Ryanair again (sorry)
I know the previous thread has just been closed but I want to ask those who know about the facts here. Just had my first experience of Ryanair. Now I know it's a Lo-Co, and my fare was very cheap, I'm also aware that because my fare was so low (STN-Palermo - about £85 return) I have no right to expect silver service. But what happened on arrival went too far imho.
Last night paxing PMO-STN landed at 2355Z. Running 45 minutes late so the flight deck did well to get us back before the airport closed which would have meant a diversion to BHX.
On arrival in the baggage hall there was a huge glut of pax waiting for their baggage. Announcements on PA apologised for the delay and said that it was due to a large number of incoming arrivals. All the people waiting as far as I could see were FR pax.
It was just after 0140 before the first bags off the flight came through (I noted the time - 01:45 minutes after landing). The only staff on duty were BAA, who said (understandably) that it was not their responsibility, that it was Ryanair and Swissport we needed to talk to, but that they had all gone home. Rumours of a baggage handling strike were denied by the BAA staff, one chap telling me it's all Ryanair, that they have only three people processing the bags for all the late arriving flights (is this true?), and that this was a nightly occurence (is this true?); not only that but in fact it was better than usual and it's been like this for one year. I find that hard to believe.
I asked about the contract - surely the airline have a duty to get your bags to you within 'a reasonable time'? He said Ryanair have a sneaky way round this which means you have two contracts, on to get you from Airport A to Airport B and the other to get your bags from A to B and then to you (is this true?).
Again, I don't expect much when I fly Ryanair, and until this point I was very happy (apart from having to wait 2 hours to clear check-in and 'security' on the way out which was not the fault of FR). But this is just not on. I missed the last train back, and was very lucky to get a lift to Golders Green from a very very nice El Al employee who I'd only asked for directions to the bus.
What is going on?????? Sort it out Mr O'Leary!