I'm sorry, was this total fiasco taking place in the UK? Surely not :E

I haven't laughed so much (but not at the poor pax I should add).

If you sign a contract with a ground handling company, then you should also take responsibility for their failings.

Ryanair using Swissport, eh? Now there's a marriage made in hell :ugh:

This was February 14th, when things in the UK were diverting all over the UK. STN took a lot of diversions due to the winds at LHR and LGW. I'm not sure how many, but I know BHX was full, MAN was only taking emergencies and flights were diverting as far North as NCL and Irish flights returning back to DUB.
I would pretty much say that in defence of the handling agent, they were dealing with the many aircraft and hundreds if not thousands of passengers trying to get back to LHR and LGW.
It would only take 1 person to offload an aircraft back into the terminal so something doesn't add up for the length they were kept on the aircraft. Pressure from FR to still depart maybe?
I would expect the inbound aircraft needed to fuel up in BHX due to delays in getting into STN, then needed fuelling for its trip to OPO.
What I don't understand is with the weather as it was, all the diversions and delays, that there was no-one from the Airport Authority, only the police available and the Airport was closed??
I know that Airlines will try and get out of compensation and refreshments when it's down to weather but Ryanair should have stepped up here.

Cabin Crew at least one was on board at the front. Looks like he stuck with it and the Pilots had long gone....

???

The flight was due to depart Stansted to OPO when this situation took place, so the Flight Crew are up front!

According to Stansted's Website, they are open 24/7!

I can't imagine any pilot leaving the a/c in a situation like that, unless it was to resolve the situation. According to RYR, the captain in the end also requested police help, after he couldn't get hold of swissport (in addition to the 50 passengers who called the police)

Apart from which, it would have been fairly difficult for the pilots to exit the aircraft unobserved by the passengers.

Unless they opened the DV window and got the rope out. :O

I guess that RYR pays Swissport peanuts and in return they get the treatment of monkeys?

This trade is definitely turning to hell!

So if up front why not authorise giving out some food, do a PA, go out and speak to the pax with the Cabin Crew, go out and support the Police Officer. Surely the punter with the camera captured the Pilots saying something.....Being a Commander means just that

Where is the Pablo Mason of Ryanair!!!!:\:\:\:\:\

Apparently the mere mention of the word Ryanair on this forum generates more heat than the unmentionable aircraft with all its toilets on fire.

I don't think "this trade is going to hell". I've never flown with RYR and if I can avoid it I won't, but not all hope is lost. RYR recently introduced premium seats with extra leg room (exit rows I assume), priority boarding (for those worried about overhead bin space), and allocated seats for all others as well. Apparently they even allow a second small cabin bag for free (!) now. Maybe they gleaned a little bit from NAS?

Low-cost airlines fundamentally changed the business model, it's still relatively new, and they're still tweaking it. Maybe they can learn and improve. I'll give them the benefit of doubt, as long as their safety record is excellent, and their crews are acting professionally.

@sober lark: I'll fly with the unmentionable airline any day, and help extinguish fires in the lavatories if needed, their approach to customer service is very different from RYR. You're comparing apples to oranges.

This reflects extremely badly on Swissport and FR. Everybody knew at least 12 hours in advance that these winds were coming and how intense they would be. Did Swissport not call in every available staff member on overtime? Did FR not predict there were going to be passengers left in airports overnight and have staff on site to facilitate them?

DavidReid UK, sorry, I watched the video a couple of days ago & skipped through it quickly before posting a response, I had it @rse about face & thought it was Booormeenghaam. :ugh:


Given it was STN, well, given that this is THE airport where jumpseating crew can neither pass through pax security (no boarding pass. . .) nor the staff channel (sorry mate you are not on the voyage report ) & cannot attend company training in the crew room as they are not "reporting to work" . . .well, that may be a "historical" gripe, but certainly 5 years ago the place was a total NIGHTMARE , I have difficulty to believe it has become any better.

No doubt this thread will soon be transferred to Jet Blast or somewhere else but, while it's up here and from what one can glean from the clip, what a disgrace for Ryanair and for the airport management. Ok, many flights were being disrupted by weather but, as another poster has mentioned, this was not unexpected. The peanuts and monkeys analogy, maybe ok also, but what an abysmal lack of basic human empathy on the part of the companies - and their employees - who depend directly on the revenue from passengers, regardless of how that revenue eventually reaches them.

Hats off to the police for their efforts.

One has to wonder what might happen to a Ryanair flight deck crew's career paths if they decided enough was enough, took the initiative to take the passengers off the aircraft and get them watered and fed.

Feel sorry for the pax having to go through all that but another angle is also the cabin crew in this situation knowing they don´t even get paid unless the aircraft gets airborne eventually unless you are full time staff which very few are. Same goes for to the cockpit by the way.

I have been in this position and then I let my passengers off - after they were fed and watered (included in their ticket price). Obviously I was told by jobsworth muppet that I was not allowed to do so. But people like this live to be ignored. As a crew we did our own handling (as there was no one else) but desperate times called for desperate measures.

But, ignoring common sense, can anyone tell me the real legal position? Can people be held an aircraft against their will? Can an airport make people stay on an aircraft? If someone insists on getting off (before the take-off roll), can you legally keep them on board?

The US recently introduced specific regulations:

"The new rule prohibits U.S. airlines operating domestic flights from permitting an aircraft to remain on the tarmac for more than three hours without deplaning passengers, with exceptions allowed only for safety or security or if air traffic control advises the pilot in command that returning to the terminal would disrupt airport operations. U.S. carriers operating international flights departing from or arriving in the United States must specify, in advance, their own time limits for deplaning passengers, with the same exceptions applicable."

New DOT Consumer Rule Limits Airline Tarmac Delays, Provides Other Passenger Protections | Department of Transportation

I'm not aware of such limits in any other countries yet, they may exist, or more likely not. As long as everybody uses common sense, they won't be needed, but if there are too many incidents where pax are held on board for too long only because management pressures crews to keep trying to depart, doors closed, despite little chance of success due to difficult circumstances, hoping to cut costs, they could well be introduced.

I have worked in ops for a crappy LCC and I can tell you that they can get things done if they want to. You just have to pay call out fees. If you want your handling agent to stay around longer that what is contractual or if there is an emergency, they will charge you. We had a phone list of all the airport managers and ground handling managers. If we wanted something to happen we could make it happen. This is just pure indifference from RYR in regards to passenger well being. As far as RYR was concerned they could stay on the plane until morning when the airport opened again. Don't have to pay call out fee's then.

BTW I thought STN was a 24 hour airport as someone mentioned? Or is it only 24 hours if you pay extra??

Why anybody flies with Ryanair I have no idea. You get what you deserve and that arrogant Irish p*ick gets richer and richer and more arrogant with every similar incident.
He is beginning to lose money so well done to all who have transferred to Easy or similar. Freeze him out - we don't need this kind of nonsense.
If you fly with them - more fool you. (BTW I know Easy aren't perfect but they at least 'appear' to care).