.
One customer told the FT that the policy was "extremely exclusionary."
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Another, who was forced to take the test to board their flight home from Lanzarote to the UK, told the outlet: "You can't profile and spot-check people like this."
Others raised complaints related to how the test's general knowledge questions could be considered proof that their passports were not fake.
The UK High Commission in South Africa posted a tweet on Friday stating that the test was not a requirement for South African passport holders to enter the UK.
Insider contacted the Delegation of the European Union to South Africa for confirmation that the test is not a travel requirement but did not immediately receive a response.
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