Edinburgh Airport and Hilton to the rescue as Ryanair forgets mum - Susan Morrison

Ryanair switched departure gates for their Portugal flight but Special Assistance forgot to collect her in her wheelchair at the original slot. Picture: Lisa Ferguson

Flights were booked and airport special assistance requested. Mamma is very keen on assistance.

After all, she is 85 and her tap dancing days are over. A wee hurl through the security hall is a blessing and a boon.

We’re big fans of the airport special assistance crew. They’re a cheery bunch. The matriarch was in a jolly mood as she was wheeled through the special VIP gate. Yes, I know it's not a VIP gate, but she thinks it is. I may have told her that it was.

Certain that she was in good hands, I skipped merrily away.

Just after take-off time, I checked my phone to make sure the flight hadn’t been delayed. It hadn’t. Ryanair's finest had gracefully taken off into blue skies. The passengers must have had a fabulous view.

Such a pity my mother wasn’t aboard to appreciate it.

A series of messages told the tale. Mum had been taken to the gate. She needs a hand to actually get on the plane, so she sits tight until assistance comes to get her.

Time passed. Being a feisty sort, she started to wonder what was going on, and finally managed to go and ask, only to be told her plane had literally just left the runway.

The gate had been changed and no-one had thought to go and collect the intrepid lady traveller in the wheelchair at the original gate.

It was battle stations and furious phone calls. Ryanair seemed fairly uninterested. Well, they’re all about cutting costs, so taking off minus one wee wumman might have saved a drop or two of aero fuel.

Airport management stepped in. There was a flight the next morning, at 6.40. So that she wouldn’t have to trek out to the airport at an ungodly hour, a hotel room was offered, along with dinner and a taxi to the airport for the flight to Portugal.

It's to the credit of the airport and DoubleTree by Hilton that she was then treated like Elizabeth Taylor on tour.

She was delighted with the hotel room. The curtains had a remote control. Room service was brilliant and they practically threw biscuits at her. The next morning the driver came and collected her and whisked her safely through to the correct gate and the correct flight.

All’s well that ends well. But my mum is 85, but well able to state her case. I put it down to the red hair.

What if she had been a more vulnerable passenger? Would she still be sitting there?

It really helps, too, that she’s always been a ‘sunny side up’ sort of gal and treated her hotel stay like a little adventure.

Ryanair must have known they were missing a passenger and one in a wheelchair at that, but didn’t at least try to find out where they were.

And Special Assistance fell down on the job.

Yes, Edinburgh Airport picked up the pieces, and thank you for that, but perhaps they could bolster their services for vulnerable passengers to stop this happening again.

Divert a bob or two from those parking charges, that might help.