Ireland AM star Paul Ryder has thanked Ryanair for a kind gesture that saved his Pride celebrations.
Paul had ordered a stunning denim outfit for the weekend from London but disaster struck when he realised it wasn’t going to arrive on time. The entertainment news reporter took to social media wondering if anyone flying from London to Dublin could help get the drag outfit onto Irish soil in time.
He tweeted: “I need to get my Pride outfit from London to Dublin tomorrow. Must be tomorrow. I can get it couriered to a location in London and all you have to do is bring it with you and I’ll collect it then in Dublin. I’ll pay any extra charges and also throw in a bottle of vodka for your troubles.”
Read more: Moving photos showcase Dublin’s Pride over the past 20 years
Paul’s stunning outfit for this year’s Dublin Pride
Paul’s stunning outfit for this year’s Dublin Pride (Image: Paul Ryder)
One kind stranger from Ryanair saw the tweet and immediately stepped up to the task. Paul told Dublin Live that he was blown away by the lovely gesture.
He said: “My designer is very well sought after in the UK and we had pushed the deadline back a week to help get him a bit more time. He had just finished a massive TV show for ITV.
“It just went way passed time and it really got stressful. He was stressed. I was stressed. It was awful. He kind of said it wouldn’t get to London because things can’t be delivered overnight anymore because of Brexit and things like that.
“If it had have been a normal Pride I would have said it was okay but I was hosting the Ireland AM special in it. They wanted to see it.
“I just wanted to feel like it was absolutely perfect. I just started to do a reach-out. Normally, I would know someone that would be travelling back but this time there wasn’t.
“I hoped that an air hostess or an air steward might have seen it. Ryanair just reached out and asked how could they help.
“I kind of thought it was a joke at the start. I didn’t think they’d actually be able to do too much about it.
“It was a lovely guy named Michael. He said they could try and get someone to get it over. They said if you can fly someone over there, we’ll pay for the flights. My fiancée said he would go.
“We were literally planning to send him over. Then Michael came back and said that a crew member would take it and I would just have to meet them at the other side.
“That’s customer service beyond belief. It’s crazy. Their gesture meant so much.
“They said they just really wanted me to get sorted for Pride. They weren’t looking for anything back.”
