Before boarding, Ryanair requires South African passengers to take a general knowledge quiz on their country
South African travelers are apparently being forced to complete a general knowledge quiz on their own country in order to verify that they are, in fact, South African and not attempting to fly to and from the United Kingdom using a forged South African passport.
The airline has also admitted to only making the questionnaire available in Afrikaans, one of South Africa’s 11 official languages, which is spoken by just about 14% of the country’s population.
“Due to an increase in passengers attempting to travel on fraudulent South African passports, our handling agents may request that passengers traveling on a South African passport who are flagged during procedural security profiling complete a simple questionnaire as an additional safety assessment to confirm whether they are correctly documented before travel,” Ryanair said in a statement.
What will happen if passengers failed the test?
“If they are unable to answer this questionnaire, they will be denied travel and a full refund will be granted,” an Irish airline official stated.
Passengers are asked questions such as the name of South Africa’s president, the country’s national flower, and the country’s three official languages.
Some passengers claim they requested the form in English but were turned down since they are supposed to know Afrikaans, and failing to complete the questions due to language barriers might be deemed proof of a forged passport.
The British High Commission in South Africa declared on Twitter that the test was not a requirement of the British government for entry to the UK. Any South African passport holder going to the UK on Ryanair from another area of Europe will be affected, according to the airline. When asked why it would apply to certain journeys, the airline did not immediately comment, despite the fact that Britain claims it is not a requirement.
