Ryanair slammed for profiteering out of Tsunami (merged)

[hobie]

return flights from tsunami disaster

I was under the impression that restrictions and financial Penalties on "change of flights" were thrown out of the window for all passengers who decided to come home early from the tsunami disaster .....

Charging three survivors an extra 1100.00 Euros for 3 Gatwick/Dublin tickets due to a change in flight times is "Not Acceptable"

http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/0102/ryanair.html

MOL needs to "Kick $$$" and get on top of this, first thing Tuesday morning !!!!

I sometimes dispair

[Rocco in Budapest]

Obviously a bit of sympathy and understanding was shown to the family when flying out of the heart of the disaster area, but between London and Dublin????

[Flame]

Not meaning to condone in any way what happened at LGW, but am I not correct in saying that at LGW, Ryanair have no staff at check-in. They are looked after by servisair, so perhaps this incident was generated by Servisair staff..I may be wrong and am open to correction

[Flying Mech]

Lets not forget FR's sole preoccupation is to make money, how and out of who,they dont care and last but not least dont they also beleive that any free publicity no matter how bad is free advertising. I know that wont make sense to most people but then again most of FR's methods of buisness go against the grain anyway.

[Aloue]

Ryanair never apologises

Ryanair never apologises. What any reasonable person would see as a Public Relations disaster is to Ryanair a means of publicity and an opportunity to repeat certain well-known mantras about "low fares" and the special benefits of low cost carriers.

It may be perverse, but they actually think this kind of publicity is good. They want their name spread about and this is a means of doing so. They wear the badge of rudeness, offensiveness and all round bad behaviour with pride. The fuss about this episode is just in the minds of reasonable people and it joins many similar incidents in the past which are long forgotten.

Any airline that has a minimum monthly "excess baggage" target for its checkin staff - come what may - is not going to be deflected by stranded boy scouts, grieving relatives, the disabled and other unworthy passengers who do not appreciate the special benefits of the "Ryanair way" which has done so much to .... you can add your favourite Ryanair mantra of choice here.

Staff, passengers, governments, airport authorities, returning victims of a disaster, whatever... all are unworthy of Ryanair. They should repent and give thanks that they were allowed on the airplane at all.

I should perhaps remove any doubt about my position by declaring that I am not a fan!!

[Flame]

Flying Mech...lets not jump to conclusions too fast, Servisair staff handle all Ryanairs business at LGW, if the decision was taken by FR home base at DUb or from some other Ryanair management...then fine, they are totally wrong.......but if it was made at local level in LGW, the decision was in all probability made by Servisair personnel.

Lets get the facts first then allocate all the blame that is needed

[Aloue]

Flame, there is unlikely to have been a decision by anyone. The terms and conditions of travel with Ryanair are well known. These passengers did not meet them. There are NO exceptions. Ryanair will see it, and present it, as being just that simple. Which, in one sense, it plainly is. The other sense, the one about being proportionate, reasonable and human, is not in their current SOPs. How one might feel about their behaviour is a matter of taste, values, manners, or whatever. These latter items are not part of the Ryanair selection system or, more importantly, the ruling ideology.

[Flame]

Aloue..

Its a wonder that you are not blaming Ryanair on the recent tragedy in Asia as well...can you not see that in this particular incident at LGW, that it was Servisair who were dealing with the unfortunate passengers

[Aloue]

Flame, you don't seem to have fully appreciated what I am saying. The airline sets the policy. The policy is well known. Servisair are a distraction, as is your reference to the tragedy in Asia. We have been here before, on many occasions. We don't need to debate the matter, we just need to wait and see what is said by the airline, if it even says anything. So let's wait and see. I'll be happy to grovel if I am proved incorrect. Let me know.

[Flame]

Aloue

"Flame, you don't seem to have fully appreciated what I am saying"

..Me thinks I do, you have made up your mind who is wrong without knowing the full facts, we all know that relying on Journalists for factual information is not a great idea

Lets see what the outcome is, and it may well be, that it is I who must eat humble pie

[CBA_caption]

It may sound callous, but it matters not who is at fault. Ryanair passengers, who where caught in the Asian Tsunami where not given a free ride home. Suprise, suprise the CEO of Ryanair doesn't care.

This gives anyone with a free voice and an audience the ability to knock the airline. How lucky the CEO is to not have anyone involved/affected by this world disaster.

CBA (getting more irate by the minute)

[maxalt]

Flame, I think Aloue is right...you're missing the point.

If O'Leary 'wimps' this one...what next? Every Granny who forgot her passport will want similiar 'understanding' from that NICE Mr.O'Leary. We know the answer she's received up to now.

It ain't gonna happen.
I'll eat my hat if he gives in.

[VIKING9]

Where does MOL go for his holidays - Asia by any chance ?

[longarm]

Milky,

My point was (and is) that your post would carry more weight if it was readable . As a thread already exists on this issue "Ryanair slammed for profitieering out of tsunami" it would probably also be worthwhile posting in that thread rather than start a new one every time.

[Wizofoz]

.... So Ryanair gets on the phone to Serviceair and says "Don't charge transfer fees to passengers affected by the Tsunami disaster."

Jobs done.

Did they? All the other airlines including LOCOs did, why not Ryan?

[dicksynormous]

Were these people survivors? ie directly affected by the tsunami in that they were injured or had their friends ,relatives or personnal property lost.Or were they just on their way home as a gesture of solidarity having been on holiday in the region but possibly not directly affected. Big difference .

Many people will jump on the and wagon of this disaster (warballs in Private eye for examples of this type of behaviour) and to seperate the wheat from the chaff will be hard.

After all some people remained and continued their holidy and some went on holiday afterwards, so how can someone in LGW or RYR differentiate when the whole concept of such a disater is barely in their understanding.

[BEagle]

Are the people affected able to claim from holiday or personal insurance policies for the costs involved in their unplanned return to Dublin?

[CargoOne]

EUR 1100 to change 3 RYR tickets?
You can buy 3 return tickets LGW-DUB on BA twice cheaper... Something is really wrong there

[Gufo]

Lollolol....

Anyway, as a Volare F/O I think I'm pretty used to Ryan's tricks. Like when they told the world how nice and compassionate they were in trying to save our passengers and our jobs... What they didn't say is we were all supposed to self-sponsor our 737 conversion. Well, gents, I love the "bus"

So, I won't blame anyone for this occurrence, 'cos I'm not fully aware of the facts; but once again, whatever is connected to Ryanair, smells a LOT like bad tasting

Take care out there

[sammypilot]

Cargo One has made a point over something that struck me as wrong with this story, namely the cost of 3 one way tickets Gatwick to Dublin. 1100 euros seems extortionate and as has been pointed out, another airline would have cost less.