Irish budget carrier Ryanair has instituted a new policy for South African travelers which includes a knowledge test administered in Afrikaans. Ryanair claims this comes in response to a fraudulent passport warning from the South African government, but the nature of the questions and choice of the Afrikaans language has led to outrage.
Ryanair Now Requires South African Passengers To Pass Afrikaans Test Or Be Denied Boarding To UK and Ireland
The test applies to all passengers who are traveling to the United Kingdom or Ireland with a South African passport. Those passengers are presented with a 15-question written test in Afrikaans at the airport and must pass it or be denied boarding.
A spokesperson told The Guardian:
“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.”
That is quite a policy, especially considering Afrikaans is not the most common (or even second most common) language spoken in South Africa homes:
- Zulu – 22.7%
- Xhosa – 16%
- Afrikaans – 13.5%
- English – 9.6%
Furthermore, the knowledge test includes questions like naming the:
- Capital city
- President
- Country dialing code
- Tallest mountain
If South Africans are at all like Americans, I think many would fail that test…
And some are drawing implications by the fact that Afrikaans was enforced upon citizens during the Apartheid era.
@Ryanair is restricting the movement of South African people based on whether or not they speak the language of the white Afrikaans minority. Not a good look. Pretty racist. https://t.co/xcIOIzYxAb pic.twitter.com/ig88PrSiwM
— Fred Raybould (@FredRaybould) June 5, 2022
The UK has confirmed this is not a government requirement:
This is not a UK government requirement. Information of the requirements for South African Passport holders to enter the UK are available at https://t.co/t3Ry3BHqQT https://t.co/e4dg0OxS49
— UK in South Africa🇬🇧 (@ukinsouthafrica) June 3, 2022
It is unclear how strict Ryanair is in practice, but the quote above sounds very strict…and absolutely unreasonably punitive.
CONCLUSION
Perhaps before denying passage to South Africans who cannot speak Afrikaans, Ryanair should just closely examine passports and ID cards. Some passengers report being denied boarding despite having a biometric European Union ID card to accompany their passports. While probably well-intended, the new Ryanair policy is absolutely crazy.
i’ve heard of discriminatory practices and profiling, but this one takes the blue ribbon. And South Africa allows this to occur on it’s soil. Sounds like 1940’s and 1950’s in Mississippi where if you were black you had to pass a literacy test to vote.
Ryanair doesn’t serve South Africa, so this would only be taking places in Europe on Ryanair flights to the UK or Ireland.
“the United Kingdom of Ireland”? Looks like a new country for me to visit 😀
Do you think they have a whole department of folks over at Ryanair who just sit around thinking about ways to piss off customers? I do.
I’m going to fly on Ryanair this summer for the first time in more than 30 years, and I’m worried it will be a disaster. We’ll see.
I’m not traveling on a SA passport, so I’ll be exempt from this.
Years ago I remember having to open our suitcase on the tarmac so that it could be searched on a Liverpool to Dublin route. I don’t recall if that was Ryanair or customs officers back then, but Ryanair could always bring that little treat back.
I tend to think they have a PR department who tries to find ways, like this, to get free publicity, figuring any publicity, negative or positive, is better than none.
Would you be entitled to EC 261 compensation if denied boarding in the EU due to failing the Afrikaans knowledge test?
I’m not South African but this is just another reason not to set foot on O’Liary Airways because who knows what they will come up with next to deny boarding to legitimate passengers.
Just stop Flying Ryan Air. This is obviousky VERY WRONG AND MAJORLY RACISTS WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE FACTS OF WHAT HAS AND IS HAPPENING. I AM DONE WITH THEM.
South Africa has three capital cities too!!
where are the other chipmunks? Where is DAve?!
I was born in South Africa both my parents were born in Europe so I was brought up speaking English I cannot speak a word of Afrikaans..This airline sounds like profiling which is very racist. I will never fly that airline.
Meh, who cares.
Your surname is spectacular how did you acquire it?
I’m not normally shocked by airline blunders but to anyone who knows the history of language policy in South Africa and the historic symbolism of Afrikaans as the ‘the language of the oppressor’, this is really something.
Although setting aside the stupidity of a South African geography test for UK entry, these days Afrikaans is spoken by more black than white South Africans, especially as an L2 or L3 language, so it might be the case that the test is probably more widely accessible to South Africans in Afrikaans than any other language.
Hi Jack
Theoretically, your suggestion sounds plausible, but if you look at the facts, the L2 and L3 speakers of Afrikaans only raise the total number of speakers from about 13.5% to about 40%. These people would by far be mostly from the White and Coloured races, with a smaller number of Black people. The remaining 60% of legitimate South African citizens who cannot speak Afrikaans would be made up predominantly of people from the Black and Indian races.
Anyone who knows anything about South Africa should know this, regardless of whether they could pass the Geography quiz or not. This would clearly discriminate along racial lines.
Blame South Africa whose passports can be fraudulent. Ryanair is fined if it transports passengers with illegal documents. Of maybe Great Britain who gives out fines. Maybe both countries can have a web site: once you scan the passport it responds with: “yes, this serial number is indeed for James Doe born April 1st, 1999” or “no these details don’t make for Jacob Zuma”
I am a Ryanair flight attendant. The test was in Afrikaans because almost all of our passengers from South Africa are white.