Servisair ? Mishandling of FR3882 at Luton 25th Sept
FR3882 to Malta was caught up in the Swanwick ATC Computer failure on 25th Sept. With passengers queued to board at 1630 for a scheduled 1640 departure, a young lady announced from an adjacent gate a delay of 2 hours and a departure at 1840. That was it, the passengers dispersed, mostly staying in the gate area. At around 1745 an announcement was made seeking passengers board immediately, for what was an 1807 slot. Come 1810 with passengers all apparently boarded, the crew announced 25 passengers were missing. They dribbled on over the next 20 minutes. The slot was lost and we sat for nearly two more hours, and got away around 1950 ish, so sat in the Ryanair B738 for nearly 5 hours through the delay and flight time.
Might I suggest to the handler, Servisair is it, that next time an aircraft is subject to an ATC slot delay, that when you make the announcement, you instruct the passengers to stay in the immediate gate area, in case the slot comes forward ? That is what I expect from a 'professional' handling company. To allow the passengers to dribble back to the main terminal was unprofessional, and stupid, caused the loss of the slot, and a further 2 hour delay, which was nearly a longer delay, and nearly a cancellation. In future please do your job properly with that first announcement, as most handlers I would hope, would know to have done. Take note Ryanair, your handler let you and your Customers down, in a very avoidable manner