Ryanair-Questions, comments, bouquets & brickbats (Merged) II

[TightSlot]

The FR Thread - Part Deux

[Theviewdownhere]

OK, 1st to kick off this thread.....

Due to a family illness in Spain, I find myself needing to fly from Bristol to Ibiza, but with limited time off work, I find the following the only viable option:

Bristol - Ibiza Wednesday 06/10/10
Ibiza - UK Friday 08/10/10

So, Bristol - Ibiza, Thomson, booked 1 day in advance £50.00 ish. Website easy to navigate, flight booked with zero stress. OK, ticket to be collected at airport, but no problem.

Ibiza - UK. Only option available was the Ryanair Bournemouth flight. My first encounter of the Ryanair website. Accept it is designed to be "cheap", but after booking the flight, it is selling me car hire, Bournemouth hotels, insurance, £10.00 off my next booking if "I click continue"..... where is the print boarding pass option? Not there! So, leave the site, look at the email confirmation, enter loads of details again, get my printed boarding pass. Cost if I did not do this £40.00. Not an issue, but, here is the rub, I work in I.T. and I found it user unfriendly. Are they purposely doing this for the extra cash? (that was a rhetorical question). But the cost? £80.00ish (started at £50, but booking fees, online check-in , etc - you know the score).......

I fly EasyJet regularly for business, ok the site tries to cross sell, but you just "click through" the hard sell and get a boarding pass. Simple and acceptable.

Thomson - you get my vote for a late booking made easy.

Ryanair - if you were not the only viable option for me (yes, I know people will say this is the crux of the moan) I would bypass the "cheapest airline" option and find a company who are not so obviously trying to milk the SLF for every penny!!! Come on you can do better, you have the routes, you have a new fleet, you have dedicated staff, you can do better!!! You are not always the cheapest option, but you are often the most convenient option. Stop selling youself short - I will take a more inconvenient route if it means I am treated correctly.

Rant mode off.

TVDH

[bjh123]

Ryanair charges sick passenger for tea and biscuits

10.10.10
Ryanair – the airline that plans to charge passengers to use the onboard toilet – charged a man for tea and biscuits shortly after he fell unconscious and had to be attended by doctors on a flight. The doctors feared he was having a heart attack, but the plane had no medical equipment onboard, not even a blanket, the Herald reports.
Eye-witnesses on the plane told the Sunday Herald that the man, in his fifties, took ill an hour before the Ryanair flight from Marseille was due to land at Edinburgh Airport. Two doctors on board responded to a distress call from cabin staff, but were to the told the only medical equipment on board was anti-sickness drugs and bandages.
After regaining consciousness, the passenger – whose condition was then found to be not as grave as had been feared – was advised to have some sweet tea and biscuits. His wife was then charged for the refreshments by Ryanair's cabin crew.

Do they charge for anti-sickness drugs and bandages as well?

[Alsacienne]

His wife was then charged for the refreshments by Ryanair's cabin crew.

Why does this not surprise me .... if it's not another sick publicity stunt by Michael O'Sneary. I am aware that CC have to account for all their 'stock', which means they can't give someone water for tablets etc without having to charge for the bottle, and that they can't have a free glass of water themselves ....

What does surprise me is that they only had

anti-sickness drugs and bandages
aboard. Surely it's a legal requirement that an emergency first aid kit is carried, even if there's no specific drugs, defibrillator, stretcher or emergency passenger oxygen ............ complete the list yourself ........................

[goudie]

Just completed a round trip with Ryanair, Alicante/Stansted. Having read the cabin luggage rules I made sure my cabin luggage complied with the dimensions and weight restrictions. I was therefore somewhat surprised that many passengers, who ignored these restrictions and had, obviously, oversize luggage went through boarding, at both airports, with no trouble at all. The upshot of this was that the overhead stowage compartments were full to the brim and the last boarding passengers were compelled to stow their luggage under the seats, as best they could. So, after all the threats of oversize luggage having a payment penalty etc. why do Ryanair staff apparently choose to ignore it? Other than that the flights were excellent value for the money.

[the_fish@blueyonder.]

It must vary depending on the mood/apethy of the airport staff and thier targets.

Although It's been a few months since I last used them, every time I've flown from EDI with Ryanair for the past year or so they have had a small cardboard device which has the exact dimensions of the allowed cabin baggage and they have gone right down the line checking every single bag that looks like it won't fit in. On a flight to Stockholm in March they caught out at least 3 people at the gate with this!

Same can be said for my return journey from Stockholm Skavsta where they also weighed cabin baggage in addition to the measurement device. Again, several people were caught out, by having a bag that was well within the allowed size...but too heavy!

I also returned from Billund to EDI with Ryanair in late May and they were again checking the dimensions of the cabin baggage. Never had this when flying from PIK, DUB, STN or any mainland European airports!

[pixielady]

Hello excuse my ignorance, flying to Spain this coming week booked with Ryanair printed my boarding passes off, only taking hand luggage, I assume we do not bother going to check in desk just straight through security

kind regards

[PleasureFlyer]

correct, just go straight to security.

[pixielady]

hi thanks for that

[Alsacienne]

Wish Classic FM had not given MOL first billing on the news about his concerns about security after the recent cargo incidents. It's just giving prominence to FR, with MOL's frequently-used tactic of commenting on anything and everything to get his name mentioned.

It's fine to be security conscious, but why choose HIM as one's mouthpiece?!

Rant over. I'll get my coat.

[PAXboy]

He who shouts loudest? MoL makes good headlines, written or audible.

[Munnyspinner]

When will you all learn?

No point in complaining at all. It only serves to give MO'L a warm happy feeling. He's gotten your money, you're fecked off 'cos the service was ****e or something didn't go according to your plans. But, ho, ho, ho - does he care? Not a jot. And, pound to penny, you'll be lining up again in three weeks time for another five yoyo flight ( Not including taxes, coffee, service etc. ).

Either grin and bear it - Millions do! or,shut up and vote with your feet.

Even if something goes wrong and you end up paying a full fare to sort it, the average price for all FR flights you have taken will be a fraction of what you may have spend with a "better quality" airline - whatever that is. (One without lurid yellow interiors, window blinds and some sense of employee relations?)

Fact is that MO'L has made and continues to make shed loads of money by filling aircraft with reasonably content SLF who don't apparently give a toss about comfort or service during a relatively short flight. Well done Mr O.

In fact he's done so bloody well some other well known airlines seem to be trying to emulate his business model.

By the way, I never have nor will I ever Fly Ryanair. I'd rather walk - it's cheaper, often quicker and less likely to cause stress.

[joniveson]

By the way, I never have nor will I ever Fly Ryanair. I'd rather walk - it's cheaper, often quicker and less likely to cause stress.

I have to wonder what gives you the right to judge then! Obviously not experience.

Either grin and bear it - Millions do! or,shut up and vote with your feet.

Quite agree but don't then come on to a forum and criticise something for no apparent reason.

As has been said before, Ryanair does exactly what's said on the tin and for many people - including me - Ryanair and easyjet are the only choices available. To use a 'better quality' airline would mean three flights to get back to where I want to be in the UK rather than one.

[Janu]

I flew with Ryanair twice last month. MAN-DUB return.I was really impressed for the price I paid (just ten pounds return including taxes). The crew were all very friendly and both flights arrived earlier than scheduled.

[Capot]

I have to wonder what gives you the right to judge then!

I read Munnyspinner's words as a statement of fact, not a judgement. And as such, perfectly accurate.

[red 5]

I work for the big orange machine, however for the last eight weeks i've been working somewhere that easy don't fly to and had to fly Ryanair. I've now done 15 departures and apart from one all have left dead on time, the worse one was only 15 minutes late. I'm not a Ryanair lover as i work for the opposition, however the planes are clean and tidy and as comfortable as any others, also the 737-800 is a nice quiet a/c. The only criticism i have is the constant hard sell onboard, just wish they'd leave the PA alone. Still i'm sure if easy flew to the same place i would rather fly them.

[Nicholas49]

I took return flights with Ryanair from Stansted to Berlin this weekend so thought I'd humbly offer my two pence worth.

Someone posted a very insightful comment recently and I thought it was on this thread. It appears not and I can't for the life of me find it. Anyway, the general gist was that FR flights are generally very punctual, the 737-800 is a nice quiet aircraft and the only criticism the poster had was the incessant use of the PA system for advertising purposes.

I agree entirely.

Both my flights were punctual. The return flight actually arrived 15 minutes early. But I do agree the constant PAs are too much. There were so many! Try to sell: (1) the cabin crew calendar; (2) scratch cards; (3); food and drink (the menus were distributed before push-back and the safety demonstration?!); (d) duty free and gifts; (e) other sales-related PAs that I tried to ignore by turning up the volume on my iPod. The point is that on a 1.5 hour trip, these sales PAs make it very difficult to sit quietly and read or listen to music or a podcast without being constantly interrupted. And I know the response: "you paid less for your ticket, so be prepared for the hard sell on board". Fair enough, but in my experience easyJet and Wizzair do less promotional stuff.

The only other thing is that the CC are often quite under-confident with their English, which isn't especially reassuring. For example, the introduction along the lines: "The commander is "Captain Robert" and the First Officer is "First Officer James" sounds weird if you don't say "Captain Robert [Surname]! Have noticed this on other FR flights. Is it simply that the CC do not know the flight crew's full names?

Also, do all the FR 737s now have the plastic yellow seat-backs? I have previously flown on FR 737s which had navy blue upholstery rather than the dark blue "leather" seats and yellow seat-backs. IMHO, they were less garish, especially on night flights when the cabin is incredibly bright.

[Cymmon]

http://www.jethros.eu/fun/fun_pages/ryanair_safety_card.htm

This is of interest, maybe true???????

[OFSO]

"Ryanair is refusing to accept any bookings to/from Girona from March 27th 2011 onward, advising passengers instead to fly via Reus or Barcelona. An unnamed Ryanair spokesman said there is nothing sinister about this: it is just that the spring/summer plan has not yet been produced. The reality (says the article) is that the new operating contract between the airline and Girona has not yet been agreed, with Ryanair demanding a further €12,000,000 subsidy from Girona to continue to operate from the airport." Quote, El Punt, 02-12-2010.

He who sups with the devil should use a long spoon (my own opinion).

[ExXB]

Say what you will but he made it to second place (tied with the bearded one) in this industry poll (http://www.flightglobal.com/polls/list.aspx) asking "Who is the most influential airline leader of the past 25 years?"

You will also see (thread drift alert) that the "little big mouth" from IATA scored an overwhelming 3%. Good thing he's been given the boot and will be leaving in June.

[Torque Tonight]

bjh123,

but the plane had no medical equipment onboard

I can say with 100% absolute certainty that this is utter horsesh1t. Don't believe everything you read on ihateryanair.com or whatever that stupid website is called.

[Sober Lark]

Moderators,

In these dark economic times permit me to post an amusing link which even Leo would laugh at.

YouTube - Hitler Ryanair Rant (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0rxASx1SxY&feature=player_embedded)

Sober Lark

[ExXB]

You will also see (thread drift alert) that the "little big mouth" from IATA scored an overwhelming 3%. Good thing he's been given the boot and will be leaving in June.

Apparently Tony Tyler (CX) has been chosen to replace him, a breath of fresh air, peut être.

[Rush2112]

Moderators,

In these dark economic times permit me to post an amusing link which even Leo would laugh at.

YouTube - Hitler Ryanair Rant (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0rxASx1SxY&feature=player_embedded)

Sober Lark

I must say I have seen a few of these Downfall parodies, this has to be one of the funniest.

That said, I have no beef with Ryanair, the occasional times I fly it in or out of Tours or Limoges, it does what it says on the tin. I can live without being fed or watered for the hour or so the flight takes, or buy a cup of tea if I feel like it.

STN on the other hand...

[lurkinginSTO]

I have no beef with Ryanair either, flew with them once but despite this won't fly with them again, too inconvenient/umcomfortable. But here's a fresh brickbat for y'all:
Ryanair flyers trapped on Gothenburg plane


Ryanair flyers trapped on Gothenburg plane - The Local (http://www.thelocal.se/30714/20101209/)

Favourite quote: "There are babies here."

[martinj59]

All over the local radio today. 5 hours in a Ryan plane, cc hiding below blankets according to actual passenger statement on the radio, "It was quite an achievement to hide themselves on a plane". Since GSE is a very small airport I can understand the captain for wanting to go home, but in my mind wishing to take of on the final leg of the day 5 hours delayed would seem stretching it a bit.

The company did issue sort of an excuse, still blabbing on about the "can not sell on the landside" and "wanted to be prepared for a speedy takeoff". 5 hours for god sakes, how much could it cost them to give away some stinking pizza slices and "delightful sandwhiches". Or even just a cup of coffee. I can see cc not doing this at their own risk, but it would seem such a simple business policy to spend some small change to keep the people reasonably happy. Not rocket science really.

Said by a really big Ryan supporter :-) (actually). We fly with them at least 6-10 legs a year, and have personally never had a problem that other ailines have done worse. But I guess when the **** hits the fan, it sticks when you travel Ryan Air.

[copeland1957]

My flight from FUE-EDI was cancelled on 30 Nov. I applied online on 1 Dec for refund. This has still not been credited to credit card. Should I expect this to have been through by now? I realise there were a great number of cancellations around that time due to weather so presume customer services were inundated with requests for refunds but Ryanair have not put anything on their website to advise of delays in refunds. Their site still advises of normal refunds payable within 7 working days? Anybody else still waiting for refunds from around these dates?

[PAXboy]

copeland1957 They will make you wait as long as possible - if possible until you give up. It's just their way. So keep track of all your communications and keep pushing. Make sure you have details of the obligations they are subject to and YOU follow the rules! If you are in the right you will, eventually, get your money back.

[Dagenhamdave]

I was on a ryanair flight from Knock to stansted on the 18th Dec,
take off delayed for over 2 hours , orbited in the hold for an hour waiting for stansted to clear runway........they could'nt, next try Luton...closed, captain announces we are off to East Midlands, 5 mins later captain announces in broken english we are off to liverpool! we had to ask the cabin crew had he made a mistake ???? we made a fast transit to Liverpool and as we started decent over the Mersea I started to think about how much fuel we might have left after 2 hours, hoping we had enough for a couple of go arounds etc
We landed at Liverpool and were bussed off to the terminal.

Now none of the above was anything to do with Ryanair , The crew up front had to make a lot of decisions at very short notice fair play to them,
but the back up plan was a disaster we were told a coach would take us to Stansted and we would have to wait 3 hours for the coach to arrive
fair enough .... coaches are not lurking for diverts at every airport but when this coach arrived 5 hours after we landed all the pax were shocked at the sight of the 1970's style coach , we got onboard it was damp ... some of the seats were wet , and it was about -5 , the driver said the heater would warm up eventually .......it did'nt but we just wanted to get home .....meanwhile one of the pax who enjoyed the 5 hour wait in the bar started to kick off annoying fellow passengers, shouting abuse at every one etc , he was arrested at the motoway services , that cheered every one up and we drove out of the services (after scraping across a raised kerb which sounded like it ripped the front off the coach ) feeling happy that we could try and get to sleep but sad that he was in a warm police car on its way to a warm police station while we were in our hats and gloves , shivering away.
We got to stansted after between 5 and 6 hours on the road in artic conditions,
The Captain and co-pilot did their best to remain under cover while sitting in the coach and they did not get much stick from the pax who had rumbled them , again fair play to them for actually getting on the coach The cabin crew had vanished at Liverpool.
ETD 13:30 ATD 16:15 ETA to Stan 17:30 ATA Stan 06:30
A bitter sweet experience of ryanair, the pilots and crew worked hard to look after us , and they couldnt land anywhere but the coach was in such a bad state that even asylum seekers wouldnt have got onboard at Calais.
Mr O'leary would probably say you pay for what you get ,which in my case was symtoms of mild hypothermia .

[Abusing_the_sky]

cc hiding below blankets according to actual passenger statement on the radio, "It was quite an achievement to hide themselves on a plane"Blankets??? On FR aircraft? Are you taking the Michael?

Folks, air travel is not such a "taboo subject" these days. Yes, delays, for whatever reason are a (massive to some) inconvenience, but they DO happen. The crew will always try to help and advise, but there's only so much they can do (taking into account the information they get, weather, the rules on opening bars on the ground and so on).
I can't believe for one moment that crew will just disappear and leave pax on their own, with no information. For example, this summer, thanks to the "great" French and their strike(s), we were setting off from the UK, on an afternoon departure time, to MJV - Spain. The info we had was that the French were going to go on strike, but at midnight, after our ETA back in the UK. Little did we know...

Got to MJV ahead of schedule, pax off, get the a/c ready for the next 180+, boarded, all fine and dandy then BANG! ATC slot for 2 hours due to French ATC strike (this was at 21:00L and we were told they will start the strike at 00:00L?)
Bare in mind MJV is a military airport and they only allow commercial flying up to 22:00L. Never mind, explain to pax what's going on, Captain goes into detail, keeps pax informed, the works. But we are now worrying, we know what time the airport is closing, some expats know it too, they come to us, asking questions, what's going to happen next?
We haven't a clue, but hold on one sec, i'll try and find out for you. Goes in the F/D, has a chat with the CPT. OPS have negotiated with the military people to keep the apt open. But only for one more hour. Now it's close to the closing time and the French don't seem to change their minds.

Meanwhile, in the cabin, trying to be there for everyone and do our best to answer people's questions, this is what happened:
1. A very young family (mother - pregnant, father, child just over 2yo ) were on the "top of my list". Mother because she was pregnant, child because she was hungry/bored/didn't understand what's happening and dad; dad was verbally aggressive, threatening, and swearing at the crew. I could have asked for him to be removed from the aircraft because of his threatening behavior but i chose not to. I took it in the chin, thinking that if I don't manage to calm him down in the next few minutes, he's getting off. But thankfully, the wife (a real nice person, so sweet and understanding, i'd have her in my flight any day) managed to calm him down.
2. A lady traveling on her own to her father's funeral. One of the most heartbreaking things i've ever experienced in my life. The look on her face, the silent tears, and i couldn't do anything about it. Nothing!
3. Another expat, nice enough lady but with the "this is not good enough, do something about it" attitude. I kindly explained that unfortunately, we don't have any control over airspace, the French, weather, the French, ATC, the French...

The only reason why the CPT and OPS decided to try and keep pax on board (off course, anyone who wanted to get off could have done so, they would not have been stopped) was because of the uncertainty of the situation; get them off and as soon we had clearance board them again in a hurry to not miss the slot or keep them on board, if the slot would have been brought forward we could just close up and go. These are hard decisions that any Captain faces, and he/she is doomed if he/she does something about it and doomed if he/she doesn't do anything about it.

Meanwhile, myself and the rest of the crew, tried to do everything in our power to reassure/help pax the best we could. We also gave them our own water (we were not provided with crew meals or water so we fill in bottles of water in the crew room). This does not make us heroes, but human beings caring for other human beings in need.

It's now close to midnight and low and behold, the flight is canceled. Pax informed, us apologising, knowing that some of these people cannot afford a hotel and they'll spend the night in the terminal.
By the time we got to our hotel (before anyone jumps and starts shouting "at least you had a hotel", i believe the company is required by law to do so due to "rest period" issues and being fit to fly), it was 02:00L. Well the company was "kind enough" to put us down on what they call "split duty" (where you only need 6 hours rest when you've been flying X hours, in order to be fit to fly the next leg); back to the airport at 09:00, be prepared to board and fly back. Well, the nice Frenchmen didn't go off strike until noon, so there we were, hanging about MJV airport. Noon comes, we board, get a slot (there were many other a/c stranded there) and finally, we set off.
24hrs later after my report time the previous day, i am finally home. Not forgetting those tired pax, the lady who missed her father's funeral, the gobby expat lady or the aggressive trying to be sarcastic husband of that really nice, down to earth and pleasant lady. Still, i had to carry on selling stuff on board, do the smokeless, the scratchcards, basically my job. Because that's what was in my job description; it is, after all, a job, and i had to follow the procedures they (the employer) had set.

The moral of this story is (if there is any) that crew have it as bad as you pax/SLF. We do try, we REALLY do, to make it more bearable for you.
I hate it when the media blows the situation(s) out of proportions. I'm not defending the management, but sometimes there is nothing even THEY can do to fix a weather/ strike/ restrictions problem.

And i know the inconvenience of being delayed might cost you a lot of money, but please note that, when you're traveling with a LoCo carrier (don't know about long haul), the crew are NOT being paid overtime for the delay; they are as unhappy as you are about the delay, but they get on with it. So please, don't blame them; they work bloody hard!

There are a lot of delays about these days, lots of cancellations, mainly because of weather. Airlines don't make the weather, they deal with it. Trust me, an airline would NEVER cancel a flight unless it was the last resort. Some of you seem to think that they might be making some profit if they just cancel the flight. Completely untrue. Put it this way, if the ticket was let's say, 50 Euros return and the flight was canceled, the EU laws state that the airline has to refund each pax with,say, 300 Euros, then the company is at a loss. They do not cancel flights lightly. It costs more money to have the aircraft on the ground (parking fees, deicing and then deicing again these days, ground staff and so on)

If any journo is reading this, please note that all of the above experience happened AFTER the pilots nearly hit the school and the nunnery.

:ugh::ugh::ugh:

[Abusing_the_sky]

And i do apologise, i got a wee bit carried away :}

I forgot to mention that when it comes to coaches to transport pax from an airport to their original (airport) destination, the company (not just FR, most airlines) will go with the quickest that can get there. They have no clue if the seats are damp, or if there are pax who upset other pax with their behavior; all the airline cares about is getting those pax who unfortunately had to land at another airport than their choice of airport, to their original destination as quick as possible. They have a list of coach hire companies, phone up, whoever is available and can get there quick, they get the contract and are delegated to ensure the pax get to their destination. Not a pro in OPS side of an airline but from experience, this is how it works.

[Anansis]

News : Ryanair reports UFO to Aviation Authorities (http://www.ryanair.com/en/news/ryanair-reports-ufo-to-aviation-autorities)

Given past form, I'm surprised that this story hasn't been quoted word for word and reported as fact by the British Press... :E

Merry Christmas all!:ok:

[airbourne]

This is from the front page of todays Evening Herald 28/12/2010

A Nine month old baby was hospitalised after being stuck on a Ryanair plane for over 5 hours.

The child and its 3 year old sibling ended up in Temple Street Childrens hospital suffering from dehydration

Their ordeal began after a Christmas flight from Dublin to Eindhoven in HOlland was cancelled because of heavy snow, but passengers were kept waiting on baord.

After 3 hours their father asked if he could buy a sandwich for his 3 year old was was 'shaking from hunger' he told the Herald.

However, he was informed it is 'not comppany policy to sell food while the plance was grounded'

The children were so tired, hungry and deyhdrated following the mammoth delay that they had to be taken by ambulance from Dublin airport.

______________________________________________________

Now, my question is:

Are Ryanair cabin crew that scared for their jobs that they wont aid a baby?
Are Ryanair managment that strict that they would rather a baby be removed to hospital that give them water?
Is the Captain not informed of anything anymore.

I know that even bad press is good press, but how long can these types of stories continue before they actually affect the bottom line?

[wheelbarrow]

Yes a shame altogether. Nothing to do with Ryanair.

But really the parents are responsible and in any common sense judgement shud have purchased water, sma gold to go packs and sandwiches in the terminal prior to travel, as everyone knows the crew cant open the bars prior to departure. Sure Aer Fungus is the same even with the work to rule! as I experienced to my hunger.

A quick look out the window at the conditions DOH!! Teach them a lesson really.

[airbourne]

And the award for parent of the year goes to....................

Hindsight is a great thing, should have this or that and bought water etc etc. The bottom line is they didnt. Maybe they only had hand luggage and with transporting a baby with nappies and all that associated stuff, maybe the father with a small child and a baby actually forgot something! Shame on him, maybe ryanair should call child services and have the kid taken away from the parents for neglect???

[sam1993]

But really the parents are responsible and in any common sense judgement shud have purchased water, sma gold to go packs and sandwiches in the terminal prior to travel, as everyone knows the crew cant open the bars prior to departure.
They probably didnt expect to be sat on the ground for 5 hours and not be offered anything at all! :ugh:

[Facelookbovvered]

Given that it is the Season of Goodwill to all men (and children) i will take it that your comments were tongue in cheek?

The fact remains that irrespective of Ryanairs management directives and how little they trust the judgement of their staff, the Captain is responsible for the safety and welfare of all on board including the cabin crew but especially the passengers.

It is well know that Ryanair discourage people in wheel chairs because it slows the turn round time down, it does, but there is still a duty of care.

Ryanair have little or no regard for its staff or passengers and sooner or later it will bite them on the bum, even the luck of the Irish will fade.

Consider this: the child in question here could have been an undiagnosed diabetic and could have died! Had this occurred who do you think Ryanairs PR team would have blamed? the parent? think not, the blame would have been laid squarely on the crew and in particular the Captain.

Once a delay goes beyond an hour with passengers on board with little sign of an improvement the Commanders remit must include the welfare of passengers.

Banning BALPA,employing CC who can barely grunt English, treating employee's like an inconvenient expense is one thing, but this is nothing short of a disgrace and will only serve to further empower Brussels to action against this outfits practices, you reap what you sow

[ltnmad]

Given that it is the Season of Goodwill to all men (and children) i will take it that your comments were tongue in cheek?

The fact remains that irrespective of Ryanairs management directives and how little they trust the judgement of their staff, the Captain is responsible for the safety and welfare of all on board including the cabin crew but especially the passengers.

It is well know that Ryanair discourage people in wheel chairs because it slows the turn round time down, it does, but there is still a duty of care.

Ryanair have little or no regard for its staff or passengers and sooner or later it will bite them on the bum, even the luck of the Irish will fade.

Consider this: the child in question here could have been an undiagnosed diabetic and could have died! Had this occurred who do you think Ryanairs PR team would have blamed? the parent? think not, the blame would have been laid squarely on the crew and in particular the Captain.

Once a delay goes beyond an hour with passengers on board with little sign of an improvement the Commanders remit must include the welfare of passengers.

Banning BALPA,employing CC who can barely grunt English, treating employee's like an inconvenient expense is one thing, but this is nothing short of a disgrace and will only serve to further empower Brussels to action against this outfits practices, you reap what you sowVery well said.:ok:

As a poster previously mentioned, there is no need for parents to buy excessive supplies of baby products 'just incase' they are delayed for a number of hours. It's not their fault their trip was delayed for such an extended period of time and i'm sure had the so-called airline told them that they were to be sat around on the ground for so long after the aircraft had been boarded, they would have taken appropriate measures to ensure that both themselves and their children could comfortably survive the wait.

As for the CC, I can only presume that none of them are parents themselves as this treatment of Children, especially over Christmas time really does make my blood run cold. Besides, why is it RYRs policy not to sell food while the plane is grounded? With the Irish oaf, MOL you would think policies like this are the last thing on his mind in periods of bad weather and the likely grounding of several aircraft.

Stories like this really do make me think twice about flying with Ryanair!

[FR-]

I've always been told the bars are to be closed on the ground due to customs. But ive known crew to sell water/j2o only on long delays at the cews own risk, if the pax to the front. But i have also known crew get the sack for opening the bars on the ground and for not sealing them on turn arounds.
The crew only followed the fr rules, but i would of melted some ice in a cup.

[Mr Optimistic]

About babygate, did the parents bring the condition of the child to the attention of the crew and were they denied help ?

[TSR2]

did the parents bring the condition of the child to the attention of the crew and were they denied help

YES, according to the report.

[Mr Optimistic]

Makes the crew look a bit dozey in that case or, as someone said, frightened. Irrespective of the parent's actions there must be enough flexibility in the system to allow exceptions providing the cc show initiative and respond. Presumably it was a case of 'if I do it for you everyone else will want one too', but if so they really should be able to manage that.

[lfc84]

not enough facts to judge but 20 mins later you are making presumptions :ugh:

[Mr Optimistic]

Just so. If you have an explanation for it please advise. Got the facts I was asking for, then presumed away. I do wonder what the legal situation is with respect to being held on an aircraft for hours. What prevents a passenger (or anxious parent) demanding to be disembarked ?

[lfc84]

im not a parent, but if it was me i thin i would have called an ambulance from onboard as soon as there was any sign of any non co-operation from the crew

[Mr Optimistic]

Can't see any healthy child going hypoglycemic in that time, but no business wants this sort of publicity. As for babies, ear problems should discourage airtravel except in cases of real need (ie not holidays for the parents). However, we all have made mistakes in planning and when I am in someone's care I expert , erm, care.

Flown Ryanair myself and have no problems with them. Only had one bad experience in all these years of air travel and that was being held at Gatwick for 4 hours prior to a flight to Barbados (Thomas Cook or Airtours or the like). Being an inveterate smoker, was getting close to walking (or trying to walk). Flimsy, I know, but that's why I wondered.

[akerosid]

It's not just babies or young children who have problems with Ryanair and its catering policies. Newly released archive footage shows the response of a middle aged Austrian executive to being booked with Ryanair:

YouTube - Hitler Ryanair Rant (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0rxASx1SxY&feature=player_embedded)

I apologise in advance for the language, but he was very cross indeed. (NB: Translation may not be 100% accurate).

[IndignantFather]

I am the "neglectful" father whose children were taken to hospital and I take offense to your comments (wheelbarrow, airbourne). We were kept on the plane for close to six hours, the plane was de iced twice and we were aware of the conditions, we had baby powder in our hand luggage..some treats..but we assumed we could get something on the plane during our flight..travelling with children can be tricky as parent knows.

Water was given on the flight, but only after people insisted, including myself, approx 70 ml per person, about one third of a plastic beaker per person, we were given COLD water for the babys bottle,when asked about food the cabin crew said they could not sell sandwhiches, this was 3 hours into the sit, someone was kind enough to give over some food from their own hand luggage, which we were grateful for, after a young lady had collapsed, received treatment and had recovered, we were told to line up to the rear of the plane so the crew could "sell" food to passengers.

After 5 hours we were told to disembark. We went last off the plane to avoid a crush, went down stairs covered in snow and ice carrying small children and told to "hurry up" whilst digging a pram out of the snow, we were not assisted by cabin crew returning to building, we were pointed the way, in a blizzard and freezing conditions, we were kept in cold corridors before being processed by staff who told us we would get more info at Ryanair desk.

Back in the airport I went straight to purchase food and water, by this time you can imagine how my children were, and was charged for hot water for another babys bottle.

There were no Ryanair staff present in the airport to assist people, we were told they had closed the lines and desk just before we got off the plane..approx 4000 people stranded in airport..no buses running..few taxis, and we couldnt bring the kids out into what felt like -20 c, stuck......our children began to feel unwell and our 9 month old started to vomit on christmas eve morning..very few DAA staff to be seen but luckily I found someone to get a medical officer and an ambulance was called.

We got home close to 5 am and I spent the next few hours trying to contact by phone someone at DAA and Ryanair..I got thru to Ryanair and was asking about our flight..and got spoken to like I was dirt..not insulted but not exactly friendly. We are good parents who love our kids so much. We cancelled the holiday to visit their Grandparents and it took 4 days for the kids to get back to normal..our youngests first christmas..would you wish that on anyone?

I spoke to the paper out of principal because I am really angry that we recieved no help, info or otherwise, from a company who we paid for a service. I cant blame them for the snow, but I will blame them for the distress and discomfort they caused us. If Micheal O Leary is quoted " if you dont like it then £$*& Off," he has to ask himself would he want a christmas like that for his own kids?

Your comment is unfair, I put my children before anything else, I was not looking for attention, hence I remain anonnymous..but I will stand up for myself and my family and more people should, because Ryanair DEAL with complaints, but they dont listen to them.. it might be your family it happens to next!

[Cloud1]

IndignantFather - I applaud you registering on here and defending your actions even though it is great shame that you have felt the need to do so. Unfortunately there will always be some people, who have not been in the same position as you or your family, who will hold an opinion and quite happily express it despite any offence or upset it may cause.

Under legislation airlines have to provide refreshments if a delay exceeds 2 hours regardless of the cause of delay. The only time when an airline can claim exceptional circumstances is in the event of a cancellation and the passenger is claiming compensation.

The fact of the matter is adequate light refreshments should have been offered onboard free of charge. How the airline defines this is up to them although Ryanair 'appear' to have fallen foul of European legislation.

I cannot offer any further comment on this because I was not there but I do hope that your son or daughter has fully recovered.

[IndignantFather]

Cloud 1--Thank you the kids are fine now, I just want people to know that some facts were more on focus than others in the paper, yes my children became unwell, and we went to Temple St as a precautionary measure, because I wouldnt risk the health and well being of any child. But in a service industry...why would a company walk off the job?Do restaurant owners close shop if someone complains about the food? would a mechanic ignore a customer because he cant repair his car? so why were hundreds of people left in the dark and stranded at the airport? not only by Ryanair it seems....the DAA and Ryanair seem to be at each others throats on a regular basis, but we the customers dont seem to matter!!? Terminal 2 looks very nice..but if you cant get a plane off the ground at a main european airport when an airport in Leipzig can do it in even worse conditions you have to ask questions, and I believe Ryanair are not claiming exceptional conditions..because they are slating the DAA about runway clearing times in light snow or something along those lines, so i think they need to stop acting like schoolyard bullies and provide people with a better service..and take care of people when things go wrong...not turf them into the snow to fend for themselves!!!

[FR-]

we were not assisted by cabin crew returning to building

Interesting that crews are taken back to the ryanair crewroom via crew vans, so i dont know why the crew were going back into the terminal with you.

Water was given on the flight, but only after people insisted, including myself, approx 70 ml per person

This would of been the crews own water or melted ice, not from the bar.

[Sober Lark]

One member of staff at DUB told me Christmas eve was a nightmare because both Aer Lingus and Ryanair decided not to fly many of their schedules, closed up shop, disappeared and left the PAX on their own. The staff member told me that both companies knew for hours in advance, even before the PAX checked in that the flights simply wouldn't happen. I was told the general feeling was that the DAA could have been better prepared for such eventualities and many of the staff had offered their own homes to stranded passengers. The DAA, Ryanair and Aer Lingus can prepare in advance for such eventualities. We all remember Mr. O'Leary out hauling the luggage himself during a baggage handlers strike but this time the PR department had gone home. These three companies really need to take their heads out of their accounts, take a moment to stop quaking at their shareholders and think of their passengers. You can always expect disruption and it doesn't matter whether it is volcanic ash, snow storms, air traffic control, fire service issues or leaves on the runway you can't just shut up shop and walk away.

[Cloud1]

Soberlark, you bring back memories I had when travelling as a passenger. I often defend the company I work for because I feel they get slated all too easily, its not Ryanair for the record.

I was flying during all the volcanic ash and got stuck at an airport. Our desk was nxt to EasyJet and a handling agent both of which closed their desks and went home. This was before 09am on the very day the airspace closed for the first time. Our staff didnt leave the terminal until the early hours of the following morning, trying to deal with the large numbers of passengers rebooking, asking queries, being offensive amongst other things. Our staff could have walked away like Easyjet, or in this case Ryanair, but they didnt. And despite all that extra service people still complained.....

However it makes the whole world of difference and in this case Ryanair delayed an aircraft for nearly 6 hours. There should have been plenty of representatives available to deal with customers on that flight and others that were cancelled. Shame on both Ryanair and Aer Lingus if previous posts are correct :=

FR - I dont think Indignant father said anything about the crew walking either.....just to be picky. They may well have returned in vans but could have offered assistance between walking from the aircraft to their vehicle?? Just a thought....

With regards to refreshments, could Ryanair not have arranged with the airport to take light refreshments to the aircraft if they couldnt open up the onboard bar?

[FR-]

Wha assistance would you want from the cabin crew? the crews are not trained in customer service other than what is required on board, if the crew told the pax misleading information . . . . . its best to leave it to the ground agents.

And i think he did say about the crew just leaving.

[airbourne]

Indignant Father,

I was the first person to copy the report from the newspaper here and the subsequesnt follow up. I was actually defending you and what you had to go through. After the bashing that I got from one member, I replied in a sarcastic way saying shame on you for not being prepared, so before you jump to conclusions, perhaps you could go back read the comments and then reply!

[IndignantFather]

FR_ regarding to what I expect from cabin crew, I am an able bodied man, I was holding a baby and carrying a bag, my partner was holding our other child and a bag, I was struggling to unfold a buggy in the snow while being watched by a CC with his hands in his pockets telling me to hurry up.....? and I dont expect the guy to hold my hand..but for him to make certain we were safely in the building..instead of pointing to a door that we couldnt really see because of weather conditions and running off, all I expect is common courtesy...fair enough? And thank you for pointing out the water we got was melted ice cubes...I was wondering why the water was luke warm..what did they melt it in? was it clean? did they use hands to pick up the ice? did they wash their hands? this was the water given to me for a babys bottle......?so maybe..instead of sending CC on customer service courses..(which seemingly is low priority)they should encourage their staff generally to COP ON and use common sense. or is that not a requirement?

[IndignantFather]

Airbourne -You have my apology, I misunderstood your post. Thank you sincerely for your support. :ok:

[FR-]

Well i guess you should ask ryanair, its not my place to say, but all im saying is the crew did what we are allowed to. All crew should have ice tongues, and before the crew do any food/drink service the crew always wash hands. It would of been melted using boiling water.
Anyway why do you think its called cabin crew, the crew look after you in the cabin. The ground staff do the rest, the crew are not allowed to hold your baby or carry bags for pax (H&S). Im sorry but i think you need to slag off the company not the crew.

fr-

[GayFriendly]

All crew should have ice tongues


Blimey remind me never to ask for ice again whern flying FR, surely it's more hygienic to use tongs rather than your mouth. That brings a new meaning to no frills flying ;)

[FR-]

lol sorry my mistake.

[IndignantFather]

FR- I think you are picking up on details to get away from the fact there are very bad policies within certain companies on how people are treated...I wouldnt let CC hold my child or carry my bag..but maybe if you saw someone struggling you would take your hands out of your pockets to maybe lift a buggy out of a snow drift? and not tell them to hurry up? this is a small part of the story and doesnt change the fact that we were denied food and water for hours...even convicted criminals get this..no? Right you are cabin crew that much is clear, the lowest ranking in airports, but I hope you know the difference between right and wrong and what the word decency means.I wont take anything up with you again, as I believe your ponts are irrelevant, and you are willfully not understanding the situation. And I made my point about the company..and the crew who represent that company.

[positive]

I was boarding a flight from Dublin to Malaga last month a flight going to Madrid was leaving the same gate as us at Dublin prior to our flight.An old lady going to Madrid was asked to put her hand luggage bag into the Ryanair suitcase frame why she was asked in the first place seemed strange as her bag was small and over the shoulder type.But when she went to pull the bag out as the bag was loose fabric some item had jammed below the frame.Two Ryanair boarding staff looked at this old lady struggle trying to get her bag out of the frame did they attempt to help no.I ended up pulling the Bag out as the useless and rude boarding staff looked on.I must add the next Ryanair boarding staff doing our Malaga flight were very helpfull unlike the previous Madrid staff.

[RAT 5]

This is a question about "Airline" policy. I've never been victim, but I hear people saying that under EU rules of delays pax are entitled to free refreshments after 2 hours. I then read here that pax were on board with nothing for 5 hours. Why? I then read that RYR will not open bars on the ground. This was the case of duty free bars before the tax free borders of the EU, so why is it still the case of simple food bar trollies? I appreciate that there is a risk if you dis-embark pax just for a sannie. You lose a few. So why not use onboard bars. What do other airlines do. Is this legal?

[Hial Flyer]

Certainly doesnt seem to be the policy on other airlines. i have recently had lengthy delays stuck onboard aircraft. First flight was with Easyjet and they provided us with soft drinks while we waited. 2nd flight was with flybe and they also gave us something to drink in this case cold drinks and also tea or coffee.

[berkshire boy]

F14
"Bars are still locked due Custom regs. 15000' used to be the rule. I guess a bit like the Channel Ferries. It seems very outdated, but it's all empires within HMRC; they are more powerful than Police in the UK (have rights to search without a warrant)"

I'm afraid that your information is incorrect. To start with HMRC is not responsible for airport controls any more - it is the Border Control Agency.

Secondly, Border Control is not interested in none dutiable stores. If Ryanair put their own seals on none dutiable stores boxes it is for their own convenience - nothing to do with Border Control. There can be no excuse for not supplying passengers with water after 5 hours on board delay - [even though the passengers were prepared to pay for the water].

The total lack of customer care beggars belief.

[geordiejet]

Can you explain exactly what you mean by saying this?

"Right you are cabin crew that much is clear, the lowest ranking in airports".

Are you meaning cabin crew are the lowest ranking staff in airports or just Ryanair cabin crew. Either way I can think much lowlier jobs which nevertheless play an important role in an airline environment. Either way it's not on judging all cabin crew (who in most cases are operating in accordance with their employer's rules and regulations) and slagging people off like that.

CallIng an ambulance as a child was feeling a little unwell? I've heard it all now. Methinks you are a tad dramatic. One of those people who thinks the world revolves around them because they have a kid.

If you were so concerned you should make sure your kids are well fed prior to boarding a flight (what if a flight diverts or has to hold for a good while). Your kids. Your responsibility. End of. Finding it hard to believe peoples health was at risk or there was a massive ice cube induced health hazard (I bet you are the type who change a nappy in he cabin - and to have be cheek to talk about hygiene).

[TSR2]

CallIng an ambulance as a child was feeling a little unwell? I've heard it all now. Methinks you are a tad dramatic

From previous postings it would appear that it was a Medical Officer at the airport that called the ambulance not the parents. Do you really expect the parents to go against medical advice. Obviously you are not a parent.

[IndignantFather]

Actually I have cerificates for Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points and Food safety and Hygiene. My kids were fed a light meal before boarding, and running temperatures, exhaustion and vomiting is not a little sick when children are concerned. I dont judge cabin crew, a very good friend of mine was CC for years, but I expect a little consideration when travelling with children, yes I was aware of the weather, I kept as close an eye as possible on the forecast...again...you guys are missing my point. In my own opinion CC duties seem to be primarily focused on sales..customer care seems to be an afterthought.

[looot]

"In my own opinion CC duties seem to be primarily focused on sales..customer care seems to be an afterthought."

spot on, there is nothing as important as SALES! Of course they don't admit it, but it's true. Sales is everything and the only important.

[Meanexpat]

Now then, is this legal?

I booked the following flights on December 3, 2010 for Passenger A.
Leeds Bradford (LBA) to Montpellier (MPL)
Sun, 27Mar11 vol FR2472 Départ LBA à 11:35 et arrivée MPL à 14:50
VOL RETOUR
Montpellier (MPL) to Leeds Bradford (LBA)
Sun, 03Apr11 vol FR2473 Départ MPL à 15:15 et arrivée LBA à 16:30

Then on 16/12 I booked the same flights for Passenger B... and noticed the times HAD CHANGED to 7 am and 10.40.

Passenger A has NEVER RECEIVED ANY NOTICE OF THE CHANGES.
This can easily jeopardize the rest of the trip at both ends (no early trains, booking already done, etc.)

What can I do legally to complain of lack of vital information?

[Hotel Tango]

You may find that, with departure planned for the end of March, notification of the change hasn't been sent yet. How much notice are they legally required to give with a schedule change? I don't know the answer but I guess it could be a lot less than 10 weeks.

[west lakes]

From the Ryanair T&Cs which you no doubt accepted

FLIGHT CANCELLATIONS AND SCHEDULE CHANGES

If your flight is cancelled or before the date of travel, is rescheduled so as to depart more than three hours before or after the original departure time then you will be entitled to a full refund of all monies paid if the alternative flight/s offered are not suitable to you and you do not travel.
Ryanair does not provide monetary compensation under Article 7 of EU Regulation 261/2004 for flights which are delayed or cancelled for reasons beyond Ryanair's control (extraordinary circumstances). You may therefore wish to ensure that you have suitable private insurance cover in force to cover such eventualities. Your rights under EU Regulation 261/2004 are unaffected, so in the case of denied boarding, flight cancellation or a delay in excess of two hours; a written notice setting out the rules for compensation and assistance in line with such Regulation will be provided to affected passengers who present themselves to our staff at the airport service desks.
Passengers who book well in advance should check their outward/return flight timings via the “Manage My Booking” link on www.ryanair.com (http://www.ryanair.com/) or with a Ryanair reservations centre between 24 and 72 hours prior to departure.

[Coquelet]

Ryanair has always sent me by e-mail the notification of a schedule change, even if it's only a 5 min change (it happens).

[Meanexpat]

Is it just me who hasn't received notification?

I urge anyone who has booked flights from when the new summer schedule were released up to around 3rd December to check whether the time of their flights has been changed and report here.

I'll keep you posted if and/or when I receive a notification.

I used to be a fan of RyanAir... Might revise my opinion as also the fares have gone up significantly.

[PAXboy]

I recall FR bringing departure forward 30 mins and not notifyuing me by email or changing the schedule on their web page. Now, that was ten years ago but it happened then so it can happen again.

OTOH, I had VS do exactly the same thing to me. It's called life. Trust no one and check a thousand times.

[JWP1938]

When I lived in Spain during 2002 my friend came to stay with us for a week. He booked a return with Ezy from Gatwick to Murcia. We dropped him off at Murcia for his return only to get a phone call from him to tell us that his flight had been brought forward by several hours and had gone. There was no way they could notify him as you don't give holiday addresses etc. nowadays and we didn't have internet to check at that time. Trying to check with an airport like Murcia by phone was an impossible task then so we didn't usually bother, we just turned up a couple of hours early usually. It never occurred to us that the flight could be brought forward by that much. We always worried about delays. We had to bring him back and he didn't get away for 24 hours on his (free) rescheduled flight. I say free but he had to pay for the flight and then claim the money back which took ages. Fortunately he was retired (and had a credit card) and so the delay didn't matter too much but I understand this has happened often.

[spanish no fly]

Surely, with the "highly intelligent" people who post on these forums, they would have the common sense to check the departure time the day before, even if the carrier does notify the time change. :ugh: But then, these days, "common" sense is not too common.:rolleyes:
Unfortunately budget airlines have opened up flying to people who should not be allowed anywhere near an airport as spectators, let alone as passengers. :ok:

[Diver_Dave]

Just had a look at various e-tickets from the last year

Thomson, Air Malta, Lufthansa, FlyBe all have a ...

"Passengers are advised to check flight details"[..]
It then varies from 2-3 days[..] "Before departure."

However, only
Please remember:
To check the above link often for any changes or updates to your itinerary.
Appears on my Cyprus Airways one.


That said Air Malta have sent a flight amendment for a 10
minute schedule change in July already.

Personally, it's got to be prudent to check? You do with trains etc...

Regards

DaveA

[golfbananajam]

I have to say when it happened to our goup last year we all (those who made the bookings) received an email notification well in advance, but we had to reconfirm the reservations. All in all no problems

[wowzz]

Spanish no fly - I must disagree - if I book a flight I expect to be told by the airline if there is a change in schedule - it doesn't matter if the airline is BA or Ryanair. If I am on a week-end break for 3 days, why do I need to spend time and effort on one of my 3 days away to confirm flight details ?

[PAXboy]

I'd agree with wowzz. Since every booking web site or agent asks for your email address and mobile/cell number - then they can inform you. As I say, I have checked the web site of a carrier the day before and the schedule had NOT been altered.

This is the way that companies do business these days. Check your paperwork and do all that you can to chase them - but they can still fail you. We have had a long conversation in here last year about the failure of many carriers to use SMS to their advantage.

[spanish no fly]

Hey, wowzz and PAXboy:eek:
Did I touch a nerve:E
If you buy a car, do you expect the manufacturer to pay for your insurance?:p
Do neither of you make mistakes, or forget things?:=
Take some slight bit of responsibility for you life and don't expect others to do everything for you. I'm pretty sure that if you read the Ts&Cs, when you buy online, it will say that it is your responsibility to check timings. And you must tick the T&C box, or you won't get booked!:ok:
Why oh why do people blame others for their own failings?:sad:
Hold on tight,
And have a good flight.
S. N. F.:)

[wowzz]

SNF - When I buy a car, I expect it to be at the garage when I go to collect it! Your analogy does not hold water.

[spanish no fly]

wowzz,
You "expect" the car to be there.....ready. Not always so, though. Mañana, amigo, lo siento.
Talking of flying, would hope not to have to "hold water":ugh:
S. N. F.

[ExXB]

Travel Agents often refuse to pass along passenger contact details to the airline. They want the airline to contact them, so they can pass along the information. Too bad most don't work 24/7, like the airlines.

(This doesn't apply to Cryanair, of course, who don't have a relationship with agents)

[wowzz]

SNF - you are obviously vastly more experienced than I am in the aviation world, and I therefore bow to your superior knowledge.

[Meanexpat]

One of my point was the following:
"This can easily jeopardize the rest of the trip at both ends (no early trains, booking already done, etc.)"
To get to an airport for an 11.15 am flight, you book in advance (as any wise person would) a cheap non changeable train ticket.
Then you find you have to be at the airport at 5.30 am...
How on earth do you do this on public transport (having already lost your train ticket money).

a) You ask for a refund (thanks for the reminder of the T&Cs) and do not fly, and it costs you money for nothing, or
b) You go to the airport by taxi and it costs you a small fortune...
And the airline CANNOT be held responsible for the consequences of changing their mind? AND do NOT even have to tell you as soon as they made the change? With emails, that is not acceptable IMHO.

As someone said, we are only SLF!!

[KBPsen]

...you book in advance (as any wise person would) a cheap non changeable train ticket. A wise person would have ensured more than one option was available, particularly when making plans for an event 4 months in the future.

[Moira]

In travelling the expressions "wise person" and "cheap non changeable ticket" don't go well together ...

[PAXboy]

SNF I think you mis-read me. I was saying: $hit Happens. I was saying to the OP, Yes - it's tough when a supplier fouls up and weasels out of it but it happens every minute of the day. Mostly by accident and sometimes by design.

When you said:
Did I touch a nerve
Take some slight bit of responsibility for you life and don't expect others to do everything for you. I'm pretty sure that if you read the Ts&Cs, when you buy online, it will say that it is your responsibility to check timings. And you must tick the T&C box, or you won't get booked!
Why oh why do people blame others for their own failings?
You didn't touch a nerve because I said that each pax must take their own precautions. What I said about the failure of airline companies to use the information at their disposal - and that they have made a prerequisite of booking - is simply to USE it. I was in IT for 27 years so I know something of this. All you had to do was read correctly.

So, by all means feel free to make sweeping generalisations but be careful who you sweep up in your net.

[Meanexpat]

Thanks for your sympathy, KBPsen and Moira!

Which side are you on? British Rail and RyanAir or the conned paying customer?

Naively, I wasn't aware that an airline could a) change their timetable AND b) not inform you.

I have only been flying for 30 years ;o)

[KBPsen]

You pays your money and you takes your chances. In this case it seems you preferred to take your chances by purchasing non-changeable non-refundable tickets, apparently for both your flight and your means of getting to the flight.

It's a bit like putting all your eggs in one basket, and a cheap one at that, and hoping that the bottom won't fall out.

That timetables can change shouldn't come as a surprise as the possibility is clearly mentioned in the terms and conditions that you accepted when you purchased your ticket. You also accepted that you yourself should check if your flight is rescheduled.

You may still get a notice from Ryanair that the schedule has changed, there is still 2 months to go, and then again you may not. That Ryanair don't do customer service shouldn't come as a surprise.

Nobody conned you. You pays your money and you takes your chances.

[PAXboy]

Well, KBPsen, I think that you are true that no one conned him but what appears to be the seat of the problem is not being told of the change. With that, I am in full sympathy with the OP as I've had the same same problem when travelling on FR and VS - and I was paying full whack. Whilst I will say - you have to check - we ought NOT to have to check because the carrier could tell us. We had a long debate about this and BA last year in this forum.

The irritation is:-
Carrier requires your email address to book.
Carrier sends confirmation and e-ticket to your email address.
Carrier changes time and .... does not have their computer send out emails to all the pax who have booked that flight.
If the time of travel is near - they could send an SMS.
They have a cheap technical solution to their PR problem and the greatest majority of them don't use it.
They are downright stupid. Their marketing managers should have asked the IT dept to fix it ten years ago.
The IT dept should have prepared the fix and offered it to mgmt ten years ago!! After all, in 2003, I was advising a small town council how they could communicate better with their residents through two-way sms and NOT the dreadful Press-1 to listen to music systems that airlines still cling on to.

[Moira]

Meanexpat

your flight is still several months from now, so let's not jump to conclusions yet. I did get informed by text about flight time changes in the past, by low-cost carriers. But only like two days before departure, which is of course a pain if you have already made other arrangements / bought other tickets. Hence my comment about the non-changeable tickets.

I don't take anyone's side here, just wanted to make a point. Been there, admittedly had better luck than some others (got informed about a time change for the return leg by one of the other passengers - only just in time) ... and learnt my lessons from it. It's just one of these nasty thingies you come across when travelling (especially low-cost), and that you have to learn to live and deal with.

[groundbum]

I'm not one for over regulation but personally I think the CAA should include some verbiage in the conditions when they issue an airline it's licence. And the rules should say that when there is a schedule change then the airline has a duty to try and notify the passenger. Given email/sms etc then the cost nowadays is negligible if the capability is built into the reservation IT system.

It's the same as the trains in the the SouthEast being built without toilets, where are the regulators saying if you want a licence to operate there is a baseline you cannot go beneath when being fair with the consumer? That's why we have regulators!

G

[Hipennine]

Got to praise BA here. Got a notification in Dec that a NCL _ LHR leg had a 5min dep time change for a flight end of May. As people have said, it's not difficult, and in these days of connectivity, it is a very cheap IT job to implement.

[IB4138]

A Barcelona court has ruled that Ryanair cannot oblige passengers to print out boarding passes when booking tickets online or charge them €40 when they fail to do so. Judge Barbara Maria Cordoba found the contract clause “abusive and therefore null”. She said Ryanair was subject to international, European and national air navigation laws which oblige airlines to issue tickets for passengers. The ruling came after a Spanish lawyer lodged a complaint after being fined for not printing out a boarding pass for a flight to Italy. The judge said that her ruling was not firm and could not oblige Ryanair to stop applying the clause and she expected the case to be taken to the European Court of Justice. She said Spanish passengers now had a first judicial ruling to back their demands for the return of the penalty for not printing the pass.Ryanair will appeal.

taken from thenewsonline.es

[Lonewolf_50]

Let me try to understand this: the airline asserts that time and materials to print a ticket amounts to forty euros? Am I missing something?

[soullimbo]

Well it always amazes me why there are so many idiots that apparently can book online but when it comes down to the actual 'getting on board' proces cause so much havok. However, no matter how stupid people are, they always manage to pay online for their ticket using their beloved credit card. Bravo Visa, Mastercard and IT folks at FR. Your systems are really monkeyproof.

"Forgot my passport, where did it say I had to print it out, my printer wasn't working very well, I was finishing my beer in the bar watching football so excuse me for being late etc". I heard it all. Yes it's a lot of pesetas, but if that lawyer doesn't like it, (s)he has had the opportunity to book a flight with Iberia. Typical LCC bashing. I fully back FR on these measures. It's delivering safe transportation to the masses by streamlining the process. The majority of people are able to cope with that. There's always the 10% with brains but too lazy and too arrogant to make a fuzz over nothing and the 10% with single digit IQ that's indeed to stupid to comply. You bash that out of them by hitting them where it hurts, their wallet.

Who does this spanish judge thinks she is? It's a contract. That guy ticked the box. Yo no lo entiendo.

[k3lvc]

Sorry but if it keeps the prices down for those that can follow the rules/comply then it's a good call. Life's like that nowadays either follow the rules for efficiency or try and bypass/outwit them and risk paying extra.

[flyme273]

I booked my family with Ryan Air. I used my wife's name Wiesje - it's a common short form of Willemiena, same as Tony in place of Anthony, or Mike in place of Micheal.

The check-in service insisted this was a passenger change and charged Euro 125.00.

Incidently, this is the highest charge in the industry by a large margin.

I appealed to Ryan Air and after a long time received a standard form reply directing myself to their Terms and Conditions - without stating which clause they were invoking. A second appeal received the same response.

I was left feeling decidledy "ripped-off".

A better relationship with their passengers may even produce more business for Ryan Air.

[MidlandDeltic]

Sorry, but no sympathy here (and I do not work for FR). Common sense says you input into the system when booking the exact details on your passport / ID / credit card. Then, no possibility for confusion.

Simples.

MD

[Lonewolf_50]

The check-in service insisted this was a passenger change and charged Euro 125.00.

For Deltic:

I cannot agree with your overlooking that there was NOT in fact a passenger change. The passenger remained is the same, that one uses a diminuitive form of same passenger's name is hardly grounds to steal or extort 120 euro from anyone, no less a customer.

Unethical business practice.

[Rhayader]

Not usually one to stick up for FR but it does clearly state that the name on the boarding pass must match that on the passport. However, the amount charged for a change of name is close to extortion. Perhaps a nominal fee of 10-30 euros would suffice?

[OFSO]

An interesting little case mentioned in today's local German paper. A couple very recently flying from Germany to Spain checked in at the point of origin where the Ryanair staff accidently tore the "boarding card" for the return leg in half, handed it back to passengers, said "it will be OK".

Two weeks later at Girona they tried to check in for their return to Germany. Ryanair refused to accept the two pieces as one "boarding card" and insisted on printing out a new one - for €40, more than the flight cost.

They protested they had the original card so should not have to pay again: and were told to write to Ryanair HQ in English. Usual FR prevarication and eventually they gave up trying to get their €40 back.

Disclaimer: we used to fly with FR a lot and liked their cheap prices. However now we have the TGV from Spain to London we take that. Costlier but far more luxurious.

[jcjeant]

Hi,

Who does this spanish judge thinks she is? It's a contract. That guy ticked the box. Yo no lo entiendo.Regard to the law .. seems it's a illegal contract so for the spanish judge this contract can't be used to force the customer to paid 40 Euros fee .....
Entiendo ?

[SLF3b]

I think that in the UK this would come under the unfair contract terms law, which basically says (I am not a lawyer) that if it ain't fair it ain't legal.

Let them levy a charge by all means - but the charge has to be proportionate to the cost incurred.

[Basil]

I believe that, like a number of philosophical and legal questions, Mr Shakespeare summed this up four hundred years ago in The Merchant of Venice.

"I like not fair terms and a villain's mind."


To be fair, like the villain's terms, I must add: "If it's too good to be true etc . . "

[occasional]

Sorry, but no sympathy here (and I do not work for FR). Common sense says you input into the system when booking the exact details on your passport / ID / credit card. Then, no possibility for confusion.

Simples.


Maybe you should try booking for a group of people, some of whom have a variety of ID in more than one name. You would quickly find that the whole business becomes extraordinarily time consuming when all you really want is 12 seats.

[Alsacienne]

Maybe you should try booking for a group of people, some of whom have a variety of ID in more than one name. You would quickly find that the whole business becomes extraordinarily time consuming when all you really want is 12 seats.

And the correct solution to that situation is to delegate the task to another member of your group! Failing that, ask them for their passports before booking and note down the vital information such as names, date of birth, passport date and place of issue and number before you book the seats because you are bound to be asked at some time for further info, such as for API or printing out boarding passes!

Or you could get them to sign a disclaimer saying they are responsible for all subsequent fees imposed on the booking after it was made because of insufficient or incorrect information supplied by themselves ..... :ugh: (joke!)

[infrequentflyer789]

I think that in the UK this would come under the unfair contract terms law, which basically says (I am not a lawyer) that if it ain't fair it ain't legal.

Let them levy a charge by all means - but the charge has to be proportionate to the cost incurred.

I am not a lawyer either, but I don't think that is correct. Charges can be below cost, above cost or a blatant rip-off and still be "fair". Do you really think that first class and economy class airfares are priced in proportion to cost incurred ?

Charges do have to be clear, not hidden, not added in once the customer is signed up etc. If FR hid the charge or had small print that made it practically impossible for the customer to print the boarding card, then you'd be into the unfair terms - but that's not the case.

Penalties for default (including cancellation etc.) are required to be reasonable, which is what the credit card companies got hit for, but that is not the same. If you forget to pay your credit card you are actually in breach of contract and could be sued for damages, and costs. Nothing in FR contract (I believe) requires you to print boarding cards, so there is no default if you don't. Simply a charge for them doing it for you. The charge may be a ripoff or a bargain, as may the ticket price, but neither would be "unfair" as a contract term.


As to the poster booking with the wrong name, that has always been a ticket change (or a no-go), and I am suprised anyone believes different.

I use the short form of my first name exclusively, personally and professionally, however for anything to do with international travel (with passport), especially flying, (or the taxman) it's always the full name as on the passport as only my mother ever calls me. It has always been that way, for decades, and I expect always will be, and for every travel operator I've ever used, as far as I recall. My surname is also frequently mis-spelled, and same applies. I expect an operators typo to cause me hassle, and if it's my typo I expect it to be expensive (check, check, check again before pushing that submit button...).

Ryanair's charge for re-ticketing might be higher than other operators, but so are their other charges e.g. for baggage, and maybe their ticket prices are lower... if you get a better deal overall somewhere else, then take that.

I don't work for them, and nor have I flown with them.

[Flying_Frisbee]

19th Jan 2011 17:07
Lonewolf_50
Let me try to understand this: the airline asserts that time and materials to print a ticket amounts to forty euros? Am I missing something?
You're missing the bit where time and materials come into it.
You need the pass to travel. They charge 40 euros to print it. End of story.

[Octopussy2]

On the question of charging to print a boarding pass, those of you who agree with Ryannair's approach have missed the crucial sentence:

She said Ryanair was subject to international, European and national air navigation laws which oblige airlines to issue tickets for passengers.

The Warsaw Convention obliges the carrier to deliver a passenger ticket specifying, inter alia, the place and date of issue and the place of departure and destination.

So Ryannair is under a duty (which it can't contract out of) to provide its passengers with a ticket. If they print their own, all well and good (yup, it's quick, convenient and what I do every time I fly), but if they don't, they are entitled to be provided with one by Ryannair at no extra charge.

The right to a contract of carriage (ticket) is a fundamental part of the way the law around international carriage of goods (and by extension, people) has developed (and has its origins in shipping law) -but I'll stop now, at the risk of boring you (.....too late? ;) )

[Coquelet]

A ticket is not a boarding pass - two different things.

[Sunnyjohn]

This is an interesting argument because Ryanair say that they have given the passenger a ticket - in the form of a PDF to the customer's computer. The law has to decide whether a virtual ticket is the same as a paper ticket. Spain does not use case law as in the UK so this case will be a one-off. It would be interesting for someone to challenge Ryanair on the same theme in the UK and see if the judge rules in the customer's favour. If so, case law would set the preceedent and MO'L would be somewhat miffed!

[occasional]

the exact details on your passport / ID / credit card. Then, no possibility for confusion.

Simples.

MD

Could you tell me which is the passport number of a Spanish passport ?

Is it the number which says "passport number", or the other one ?

[MidlandDeltic]

I cannot agree with your overlooking that there was NOT in fact a passenger change. The passenger remained is the same, that one uses a diminuitive form of same passenger's name is hardly grounds to steal or extort 120 euro from anyone, no less a customer. But the example given (Wiesje - it's a common short form of Willemiena) would not be an obvious diminutive to someone whose first language is not the same. I am sure M O'L puts Michael in when he books his flights!

As infrequent flyer says :
As to the poster booking with the wrong name, that has always been a ticket change (or a no-go), and I am suprised anyone believes different.Could you tell me which is the passport number of a Spanish passport ?

Is it the number which says "passport number", or the other one ? Never seen a Spanish passport, but assume like UK it conforms to EU requirements, so where it says insert passport number you insert the passport number, not the computer style script at the bottom ofthe page I assume you are referring to. As regards booking groups, I have done it; you do as Alsacienne says :

...ask them for their passports before booking and note down the vital information such as names, date of birth, passport date and place of issue and number before you book the seatsIn short, accept the rules or pay the same / more / less to fly another airline.

MD

[occasional]

Could you tell me which is the passport number of a Spanish passport ?

Is it the number which says "passport number", or the other one ?

Never seen a Spanish passport, but assume like UK it conforms to EU requirements, so where it says insert passport number you insert the passport number, not the computer style script at the bottom ofthe page I assume you are referring to.

When you get the opportunity, have a look at a Spanish passport. In the same position as the passport number on a British passport there is a number which I usually treat as the passport number being asked for.
Elsewhere on the same page (not among the computer script) is a quite different number which is labelled "passport number".

I would genuinely like to know which is the correct number to provide to an airline as the passport number.

[aolXFT]

The purpose of the name change fee is to discourage touts from buying up all the cheap tickets, and selling them on. If they buy tickets for a tenner each, and sell them on for 60, then a 30 eur name change fee isn't going to be a major problem.

I don't think Ryanair would object to bona fide name changes, where the original person genuinely intended to fly, as opposed to intending to sell the ticket on at a profit. The problem, is how they'd go about efficiently enforcing that.

[PAXboy]

Lonewolf_50
Let me try to understand this: the airline asserts that time and materials to print a ticket amounts to forty euros? Am I missing something?
The fact is that FR do not want to print boarding passes and so they charge EUR40 to dissuade people from asking them to do it. If they do have to print it, they will make a profit - so they win both ways.

Be very sure that FR are serious about this, just as they have been about others. If the court rules against them, they will find another solution!

[infrequentflyer789]

The fact is that FR do not want to print boarding passes and so they charge EUR40 to dissuade people from asking them to do it. If they do have to print it, they will make a profit - so they win both ways.

Be very sure that FR are serious about this, just as they have been about others. If the court rules against them, they will find another solution!

Solution is publicised now - if they lose on appeal they will stop printing boarding passes, for any money. No pass, no fly. I suspect that (a) they are absolutely serious and (b) it will be a struggle to prove that approach illegal (bit of a case of be careful what you wish for...).

Not sure what they will do for rebooking at the airport for cancelled flights, last minute ticket sales at the airport etc. - but then I'm not sure they do any of that anyway.

[davidjohnson6]

I find FR's press release on 18 January unsatisfying in that
a) Point 3 - a court will likely ignore any kind of "if we don't win this case, we'll be even more awkward in the future" argument. The case is about what's happened in the past, not what one might choose to do in future.
b) Point 4 seems to ignore the principle of law over contract - namely that if a clause of commercial contract goes against a law, then the law takes precedence and the courts get to decide what to do about the contract.
An extreme example of this would be a written contract for person A giving food and shelter to person B, in return for B agreeing to become the permanent slave of A without freedom to leave. Slavery is banned, so is B still obliged to be a slave to A, or does a court have the right to modify / void the contract ?


Leaving the above issue to lawyers to debate....

Given that the average fare + tax + fees comes to more than £40 / 40 EUR, a passenger being refused passage means that Ryanair effectively gets to keep *all* the money the passenger paid, as the admin charge makes reclaiming any tax futile.

Furthermore, some of the passengers who forget their boarding card will have done so on their outbound flight, so Ryanair may get to keep the tax + fees for the return leg as well, since a one-way fare booked at less than 24 hours notice is usually very expensive meaning a passenger who booked a cheapie ticket may just abandon the whole trip. In any case, a passenger who has to pay a reissue fee on an outbound will damn well make sure to get the boarding card for the return leg printed off.

Ignoring the detrimental effect of seriously annoying some customers and making them reluctant to fly with FR again (not that that has worried FR very much in the past), I could see the policy of "if you don't bring the print-out to the airport, then you don't fly at all" policy as being almost as profitable as the £40 / 40 EUR reissue charge...

[infrequentflyer789]

I find FR's press release on 18 January unsatisfying in that
a) Point 3 - a court will likely ignore any kind of "if we don't win this case, we'll be even more awkward in the future" argument. The case is about what's happened in the past, not what one might choose to do in future.


Not sure the court is the intended audience for the quote - more directed at plaintiff(s).


b) Point 4 seems to ignore the principle of law over contract - namely that if a clause of commercial contract goes against a law, then the law takes precedence and the courts get to decide what to do about the contract.


I think they are saying that the court can't start arbitrarily rewriting the rest of the contract, which is probably true. The T&Cs contain a standard boiler-plate clause about the rest of the terms standing if others are ruled invalid - mind you they also contain a standard jurisdiction clause (ireland) which fallen by the wayside somewhere since we're now talking about a spanish court.

If the court says the re-issue fee is an unfair term, then it can't be enforced, and the end result is probably no-pass-no-fly - nothing else I can see obliges them to issue one. In fact even the offending clause only states that they will re-issue "if there is sufficient time".

[MikeJuliet]

This topic has just given me the idea - I will print the boarding pass for my next not-so-important FR flight on my A6 thermal printer. Will see how small a boarding pass will still be valid... :) One time the handling agent had the problem with the boarding pass (for another no-frills airline) printed on one sheet instead of two, but I talked him into accepting it.

[Pohutu]

MikeJuliet,

Ryanair are way ahead of you. From their T&Cs....

6.1 All passengers are required to check-in on-line and print out their Boarding Pass. This facility is available from 15 days up to the online Check-In Deadline of four (4) hours before each scheduled flight departure time. Each Boarding Pass must be printed and presented on an individual A4 page. No further changes can be made to passenger name(s), flight dates, times and route once a Passenger has checked in online.

I had cause to check out the rules a while ago when my printer wasn't printing very good copies and I was worried about what would happen if my boarding pass was unreadable. When I got to Stansted, as I feared, the security staff's machine couldn't read it (and the staff were really quite unpleasant about it). Ryanair were, though, remarkably helpful, printing me out a new one without fuss and without charge. From the information on this thread, I suspect that I might not be so lucky next time.

[MikeJuliet]

Which means that if it's printed on a 20 ys old dot matrix printer, they still have to accept it or print another one themselves - and AFAIK the charge is for not having the boarding pass with you according to T&C, not for the very fact of printing it by FR staff. To put it another way, they cannot charge you for the flaws in their barcode readers ;)

[Smoketrails]

Booked Ms Smoketrails on RYR from CRL to LPA last summer and can't remember having to pay for baggage on both sectors!? Want to book her for the end of march and are now asking me 20 quid for both sectors and not one set price for 15 kilo's of baggage!? Am I imagining things?

[Chuchinchow]

Have you (or Madame) bothered to read Ryanair's terms and conditions yet? It is they that will form the basis of any contract to carry a passenger - and her baggage.

If a carrier charges for carrying a passenger's baggage in the hold it will be highly probable that it will charge for every leg of the trip. In any case Ryanair regards each sector travelled as a separate contract.

[Smoketrails]

Chuchinchow,

Thanks for the quick reply! But you haven't answerd my question...

[kingdee]

done a booking CRL - LPA. Total cost In Euros 46.99 including 1 Bag Max 15k , not quite sure where you get both sectors from , unless you are returning then that is classed as a seperate flight P,S. add on a charge for your charge card .:ok:

[Chuchinchow]

Chuchinchow,

Thanks for the quick reply! But you haven't answerd my question...

Yes, I have. Here, once again, is the answer to most simple, ticketing-related, problems:
Have you (or Madame) bothered to read Ryanair's terms and conditions yet?

You can lead a horse to water . .

[paco]

For all peoples' opinions about Ryanair and its management procedures, etc., you can't fault the professionalism of the people who work at the sharp end. Well done to the crew who performed a very tricky landing at Prestwick this evening on the return from Lanzagrote - I felt for you every time the wing dropped! I'm not sure whether there was a crosswind or not but there was enough windshear for the most evil of training captains - well done!

[fireflybob]

EGPK 031850Z 22028G45KT 6000 RA FEW009 SCT019 BKN030 09/07
Q0994=
EGPK 031820Z 22029G43KT 6000 -RA FEW009 SCT019 BKN030 08/06
Q0994=
EGPK 031750Z 21032G46KT 6000 -RA FEW009 SCT019 BKN030 08/06
Q0994=


Presume they landed on RW 21 - quite a sporty wind but at least PIK has two runways at 90 degrees to each other unlike many other airports now!

[davidjohnson6]

I understand that Ryanair gets well over 90% of its sales from its website. I believe that most LCCs either achieve or strive for a similiar figure.

I note also that for most LCCs, the booking part of the website is usually pretty reliable - conventional business theory says it's a good idea for a company to make it easy for its customers to spend money and buy the product. I realise that very high levels of reliability of a website also cost money

I know FR is very keen on keeping its costs as low as possible, but I would expect the unreliability of FR's booking website comes down to one or maybe a few root causes.

Does anyone know what these root causes are, and is there a plan to do anything about it ?
Is it
1 - Ryanair chose the absolute cheapest of solutions as offered by the vendor
2 - Ryanair doesn't have sufficient hardware to power the website
3 - The software vendor chosen is rubbish
4 - The support agreement in place is not sufficiently robust
5 - Ryanair's staff did a poor job of integrating the booking system into their existing IT systems
6 - The website was designed for 30 million sectors per year and either cannot be easily scaled up, or FR don't want to pay to scale it up ot the current 70+ million sectors per year
7 - There are a few known simple bugs in the booking system for which the vendor is asking for absurdly large sums of money to fix
8 - Ryanair doesn't care about its sales system
9 - Something else

[OFSO]

Mrs OFSO, with ailing parents in the UK, used to fly FR every month from Girona to London and back, or sometimes Perpignan to London and back. On time, cheap, nasty.

But then we switched to the TGV, Perpignan via Paris to London. A bit longer (9-10hrs door to door), twice the price at least, but first-class luxury & very comfortable.

Yesterday thought we'd give FR a try again, so I booked a return flight for Mrs OFSO in March, Girona - London.

Today the FR website announces that in a fit of pique against the Catalan government (well it doesn't say that but we all know O'Leary) that effective the end of Febuary this will apply:


18 Routes Cancelled

Aarhus
Dusseldorf Weeze
Gdansk
Hamburg Lubeck
Ibiza
Kristianstad
Lanzarote
Lille
London Gatwick
Madrid
Oslo Torp
Perugia
Plovdiv
Poitiers
Seville
Szczecin
Tenerife
Vasteras


..so there's my booked flight in the bin.

O'Leary has a fight with the hand that feeds him, he takes reprisals, and the poor saps like me who already bought a ticket and thought their contract with Ryanair actually meant something......well, "count for nothing" would be a fair expression. Of course it could be on again next week, but who knows ? My opinion of O'Leary's ethics is unprintable.

Goodbye, Ryanair, for the second time, and this time I mean it.

[IJM]

OFSO - so Ryanair in mid-February have decided to scrap all those routes as from the end of February - ie. in two weeks time ?

That's a lot of their passengers plans stuffed then - will be expensive to book with alternative carriers at this short notice.

I recall Ryanair having a cull of their Basle routes around the festive season a couple of years back, with a similar short period of notice.

[OFSO]

Yes, from the end of February they are cancelled (source FR website and Catalan TV) plus another large group of destinations reduced to minimal service.

No sign yet of those flights being switched to Barcelona (Prat) airport either.

Mr O'Leary's concern for his passengers is overwhelming.

OFSO

[ExXB]

Contract law does apply to your transaction with Cryanair. If you can prove damages you have the right to seek redress. You are not likely to cover your costs, but if you've got the time and the will ...

[OFSO]

Contract law doesn't mean a damn to Ryanair.

Looking at the dates and times, Ryanair sold me a ticket for the flights next month AFTER they had announced on their website that the flights were permanently cancelled. If I had clicked on 'news' or watched Catalan teletext TV I would have seen it, but who expects to be sold a product by a company which knows full well it can't fulfil the sale ?

[davidjohnson6]

OFSO - could I ask whether you have received an email from Ryanair saying your flight has been cancelled, or checked the status of your booking on the airline website ?

The booking system currently seems to show that flights operated from Girona to Gatwick daily up to Tuesday 3rd May. From 4th May onward, no flights seem to be on sale.

I don't have any inside information on this, but I'm wondering whether Ryanair have simply been overly dramatic on the press release announcing that everything will be cancelled rather faster than is actually the case

[jimd-f]

i am booked to fly LGW to gerona on 24 march and my flight still shows in manage my booking.
as i normally fly there every 5/6 weeks this will be a pain if the cancellation does go ahead.
i hope this is just another one of MOL's negotiating ploys and it does get resolved very soon.

[OFSO]

Last night I was repeatedly unable to acess my booking on Ryanair: "there is a problem accessing this page waffle waffle waffle" but today it's there again.

So MOL is (as usual) announcing one thing and doing another. Nothing new there then.

Incidently the informative Catalan Daily newspaper "El Punt" devoted their first seven pages to the Ryanair-at-Girona story today, and from reading that I definately had the impression that cancellations etc would start at the end of February. Same thing goes for today's "Arena", the German newspaper here.

But having checked the Ryanair website - well, well ! - indeed yes, still selling tickets on "cancelled" routes up past the end of April.....

[OFSO]

So thinking about this further. Ryanair says in principle if the Generalität of Catalunia (the Catalan Government) won't pay them their subsidy to fly into Girona, they will leave Girona and move to places that will. And where, pray, will they be ?

Barcelona and Reus are the two nearest to fly in the millions of tourists who visit the Costa Brava and Barcelona each year, but they too are in Catalunia so Ryanair will go in vain for an increased subsidy there - and at Barcelona there are other airlines who would like to see Ryanair fall from grace. Another possibility would have been Perpignan, excellent for the northern area of Catalunia, but Ryanair have already blotted their copybook with the Perpìgnan city fathers, not to mention with the French government (Strasbourg, anyone ?!)

So unless Ryanair wishes to leave the Costa Brava market completely, I can see this being another "flying standing up" or "paying for the toilets" affair - not to mention "ten pound fare to fly the Atlantic".

OFSO

P.S. One hears a rumour that next week or the week after, the Generalität may well be talking with representatives of the orange airline, and that suddenly-available slots at Girona might be discussed.

Addition next day: Ryanairs Girona Madrid and back flights already taken over by another airline from the day Ryanair finishes (thought to be early May)

[El Grifo]

Hi again OSFO,

FUE did, then didn't and felt the pinch.
ACE jumped in and did. Many flights per week and a base set up.

FUE comes back to the table, cap in hand.

I am sure there are loads of issues, DVT is probably not one of them tho'

Saludos from Sharm :ok:

El G

[pompeygazza]

Hi OFSO. I also have bookings with Ryanair after the date from which they intend to cancel flights from Girona to Gatwick, in fact in total I have 4: 2 in March and 2 in April. I've heard nothing from Ryanair about any cancellations and don't know where I stand. Unbelievably, it is still possible to buy flights from Girona to Gatwick up to 3rd May. I've complained to the CAA and OfT, and directly to Ryanair, but it seems dreadfully quiet out there. There must be thousands of people affected by this - where are they?!

[Meanexpat]

To recap:
Flight was changed from 11.30 to 7.00 (notification received 2 months later)
Same flight has now been re-changed... from 7.00 to 11.35 (notification received 5 weeks before flight).
Arrangements at both ends are now useless and have to be changed. "Luckily", the rebooked flights are cheaper! (Refund takes about a week)

What next? Will they quietly cancel the route?

[Sunnyjohn]

I've just read a long report in my local expat paper here in Spain which, among other things, mentions that Ryanair customers are now being subjected to having their carry-on luggage measured while they are in the queue for the Gate. A member of Ryanair staff wheels the measuring trolley down the queue and measures everyone's hand luggage. Those whose luggage will not fit into the gauge have to pay a hold fee or repack their bag. Could those of you that have recently used Ryanair comment on this?

Many thanks.

[TSR2]

With on-line check-in, the only place that Ryanair can check hand luggage is at the gate.

Ryanair's hand luggage allowance is quite clear. 1 bag only, maximum measurements 55x40x20cm and weighing no more than 10Kg. Handbag, briefcases, laptop, duty free, camera etc. must fit inside this 1 bag. Any oversize or overweight bag will be charges £35/35 Euro.

I have little sympathy for those charged at the gate for oversize luggage. If this allowance is inadequate or you feel the charge is excessive, you always have an option.

[EGAC_Ramper]

Couldnt agree more, the baggage dimensions are clear yet people continue to take the :mad: with what they try to bring onboard. Those who follow the rules have nothing to fear and this is not done only by Ryanair it is done by other airlines too...!

Regards

[jimd-f]

sunnyjohn,
on my last flight a couple of weeks ago they did check the size of a lot of the peoples cases that were in the queue, but gerona have been doing that on an ad hoc basis for ages.
they used to have an old dragon at the bottom of the stairs, before they moved them,who took great delight in measuring cases before you were allowed up to departures.
my flight home from gerona on 29th has been cancelled and they offerd me one for the day before, but it was the 1900 hours flight which i did not want.
i cancelled and rebooked for another day and saved money in the process.
it would appear that the tuesday and sunday flights are the ones affected at the moment, as all others seem to be running, certainly up to the end of april

[OFSO]

Passengers arriving for the Girona to Madrid flights last week found no aircraft, no crew, and no explanation at the Ryanair check-in desk. It appears that the flights were withdrawn but Ryanair made no comment.

Girona's Director of Business Associations says that by so doing, Ryanair is breaking its contract with the city of Girona for 2011. Ryanair does have the right to cancel unprofitable routes, but noted that the GRO-Madrid route carries 300,000 passengers a year.

The president of Spanair, Ferran Soriano, has confirmed that his airline is ready to take over the route when Ryanair pulls out of Girona (and hopes that unlike the last time Spanair tried the route, this time they will make a profit).

The Catalan airline Vueling announced a net profit for 2010 of €46.000.000, an increase of 66% over 2009. They operated 84.435 flights, transporting 11.036.083 passengers, and are also eyeing Girona.

(SOURCE: ARENA, 25.02.2011)

[LPFR]

TSR2, that's right, I've had that done at Seville last week. I didn't thought they would do it to mine as it was obviously small, but they still asked me to place the little bag on the ground to measure it. On the other hand, at Rome Ciampino there were obvious BIG bags at the gate, but the staff couldn't care less, they didn't measured any hand luggage, and worse, didn't checked the passports or ID cards.

[scotbill]

It has been obvious for some time that the Scottish Parliament (with its attendant bureaucracy) has had a policy of attracting services to Edinburgh - to the extent that it has supplanted Glasgow as Scotland's busiest airport.
Ryanair have played a key part in this change. Given MoL's antipathy to paying the extortionate charges BAA inflicts on everybody else, has anyone heard what the incentive was for him to make this bold step?

[Sunnyjohn]

Thanks for your posts. I thought I'd probably not posed the question correctly but since you both gave me the information I was after, I clearly did!

[OFSO]

According to today's "Arena" Ryanair is pulling out of Lleida, Spain this summer: same reason as Girona, Catalans won't maintain subsidy.

[OFSO]

News in today's "El Punt" paper that the Generalität de Catalunia (the Catalan Parliament) is making funds available to Girona to meet Ryanair's extortion, I'm sorry, I'll read that again, to pay the subsidy that Ryanair insists on being paid to fly into Girona airport.

However, they twigged that over the past four years Ryanair has repeatedly broken the terms of the LAST contract that Girona signed with Ryanair, so this time the money will be based on the number of flights AND the number of passengers ferried in by Ryanair.

Another job for someone to stand at GRO arrivals and count passengers arrivng on "the Worlds Favourite Airline".

[El Grifo]

By contrast, we are all wearing "I love Ryanair" badges here in the Canaries !

Tourism has increased several-fold, which means employment is up, which means more cash is in circulation,which means we are in an upward spiral again.

All this because our government agreed to play ball with Ryanair.

Right now, it is a win-win situation :ok:

[ericlday]

Certainly happy with return prices But now summer schedules are almost here the 06.00 (06.50 Tues) departures to LTN are just a bit too early. This limits return option to uk as Thurs at 17.45. Cannot have everything I suppose.

[fltguy47]

Hi Guys
Obviously MOL would choke in convulsions at the idea but looking today at the Departure and Arrivals board of Stansted and other Ryanair bases I have noticed that there are quite a few "Contact Airline" eg FR8030 (unknown), FR2638 Granada, FR6129 Belfast City, FR8140 unkown, FR419 Prestwick. Are the wheels coming off the wagon. Pilot shortage, what pilot shortage.

[tabu]

Given that we no longer fly to BHD (at all) or GRX from Stansted I suspect that there is a bit of a glitch in the system there and it is showing flights that no longer exist...

[peba]

Hi all, is this the start of things to come? yet another €200 million going into O'Learys pocket! wait until the others start doing the same thing.

[ExXB]

Well, if it gets those idiots in the Commission and the Parliament to finally realise that 261 is a crock of fecal matter - more power to him.

As long as he includes it in his advertised / web prices (which another EU regulation requires him to) I don't see any difference than him increasing all of his one-way fares by EUR1 to cover his apparent increased costs. This way he's got somebody else to blame ... :O

The Regulation is well overdue to be rethought and rewritten. Many of the problems that it was designed to 'fix' either didn't exist, or have gone away.

[Frognal]

If I have to pay €2 per flight and if something goes wrong, I will be put in a hotel or given refreshments etc, then it sounds like a good deal :ok:

[AGPwallah]

I have travelled with Ryanair on the following routes in the last week, TRF-LPL/LPL-AGP/AGP-TRF, a total of 3,489 miles for the princely sum of GBP65. All three flights were early or on time and at a cost of 1.86p per mile. Keep up the good work. I am not associated with the airline or travel trade except as a passenger.

AGPwallah

[El Grifo]

Same story here AGP, no assosciation whatsover with Ryaniar, just a frequent flyer.

I am pig sick of the seat pitches in the short-haul aircraft of the big European two, not to mention the higher prices (just did)

I genuinely believe that passengers held in such cramped conditions for 4 hrs+ must constitute a Health+Safety issue.

Aircraft evacuation in event of an emergency must be severely compromised.

I used to always order an in-flight meal, but am no longer capable of the yoga required in order to open and eat one !

Give me Ryanair and easy any day. A couple of chardonnays and a snack pack and bobs yer uncle :ok:

[Economics101]

In a competitive environment, prices tend to reflect costs, whereas in a more monopolistic environment, not only are costs higher, but prices may represent a large markup over costs.

Moral: the consumer pays the costs of consumer protection legislation, especially in a highly competitive market. O'Leary has only made explicit what others keep somewhat hidden. For once, I'm on his side.

The real muppets are the EU Commission, desperately trying to be popular. In doing so, have they undermined the incentive to buy travel insurance? Should travellers not be encouraged to take responsibility for the risks they incur and insure themselves? M O'L is doing it for them!

[Hipennine]

Have you tried buying travel insurance recently that provides full compensation of costs incurred as a result of volcanic ash affecting airline operations ? I recently did, and although I found one insurer covering this, their cover levels on everything else required were inadequate, and excesses were very high.

[Manchikeri]

Given that we no longer fly to BHD (at all) . . .

Well done that man (or woman)!

It takes guts to come on here and to admit that one works for Cryanair.

[tabu]

Really - why would that be?!?! :confused:

I have no problem admitting what I do for a living! :)

[El Grifo]

It takes guts to come on here and to admit that one works for Cryanair.

Clearly a hidden agenda thereabouts !

Wonder what Sigmund would have said :ok:

[Frognal]

Should travellers not be encouraged to take responsibility for the risks they incur and insure themselves? M O'L is doing it for them!

That is my point. If Ryanair will insure me for 2€ per flight, it is very good value.

Even if I take 20 flights a year, it is only €40.

Some people on here ranting about Europe should reflect that the EC has served the travelling public well in this case.

And it is not often that I would say that.

[GrahamO]

Actually its Ryanair who carry the risk, and so its they who should insure.

The whole thing is another advertising campaign by Ryanair - as your rights as a traveller are enshrined in law, 'not taking the option' does not allow Ryanair to legally refuse to help in accordance with the law IMO.

Like may laws, its nothing that a commercial contract term is able to vary - like putting something in a purchase agreement which allow the seller to kill the buyer without any recompense.

He just doesn't want to take out the insurance which everyone carries to cover for such an eventuality and is just whining after years of making profits by cutting back on insurance costs, the chickens now come home to roost. Just like the man who steals from the shop on the basis he'll never get caught, he now has been.

[Anansis]

ryanair €2 levy for all pax


Does this mean they'll start making it easier to claim comensation?

[JWP2010]

I only had two instances of needing to claim from Ryanair and on both occasions, no problems. They are not my favourite airline, but needs must and for an hour's flight, no worries!
The only thing that annoys me is that fanfare for another on-time arrival. Since when did it take 1hr and 30mins to fly London - SNN?:O

[Flapping_Madly]

Looks like Alicante airport has upset Mr O'Leary.

https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1N-BpB_r6Z0x0-cxax9i143qO8fDKzZZsvr04z2mmqY0

Forgive me if I'm late with this.

[TSR2]

Ryanair claim that 70+million seats are sold each year but how many different passengers actually use Ryanair.

On the assumption that each passenger has a return trip, that immediately reduces the passenger numbers to 35+million ... still an impressive number. However, many many passengers on the Ryanair website claim (or boast) of travelling Ryanair numerous times each year, some by as much as up to 100 times. So how many different passengers actually use Ryanair each year.

Just curious.

[HPSC]

Hi, (sorry if i posted in the wrong place!)
I am unclear with the handluggage restrictions/requirements at ryanair.
I am traveling from stanstead next week with just one piece of hand luggage, as im not taking a suitcase ect i need to carry shampoo,tooth paste, deodorant in my hand luggage. I have bought all three and they all contain less than 100ml. Is this ok? Because i dont really want to throw them away at the airport! :{:{:{:{

Thanks in advance! :ok:

[Nearly There]

I would be more worried about the size of your hand luggage, the bag I've used 20 flights a year for the last 4 years was suddenly to big last week, £35 each way for it to go in the hold. Liquids to be in 100ml max containers, in a clear bag till through security then put them in your bag.

[A2QFI]

New Ryanair charge for compensation rights - Walletpop UK (http://tinyurl.com/6jvs2fd)

[TSR2]

Passenger Sues Ryanair and Wins. Is this a First?


A bit of a misleading title. The article says no such thing.

[PAXboy]

Ryanair is backing down on one of the key planks of budget air travel by allowing passengers to reserve seats on some routes.

From next month, customers will be able to choose where they sit on planes flying from Dublin to London Gatwick and Malaga.

The move marks a departure from the established thinking among no-frills airlines, that reserved seating hampers quick turnaround of jets and adds to admin costs.

It also indicates a change of strategy for Ryanair, after exhausting all other avenues of raising revenue through hidden charges including everything from credit card handling fees to baggage costs.

Passengers will have to pay 10 euros (£8.80) each way for the privilege of selecting their seats under the policy, which comes into effect from May 16.

MORE AT
Ryanair introduces reserved seating - Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/8462505/Ryanair-introduces-reserved-seating.html)

I do wish journos would stop this 'hidden charges' nonsense. You can see all the charges before you book. Easy.

[peterlondon]

changed from BA to ryanair solely because of cost but the planes take off and arrive on time, charming and approachable crew, visible throughout the flight, it is a very nice experience flying with them i think. i wouldnt have such fun crew with ba i think

[crewmeal]

This must have hurt them really hard!!

Scratchcard printing error sees 3 passengers win a car on one Ryanair flight : Stansted Airport News Stories (http://www.uk-airport-news.info/stansted-airport-news-260411.html)

[Dogberry]

I doubt it will hurt them at all. I'd be willing to bet that a compensation claim against the printers is already in the post.

[ExXB]

This must have hurt them really hard!!Call me a cynic, but when I first read this story I though ... Scam!

If they are having problems selling scratch cards, what better way to increase sales then to 'leak' a story like this to the (feeding frenzy) media. Oh, :\ there just might be more of these faulty cards out there :\ but we promise our loving public to honour each and every one of them ... :mad:

Media goes wild (anything to sock Cryanair), travelling public goes wild (oh, my one in 10 billion chance to win has just been reduced ...).

The joke is on us, again.

[SLFLurker]

changed from BA to ryanair solely because of cost but the planes take off and arrive on time, charming and approachable crew, visible throughout the flight, it is a very nice experience flying with them i think. i wouldnt have such fun crew with ba i think

Just had four flights with BA over the last two weeks and this could have been a description of my experience with had with them. One of the flights took off late as they had to offload some bags for pax that hadn't turned up...

Excellent ground crew at LHR.

[Anansis]

Reminds me of the story about a Ryanair passenger who 'ate' a €10,000 winning scratchcard because the crew didn't have the cash to give him there and then on the plane....

[snakey-111]

I know Ryanair don't take unaccompanied minors (children - under 16) unless with an adult but I cant find an answer to this anywhere.

Is a 16 year old able to take responsibility for the child?

I'd like to know because me and my friend are wanting to travel to Dublin for the day, I am 16 but she is 15.

So can I take "responsibility" for her even though I'm only 16? I ask because some airlines require the person responsible for the child to be over 18. Can just the two of us travel on Ryanair?

Many thanks

[TSR2]

From the Ryanair website.

Ryanair does not carry unaccompanied minors under 16 years. Children under the age of 16 years must always be accompanied by a passenger over 16 years. Escort and special facilities are NOT available.

Note that it states 'OVER 16'

[snakey-111]

Thank you so much

And sorry I thought I checked all over the Ryanair site, never saw the "must always be accompanied by a passenger over 16 years" bit ha

[Chuchinchow]

Has anyone at Cryanair ever considered whether or not a person who has yet to attain his/her seventeenth year is really the right sort of person to escort a fifteen-year old on an international journey?

[davidjohnson6]

Chuchin - have you considered the possibility that Ryanair have just written the policy to avoid taking on the cost of monitoring a minor during a flight (i.e. take responsibiliity for their safety ), but also ensure that they don't accidentally find themselves accidentally omitting to follow some rule and being panned in the tabloid press for what might have happened. I don't believe any LCC airline wants to consider what might constitute a suitable person - they just don't want the Daily Mail giving them bad publicity.

If you were trying to run a LCC, and someone possibly told you that to take unaccompanied minors you needed to have all cabin crew CRB checked to a sufficient level to look after children unsupervised, just so that you could carry the odd unaccompanied minor, what would your reaction be ? Mine would be 'sod the extra ticket revenue on a few kids, it's just not worth the additional costs and hassle'.

[Chuchinchow]

Hello davidjohnson6,

The only cogitation that Ryanair has undertaken on this matter is how much money they can squeeze out of passengers of any age!

[ExXB]

Hello davidjohnson6,

The only cogitation that Ryanair has undertaken on this matter is how much money they can squeeze out of passengers of any age!Seems to me they are missing a real revenue opportunity. £100/€150 to supervise an UM (over 12) on top of the 'regular' fare could be a goldmine to them. Particularly if they required said UM to be delivered to/from the Gate. They could even charge the same amount (per hour) if Mum/Dad don't show up on time.

The network airlines used to give away UM care, but now most charge for it. Why not Cryanair?

[OFSO]

Arena Newspaper, Castello d'Empurias, 11th May 2011 -

""Ryanair is threatening to cancel yet more routes* into Spain after being hit with fines totalling €1.200.000 following 65 lawsuits against the company for infringements of Spanish law. Ryanair alleges the fines are "illegal and without substantiation" and is threatening to "punish" the Spanish government for its actions by not flying there any more, at least partially.""

* ....yet more routes... because Ryanair has already withdrawn roughly 30% of its services into Girona in retaliation for the Catalan government reducing the Ryanair subsidy.

Reports that the management of easyJet developed broad smiles on hearing the news cannot be substantiated, but Confucious he say: people don't stop flying and he who is denied a seat on one cheap airline will go to another.

[OFSO]

And about-turn ! In today's paper (the same one as yesterday's paper) MoL is quoted as saying of course Ryanair respects the law in Spain and of course FR will be paying all those nasty fines, no matter how unwarrented and unjustified and unreasonable they are.....

Nothing to do with the Almighty showing his annoyance with the harp-bearing airline and sending an earthquake or two to plague southern areas.

[A2QFI]

Victory for former Miss World who sued RyanAir after airline 'implied she was racist and xenophobic' | Mail Online (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1391727/Victory-Miss-World-sued-RyanAir-airline-implied-racist-xenophobic.html)

[OFSO]

Following breakdown* in negotations with the Catalan government and the City of Girona, Ryanair are pulling out of Reus after October this year (despite having signed a contract committing themselves to flying there until 2013) and are further reducing flights into Girona. The contract with Girona expires towards the end of 2011.

* The breakdown consisted of Catalunia offering more money, Ryanair refusing it on the basis that "Catalunia is offering a higher subsidy to Spanair so why shouldn't we get more too" despite MoL offering to bring fewer passengers to Girona next year.

The attitude among people I've spoken to (both pats and expats) is that Ryanair is getting too big for its boots and holding a gun to the head of the Catalan government and demanding more money isn't much appreciated.

[AirResearcher]

They are doing it to everyone who doesnt do what Ryanair want, the amount of money airports are paying Ryanair to fly to their airports is staggering. Any other carriers seem reluctant to fill the gaps too as they know that as soon as they do. Ryanair are likely to startup again and flood the market with impossibly cheap seats.

If they make a movie Godfather IV, I could recommend someone from Ireland for the starring role.....

[LukeA346]

Hopefully someone can can answer me, Never flown with Ryanair or flown recently for that matter, I wasn't aware of this at the time of booking.

"No pooling or sharing of baggage allowances is permitted, even within a party travelling on the same reservation. Pooling of an individual checked baggage allowance is not permitted"

Me and a Friend deiced that we'd only take one bag and share at the time of booking to avoid a ridiculous charge of £40 per bag checked into the hold and pack any remaining stuff into our hand luggage.

Can anyone advise me on this further, Would it likely to become and issue?
Thanks!

[Data Dad]

Luke,

Provided the one bag is within the baggage weight limit you will be ok sharing a bag. What the wording:

No pooling or sharing of baggage allowances is permitted, even within a party travelling on the same reservation. Pooling of an individual checked baggage allowance is not permitted"

means is that you cant have ONE bag (of 25KG for example) ie: sharing two bookings 15Kg.

On reflection, A better example is this:

two pax travelling together have both paid for a 15kg checked bag.

However, 1 weighs 12Kg and the other 18kg. You cannot pool or share allowances so the one with the 18kg bag would still be charged an excess fee for 3kg even though there is an 'unused' 3kg 'belonging' to the other pax.

[LukeA346]

Thanks for your response Data Dad :ok:

[peba]

can anybody help me? friend booked with ryanair and missed flights due to his partners illness.both were due to travel.he had insurance with ryanair,so can he get his money back?i know he can claim the taxes and charges back,but what about the rest?

[OFSO]

OMG, are you are expecting MoL to honour the terms of something-or-other ?

Lets see now at a guess:

Fare, possible.
Taxes, doubtful.
What is "the rest" ? Suspect it's highly unlikely.

Hard enough getting independent insurance companies to pay up, but ensuring with FR for taking an FR flight, is like taking out insurance for your soul with the Devil.

(Very like, come to think of it).

[peba]

i know, i agree with you!!
but if he got a doctors cert to say they could not travel due to illness etc.
It was about €500,so he is trying to get it back,thats all,he wouldn't bother if he didnt have insurance etc.

[farci]

can anybody help me? friend booked with ryanair and missed flights due to his partners illness.both were due to travel.he had insurance with ryanair,so can he get his money back?i know he can claim the taxes and charges back,but what about the rest? Best you check the Ryanair Travel Insurance website (https://ryanair.insurengine.com/) rather than rely on advice here!

[davidjohnson6]

I have a prepaid Mastercard in UK pounds sterling, and wish to purchase a flight from Ryanair that's priced in euros.
I'm aware that Ryanair use Dynamic Currency Convernsion (DCC) to convert the amount into GBP "formy convenience" but at a lousy rate.
Is there a way to deliberately choose to pay the amount in euros, avoid the DCC, and have the amount converted from euros to sterling at the rather better interbank rate ?

I know it's FR we're talking about here, but seems rather unfair if there is no possibility at all of avoiding the extra charge

[Bengt]

You can avoid the DCC but the option to do this is well hidden. After you enter your card number there are changes on the screen. If you click the more information option somewhere around the amount a popup screen launches where you can deselect the DCC.
Booking Ryanair flights about 10 times a year I still got caught out by this a month ago ending up overcharge by appr 10 GBP...

[davidjohnson6]

Bengt - many thanks for your help

[Contact Approach]

I'm booking the below flight with the low cost airline specified in the title:

Depart:
London-Stansted - 07:00
Arrive:
Derry - 08:25
1 x Adult 31.99 GBP

Fare 31.99 GBP
Taxes and Fees 0.00 GBP
Online Check-In 6.00 GBP
EU 261 Levy 2.00 GBP
Sub Total 39.99 GBP
Total Price 39.99 GBP

The above is the total before I select the booking. Once I select the flight an extra £1 is added on from absolutely nowhere:


1 x Adult 31.99 GBP
Taxes/Fees 0.00 GBP
EU 261 Levy 2.00 GBP
1 x Web Check in 6.00 GBP
Total
Total Cost 40.99 GBP


I'm not sure about you but I sure know that the above figures do not add up to £40.99.

What's this about?

[tiarna]

I think you seem a tad over excited about nothing??

[Contact Approach]

That's not the point... it's unaccounted for. It's stealing. If they do this for every flight it all adds up.

[Contact Approach]

How would you react if they did this down at the local water hole?

[Three Thousand Rule]

Essex County Council Trading Standards

Consumers should call Consumer Direct on 08454 04 05 06 for advice and guidance.

Call them, they will be interested.

[Chidken Sangwich]

I'd keep quiet if I were you as UK APD which is currently £12 is missing from the 'taxes' part of those calculations...

[RevMan2]

@ Tiarna
And you'd be quite happy if your employer docked €20 from your paycheck without explanation?

Thought so....

[Ancient Observer]

Another con. Get the Trading Standards people on to it, and inform the Consumer regulation bit of the CAA. Get the relevant CAA Director's name from the website, and write to her/him.

[xanda_man]

Are you using Firefox? I just tried a booking and it did this only in Firefox not IE.

When using Firefox, as soon as you click the 'No' button to buying one of their bags for some strange reason this goes away.

Just a quirk of the way the page works in Firefox but it doesn't actually seem possible to complete the process with the extra £1 added on so nothing to worry about.

[davidjohnson6]

Contact - once you select the flight, and start entering your name and address, £1 seems to be magically added to the price. Once you choose whether or not you want to have an SMS sent to you (the booking form won't let you leave it as ambiguous I think), it'll then resolve itself.

Yes, it does look sneaky and underhand, but I suspect it's more a case of being badly presented inthe booking process than anything else

[Poltergeist]

it is presented this way in a cynical attempt to stop people seeing it:hmm:
One of the many techniques used by all airlines to attract customers and increase revenue. Peraps a return to customer service may do better.........:rolleyes:

[AGPwallah]

Last Thursday I flew with Ryanair from Oslo Rygge to Dublin. Plastered all over the airport were notices stating that 'one bag of duty free purchases would be allowed on board in addition to one piece of cabin baggage'. This was in contradiction to what was stated on the FR boarding document. Myself and many other passengers took advantage of this and there was absolutely no problem.

When returning from Dublin my partner and I assumed, wrongly, that the same rules would apply, but we were instructed to place our duty free purchases in our one piece of hand luggage. When I tried to discuss the issue with the FR ground staff she just directed me to the statement on the boarding document i.e. 'one piece of hand luggage only'.

Why can't they adopt a policy, if not on a company-wide basis, on a route-by-route basis, otherwise it will just alienate even frequent FR travellers like me.

Has anyone else had this problem?

[farci]

Why can't they adopt a policy, if not on a company-wide basis, on a route-by-route basis, otherwise it will just alienate even frequent FR travellers like me.

Has anyone else had this problem? I believe FR gets a commission from certain airport duty-free operators therefore it is in their interests to allow this extra hand baggage where this occurs

[ExXB]

Sign in Bristol Duty Free says ALL airlines serving BRS allow a duty-free bag in addition to their normal allowance. This would include FR.

However to apply different conditions to the return journey than the outbound sounds to me to be a breach of their contract with you.

Probably wouldn't do much good for you but you might want to pass your experience on the Norwegian NEB and/or your Consumer Affairs people. They might be able to put some pressure on FR, who would ignore you. The NEB is:

Luftfartstilsynet
Postboks 243
8001 BODØ
Norway

[email protected]

[B Fraser]

The check-in fee makes me laugh, I have to pay for the pleasure of answering my own security questions on the internet such as has anyone interfered with my bags some two weeks before I pack them.

In the event that I don't remember to take 4 printed sheets of A4 with me to the airport (for which I paid £24 so I could print my own boarding passes) then the thieving scum will try to extract £160 to cover the cost of an employee to stop reading Hello magazine and press a button.

Maybe for a laugh I should tell them that since I checked in online, I did leave my bags unattended :E

(At least they don't have bloody turboprops)

[Phileas Fogg]

The joke is that one should ever consider flying with such a shambolic outfit in the first instance!

[Nicholas49]

They have the destinations though, Phileas Fogg.

I'm considering going to the South of Italy in September and guess which is the only European airline that flies where I want to go?

[B Fraser]

It's the same story here, Air Mick are only direct airline unless I travel further to Gatwick or Stansted and pay more for the flight.

I really am considering telling Air Mick that since I checked in, my bags have been to two countries and were in my room when housekeeping turned the bed down while I was eating in a restaurant.

The cheeky fockers will probably try to charge me an honesty fee.

[B Fraser]

I've been thinking about the legality of answering your own security questions, I can't see it being legal other than through a little known loophole that O'Leary is exploiting. The legal types at Mick Air are working on the premise that

a) No self respecting revolutionary is going to take command of a flight without any decent catering.

b) They have worked out that the command "take me to Tripoli" will probably result in being flown to a disused Maltese airbase where they would be offloaded into a bus and then a boat.

[Meanexpat]

Say goodbye to your prepaid mastercard (your delta card, your electron card)...

Here comes the latest "get this new card or else you pay £6 per leg" trick. From November, I think

And you'll pay anyway if you book in another currency... at least for a while.

By the way, what happened to the RyanAir thread?

[Sober Lark]

Passengers can check-in online from 15 days up to 4 hours before each scheduled flight departure time. Please note - Online check-in closes 4 hours prior to flight departure

To check in it appears one must tick the box for the airport security question which reads 'I am certain that no one has interfered with my baggage or any item I am carrying/checking in".

Must be pretty hard for most people to tick the box to say they are certain when the assumption can only be that at that early stage they haven't even packed let alone being able to also confirm the bag on the return journey hasn't been tampered with. Assuming most people do tick the box and check in early then what type of unconscious assumptions or behaviors are we witnessing? What's the point of asking the question?

[davidjohnson6]

Sober - The point of asking the question is so that FR can cover their backsides and say they complied with the formal process requirements.

Yes, it ticks the box for an auditor. Yes, if security find some Semtex in your bag, the airline can say they were deceived by a fraudulent passenger and try to escape some of the blame for the ensuing incident and outrage in the Daily Mail the next day. No, I'm not sure what other practical benefit it achieves.

[PAXboy]

Interesting aspect to the new FR pre-paid card:

The user guide for the Ryanair Cash Passport reveals that after six months, anyone who does not use the card will be charged £2.50 a month for inactivity, while a ten pound charge will be levied every time the card goes into negative territory because of the inactivity fee. Customers will also be charged £2 for withdrawing money from cash machines, and £4 if they try to get cash out over the counter.There is more in the article ...


Ryanair prepaid card customers face 'hefty' fees - Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/borrowing/creditcards/8793353/Ryanair-prepaid-card-customers-face-hefty-fees.html)

Personally, I say, "Jolly good luck to them" The only question is what is the bottom line for a sector and will you pay it? I expect some folks will be irritated by this latest.

[OFSO]

I'm considering going to the South of Italy in September and guess which is the only European airline that flies where I want to go?

Yeah. well try flying into Girona since the Catalan government cut Ryanair's ludicruous subsidy: "NO FLIGHTS AVAILABLE" says the website for December. Airport's undergoing an extensive refurbish including runway lengthening, all designed to take 15m passengers a year, and unless Stelios starts his new airline as promised, we're f*cked 'cos the only large airline that flies there is pulling out before the end of 2011.

Thank heavens for the TGV !

[PAXboy]

Phileas FoggThe joke is that one should ever consider flying with such a shambolic outfit in the first instance! Ah - but they are not shambolic!! The OED Concise (10th Edition)
shambolic
· adj. informal, chiefly Brit. chaotic, disorganized, or mismanaged.
– ORIGIN 1970s: from shambles, prob. on the pattern of symbolic.

FR are highly orgnaized amd managed very well - in order to carry passengers from A to B and make lots of money for the shareholders.

[Herod]

The Ryanair pre-paid card is another scam. Many people only take one foreign holiday a year, and are going to be charged the "inactivity fee" for six months of that year. I live near Stansted and use Ryan 4/5 times a year, but a few months ago I thought I would try SAS out of Heathrow. Purple parking don't charge all that much and when you allow 4x£6 booking fee, 4x£10 priority boarding (my wife and I like to sit together, being old romantics) plus whatever he charges now for check-in, it's about the same price, and considerably less if I want to take a suitcase. I might make it a regular route.

[smith]

FR are highly orgnaized amd managed very well - in order to carry passengers from A to B and make lots of money for the shareholders.

That should be 70miles from A to 120km from B.

[Sunnyjohn]

That should be 70miles from A to 120km from B.
Why, exactly?

[Meanexpat]

'Why exactly?'

Thanks SunnyJohn, your repartee is spot on.

Young people do not remember how difficult it used to be to travel from one provincial town to another provincial town.

PS. Yes, there are still a few of us living outside capital cities (which surely have airports right in their centre ;o)

[smith]

That should be 70miles from A to 120km from B.
Why, exactly?

Because, if you hadn't noticed, Ryanair fly into airports miles away from the city destination eg Frankfurt Hahn, Paris Beauvais, Girona Barcelona etc etc etc

It was a joke I made sorry if you didn't get it :ugh:

[OFSO]

I believe from reading local papers that the vast majority of passengers who fly into what Ryanair calls "Girona Barcelona" are NOT heading for "Barcelona" but for the Costa Brava which is far nearer than Barcelona. Now that the majority of FR flights are heading into Barcelona itself, it seems strange that FR has not dropped the second word from the title of our local airport. After all, everyone else calls it "Girona Airport".

Still, all quite theoretical as FR are pulling out of Girona almost completely - they are only waiting for the results of the Spanish national elections on November 20th to see if their ludicruous subsidy will be restored to them, or whether Girona will be privatised and the new owners will find a few billions to hand to MOL to persuade him to return there.

Dream on, Ryanair !

[OFSO]

As of today, 30th October 2011, no FR flights Girona to/from any UK destination despite Ryanair's contract with Catalan Government still having a couple of months to run. MoL proving a point by cutting his own throat.

[A2QFI]

Ryanair are too big to mess with; they usually get their own way and crush people who get in their way. If Girona don't want his business he will give it somewhere else. Something to do with non-ratification of a new 5 year agreement I think.

[OFSO]

Ryanair have now signed an agreement with the Catalan government to fly "at least" three million passengers through Girona per year for the next five years. (As reported in local media today).

Believe that and you'll believe the Pope's a person of the Hebrew Persuasion.

[SPIT]

Hi
I read,/ or was told that Ryanair are going to reserve the First Three Rows of seats FOR PAX WHO PAY EXTRA. My question is what do people who due to a slight infirmity can only use the first two rows of seats and just tp ne bloosy minded aren't the first two rows of seats uaed by the pilots and cabin staff and the pax start to use the third row back in the A/C ?? :mad::mad:

[wowzz]

I don't know where to start in response, but have you ever flown Ryanair?
Why would they need any seats for c/c or pilots - aren't the 'pilots' meant to be at the front of the aircraft using that 'stick' thingy?

[PAXboy]

Eeerr, where did you 'hear' this or were 'told' this? Sounds like a Troll to me. Don't forget that FR already reserve any seat you want by dint of you paying for Priority Boarding and getting on first and choosing your seat. :rolleyes:

By the way, if you search the forum, you will find at least half a dozen threads about this carrier in which to post and not take up space with yet another. Particularly with such hot and accurate information ...

[SPIT]

HI WOWZZ
Does this mean that the Pilots on Ryanair have to STAND UP all the time whilst using the sticky thing and that the CC are UNSECURED during all TO/LANDINGS:confused: and Yes I have NO OPTION but to travel by this airline as they are the ONLY OPERATOR to my destination :mad::mad:

[Torque Tonight]

Spit, your posts are so devoid of fact that I don't know if a sensible answer can redeem them.

The flight deck seating and fwd cabin crew jumpseats are not generally counted as the first few rows of seating and no fee will ever enable pax to reserve those seats.

On some routes 1ABC, 2DEF and the overwing rows can be reserved for a fee in advance. I guess any pax that want or need these seats will have to pay for the reservation or take their chances. Don't ask for my opinion on this arrangement, I'm just trying to inject a bit of fact into the thread.

[wowzz]

TT - thanks for replying to SPIIT -saves me the trouble.
How did he/her manage so many postings with such a level of ignorance?

[TightSlot]

Quite so!

I'm rather enjoying the way that this forum has become self-healing. Happy Days!!!

:)