Ryanair at Pisa

[black diamond]

I am just recovering from the most unpleasant journey home courtesy of Ryanair. I was due to depart from Pisa yesterday{Thursday} at 1115 am to Liverpool. Whilst waiting to clear passport control, we heard that two flights to the Uk one with Easyjet and the other with Thomsonfly had been diverted to Genoa due to fog and that passengers would be transported there by road and pick up their respective flights. Unfortunately this was not the case with Ryanair.They cancelled their two flights to Liverpool and Prestwick. We were then forced to queue for three hours to be told that our alternative flight to Liverpool would be on the following Tuesday{five days later} due to lack of availability. There were also no flights available from any other Italian airport to the Uk for at least another two days. It is difficult to describe the scene at the airport but many people were stressed, in tears, families were struggling and receiving no assistance or priority. My mother was anxious as she did not have enough medication for another five days in Italy and so on. Having worked as cabin crew for eleven years I appreciate that flying programmes can frequently be disrupted due to bad weather, however I strongly object to the poor customer service received. It is not acceptable to be given alternative flights five days later. Low cost should not equate to zero customer service.
Fortunately we opted to wait at the airport for twelve hours for a standby flight to Stansted and got on. A night in Stansted and £90 each later for a train to Manchester and we were home.
This is just a warning-that cheap flight with Ryanair might not work out to be as cheap as you thought if the airline decides to abandon you so as not to disrupt the flying programme.
{The flight was not cheap for many people before everyone starts to tell me you get what you pay for!}
Has anyone else had a similar experience?

[jetstream7]

Black Diamond

Tough

I appreciate that flying programmes can frequently be disrupted due to bad weather, however I strongly object to the poor customer service received. It is not acceptable to be given alternative flights five days later. Low cost should not equate to zero customer service.

If you'd read the T&C when you booked you would know this...

Ryanair does not provide compensation for flights which are delayed or cancelled for reasons beyond Ryanair’s control. You may therefore wish to ensure that you have suitable private insurance cover in force to cover such eventualities.

I can't see what the problem is.

[Wing Commander Fowler]

A charmed response Jetstream - nice of you to be so sympathetic!

Black Diamond - I work for Ryanair and am generally seen to be supportive of them against the multiplicity of "Bashers" out there but do not consider this experience of yours to be acceptable practice either. I am sorry for your plight and whilst the lovely wetdream is correct in the fact that this situation is apparently covered in their terms and conditions, how many of us read them in full? A small percent I should expect! In reality we tend to assume that if they want return business then the content of T's and C's is hopefully going to be "reasonable".
Furthermore - the simple fact here is that Ryanair are inconsistent to say the least with their handling of this type of scenario and it seems to be pot luck as to whether you get forward transit to the diverted aircraft's location. This is an inconsistency they also show in their treatment of employees I might add. Can't justify it nor come to terms with it I'm afraid but it seems to be something we either have to live with or avoid. The choice, as they say, is yours in this instance. I am not in a position to apologise for the company but DO offer my sympathy for your plight. :bored:

[black diamond]

Thank you for your comments Wing Commander. No thanks to jetstream for yours. The problem was that the alternative flight offered was 5 days later than the original one. There were no flights to the UK from Italy for another 3 days. Unlike most people I do read the terms and conditions when booking. I am not looking for compensation. If an alternative flight had been offered later in the day or even the following day, I would have footed the bill for the hotel etc and accepted it. What I DON'T accept is that it's good customer service to leave 400 people stranded in Italy with no way of getting home especially those with young families. I have travel insurance but as the airport handling agents were reluctant to give written proof of the cancelled flight I doubt that the insurance company will want to cough up. I sincerely hope jetstream that this never happens to you or maybe as you think that there is no problem here and that it's just 'tough' as you so kindly put it then maybe it should!

[CARR30]

If an alternative flight had been offered later in the day ...., I would have footed the bill for the hotel etc and accepted it

..but (apart from the "accepting it" bit) isn't that precisely what happened ?

It does sound very shabby though and in the same circumstances I would hope my insurance company would ease the pain a bit.

Perhaps you could let us all know how you get on with your claim.

[Final 3 Greens]

Black Diamond

I am sorry that you had a bad experience, but you chose to fly with an airline who make it very clear about how they will operate if things go wrong.

The same thing happened to me in Spain with easyJet and I had to make my own way home.

So now I do not fly with easyJet, but I don't bleat about poor customer service, because thats the deal wth a loco (even if you paid a lot of money.)

You chose to fly Ryanair and the law says Caveat Emptor and you didn't.

I don't agree with the tone of Jetream's post, but he calls it right.

[black diamond]

Thank you for your replies. I was aware that Ryanair do not pay compensation or cover the cost of hotels etc but I didn't expect to be ditched in Italy with an alternative flight home 5 days later.As I mentioned I worked as cabin crew for 11 years travelling worldwide often positioning with other airlines and have never experienced such a situation so I didn't believe that this kind of thing happened. We were lucky in that we waited 12 hours at the airport on the off chance that we could get on the flight to Stansted standby which we did by the skin of our teeth. The other 398 pax weren't so lucky.

[CARR30]

Any news from your insurance company Black Diamond?