Ryanair Overheats Passengers At Eindhoven Airport

[maxred]

This is not whining nor bleating. It is about how passengers, paying passengers, are in general treated. Not well, in general. Two years ago, flight from Torp, I was a passenger. Young kid in front of me, bursting for a pee. Just about to get up, Flight deck sticks on fasten seat belt signs. Kid told to return to seat. Slight rumble, lasted about 3 minutes. Signs stay on. 25 minutes later, signs still on, kid now in tears.

It had been flat calm for the past 20 mins. I stick on cc call button. She came up, said that kid could not go until sign goes out. I ask her to call flight deck, and release sign, if possible. Cant do that she says. Kid wets himself, all hell breaks loose.

I was angry, there had been no need. Stayed back, spoke to flight crew. Forgot to put it back on states f.o. I just looked at him. Nuff said.

Problem is, there are a lot of these "incidents", it would appear. And yes, it may happen on other carriers.

[Sunnyjohn]

Config:

How very, very, very sad! Whining, moaning, slating, venting and bashing - about what... Not a lot really! The end result is NOTHING!

First -bye bye - see you in 2015.
Second - I fly Ryanair regularly and I have no complaints. But I do wish to know exactly what happened here and the only way we are going to find out is to post here on Pprune until we do so find out.

[Config]

No problem with that, but this is a 'Rumour Network'. You're looking in the wrong place!

[737-NG]

Having flown Ryanair a couple times I can tell you that it s common practice to overheat the cabin anyway. Probably like some nightclubs do, they hope to make you sweat and have you buy their expensive refreshments.

[antonov09]

Originally Posted by 737-NG

Having flown Ryanair a couple times I can tell you that it s common practice to overheat the cabin anyway. Probably like some nightclubs do, they hope to make you sweat and have you buy their expensive refreshments.

Absolute bull**** post.

[Depone]

737-NG

What a ridiculous thing to say. Go back to Flightsim.

I can assure you that there is no such policy at Ryanair and the thought wouldn't occur to flightcrews. In fact, most requests from the cabin crew while in flight are for the temperature to be raised even if the cockpit temp gauges show sensible readings.

Maxred

You had a bad experience and the cabin crew on that flight acted contrary to common sense and policy by not asking the flightdeck to turn off the belts. If we forget to turn off the seatbelts after a period of actual or expected turbulence we usually get a reminder ding from the cabin crew.

[1stspotter]

Someone who flew as passenger on the Ryanair plane coming from Mallorca to EIN reports on the Eindhovens Dagblad forum that the ground CPU of the aircraft was unserviceable for some time. They were seated in the very same plane for 1,5 hours without airco and no drinks handed out by the crew.

taken from Passagiers vliegtuig Ryanair oververhit - Airport - Specials - ED
translated by Google:

It is true that it was ridiculously hot in the plane. Me and my girlfriend were in the previous flight on the way to Eindhoven in the same plane. We have over 1.5 hours stopped at Palma without air conditioning. This was not acceptable because the temperature was very high. What a faulty air conditioner has to do with a low cost carrier I understand totally not as an argument. You may assume that this simply is present, especially on a scheduled flight towards Mallorca. Additionally stewardesses gave the same as in the film acknowledges that the "ground CPU" for some time dt is defective and a known problem. at least they would be able to distribute water or other cooling or just passengers in a conditioned room waiting. This was in addition incredibly uncomfortable simply an attack on the health of the passengers. Think of the young children, the elderly etc. That people here then respond with the argument "yes, you get a low cist carrier", I therefore complete idiot! May I therefore expect that a wing just falling off? Or just that this aircraft, as in the KLM if the carrier therefore be maintained.

[captplaystation]

APU's do go U/S, it is not a no-go item. For the crew it IS a major pain in the hole, as it invoves them (too) sitting in a sweaty metal box, additionaly, they are at the mercy of handling agencies who may (or not) provide Ground Electrical Power/ Air Start Unit/ Ground Conditioned Air, in a timely fashion.

A bit like the Barcelona " Road Traffic Accident", I wonder if the CC really communicated the "concerns" to the FlightDeck Crew fully & promptly. For sure, with a modicum of imagination they could have anticipated them, but. . . .with minimal outside assistance from Ops/Handling they are sometimes focussed on something else (like trying to negotiate a new slot or whatever)

Ryanairs policy as regards CC recruitment is VERY simple " can/will you pay for the course/uniform ? OK you are in" IQ/Language skills/Basic communication skills . . are an Add on.
To this I add my apologies to the greater percentage of RYR CC who do a great job of presenting a fairly cheerful public face whilst working for an employer who treats them like absolute SHAT. . . . I fly 3 X a month with you folks, & I do recognise the sh1t you have to deal with on a daily basis from p1ssed off customers AND your employers. . "respect"

[Adhemar]

Darwin

Seems to me that the “Darwinian selection process” (sic) has been very mild to some of the contributors on this thread. But then again, “Darwin’s theory of evalution” (sic) has some well known flaws.

[CafeClub]

Youse gets wot youse paze

If I want a new car and wander on down to the Great Wall Motor Company (for eg), and lay down my money on their offering I would *not* expect it to be identical in every way to the offerings made by Audi or BMW or...

After forking out much more for one of the latter products, I would expect that if the aircon broke down not only would it be fixed NOW but I would be given a replacement car. I would also be hugely irritated - and rightly so - that such a top-end car was so immediately defective.

However, if the a/c collapsed on the Great Wall, while I would also expect to get it fixed, I wouldn't be as surprised nor as disappointed. After all, I paid much, much less for the vehicle, the cost has to be made up somewhere.

While I can also pick holes in my own analogy, the purpose using it here is that to illustrate the hypocrisy of the travelling public in general.

In almost every other aspect of their consumer lives people happily accept that spending less, (as a general rule) buys less. Fast-food, cars, hotels, clothing, PCs, phones... but when it comes to air travel, somehow that acceptance goes out the APU.

Leaving aside those that have no choice due to carrier availability etc., it astonishes me that people fly LCCs and then expect equivalent service (with all attendant benefits and level of treatment) to that of a full-cost airline.

Sure, being stuck in a cabin for that long with no a/c sucks, but hey, it ain't a Rolls, and you sure didn't pay for Rolls Royce service. While it seems reliable, reasonably efficient and doesn't seem to be falling out of the sky on a daily basis, you have to accept that the price of reduced fares is that stuff-ups like this will occur occasionally.

The risk of it happening is just the other side of the cheap air fare coin. So spend more on a more expensive airline where - if it does happen - you are much more likely to be able to vent spleen and have someone listen to you.

This is no dig at RYR, just as it isn't a dig at Great Wall Motors. Both are what they are - cheap, mass-produced, mass-marketed products that hope to undercut expensive competition. That cheapness comes at a cost somewhere. Live with it, or pay more.

[CafeClub]

Adhemar -

The problem is that for the past several dozen years, well meaning but misguided people have been trying to outdo themselves with legislation, regulation and rules that hope to negate the predictions of Darwin's evalution [sic] theory.

[jackharr]

"Opting out of insurance is easy - select "No insurance required" in the first drop-down menu and confirm your decision to opt out on the next page. Done, no charge"

After some 20 minutes of trying various combinations, still no drop down box. It probably was there but Ryanair sure made it difficult to find in the hope that I would give up. I did.

But it begs the question: "Why have to take positive action to opt out of something?" It should be positive action to opt in. Well that's easy to answer - Ryanair are more likely to rip off the punter this way.I wonder if Ryanair actually read threads like this? A few tweaks to their operating methods and they might win over a lot more passengers. If Ryanair listened, many of us would wish them well. But at the moment........

[WHBM]

Originally Posted by CafeClub

Leaving aside those that have no choice due to carrier availability etc., it astonishes me that people fly LCCs and then expect equivalent service (with all attendant benefits and level of treatment) to that of a full-cost airline.

Where does this nonsense come from that everyone on Ryanair has paid very little. I've taken a number of sectors with them, as others here doubtless have, where the fare was just what you would expect from a mainstream carrier. How else do you think they have accumulated such cash reserves in their financial accounts ?

So if I have paid £200 for Bristol to Dublin, one way, am I entitled to air-conditioning on the ground at Bristol, or not ?

[Tableview]

But it begs the question: "Why have to take positive action to opt out of something?" It should be positive action to opt in.

I read recently that under EU law, this is to be changed so that opting-out will be the norm. No doubt though it will be another badly mandated and loosely applied piece of legislation that the operators will find a way of flouting and the reality for the cusotmers will remain unchanged.

[sitigeltfel]

Originally Posted by maxred

Problem is, there are a lot of these "incidents", it would appear. And yes, it may happen on other carriers.

I fly RYR regularly, and have never had any issues. Some CC can be a bit surly, but they do not have a monopoly on them. There have been a few weather diverts, but the buses were always waiting to get us there.

The worst ever treatment I had was when returning to LHR from Mauritius a few years ago with Virgin Upper Class. The car arranged by our agents, Carrier, was late and we knew we would miss the check-in time by a few minutes. I called the Carrier rep at the airport and he spoke to Virgin staff who confirmned it would not be a problem as there was a 45min delay anyway. We got to the desk 9mins late and were told we could not check-in as we were "late". No amount of remonstrating with Virgin staff by the Carrier rep did any good and the aircraft subsequently left 1h 10mins late without us. He later told us that someone had overridden the gate staffs promise, having seen the chance to sell on two Upper Class Tickets to standby pax at a very high price.
Carrier were very good about it and put us up in a top hotel suite until the next available flight a few days later. The Virgin CC on the later flight were horrified when we told them, but our letter to Virgin about the treatment went unanswered.
So, the moral is; no matter how much you pay, they can still **** on you.

[jackharr]

Tabelview:

I read recently that under EU law, this is to be changed so that opting-in will be the norm

If that is so, then it would require deliberate, positive action to opt out of something that is offered. Failure to opt out will incur costs/ hassle/ etc. Are you sure that the EU law isn't the other way round?

But it happens all the time: "Please tick the box if you don't want to receive special offers from us and associated organisations". That sort of thing really p*sses me off. If I miss the tick - and who can say that they never miss a box on an online form? - I get inundated with spam from associated organisations. "This offer is specially for you Mr.Harrison".

Didn't they say years ago that computers would make our lives easier? Sure, computers have enabled us to do things we couldn't do before (such as see weather satellite images), but made life easier....?

[Tableview]

Sorry, my previous posting at 0822 was the wrong way round and has now been corrected.

I meant I read recently that under EU law, this is to be changed so that opting-out will be the norm, but although I knew what I meant, I said it the other way round.

(Note to self : don't post until first cup of tea is inside body!)

[Depone]

After being stung by Ryanair five years ago when we forgot to print out boarding cards, I thoroughly check and uncheck boxes when buying Ryanair tickets. It he vast majority of case, Ryanair either provide a route that no other Airline flies or their flights are cheaper. You don't have to fly with them if you don't want to accept the terms and conditions.

All this talk about 'you pay low cost fares, you get a second rate service' is also tiresome and partially nonsensical. When you pay low fares you receive a no frills service, but it is not a bad A to B service if you can raise your expectations from the heady days of expensive, govenment subsidised and exclusive Airline travel of yesteryear to the simple bus service provided by modern short haul operations.

The comments that you shouldnt be surprised about APUs being u/s on low cost operators because it's a second rate service rankles with me. For years Ryanair have had the most modern and well-service fleet in Europe. That's what enabled them to make such a healthy profit. Technical faults with the aircraft were rare and were fixed very quickly.

However the Ryanair management's treatment of passengers is now rivalled by its disdain for its staff, such that many experienced pilots and engineers have left. Added to this, the remaining engineers are working to rule, with the result that many aircraft are now flying around with technical faults (such as broken APUs) for longer than used to be the case. It's not an immediate safety concern but it will lead to more and more of these kinds of events.

It's a short-sighted money grabbing management at Ryanair....

[911slf]

Compare and contrast

I was on a Thomas Cook A320 at Kalamata a few years ago when we had a problem starting because:

1 The aircraft APU was inoperable
2 The ground power unit failed because it overheated (temperature was 45C)

The doors were left open and the stairs left in position. The cabin crew stood by the doors. The pilot explained what was happening and apologised for it. He went so far as to invite us to complain to Thomas Cook for dispatching an aircraft with APU already inoperable.

We were advised to keep the blinds down to reduce solar heating of the cabin. Cabin crew offered free water to anyone who wanted it. We were informed that the ground power unit was to have its radiator drained and refilled, preparatory to attempting to restart it. We were advised that if this did not work, because of crew duty time limitations the aircraft would be held until the following day, and if it came to this, Thomas Cook would arrange overnight accommodation.

I know they say you get what you pay for, but Thomas Cook is hardly a premium rate operation.

I would think twice and three times before flying Ryanair. I would ask 'Is my journey really necessary?'.

[Evanelpus]

P.S. I haven't looked at PPRuNe for a few years. I'll check again in 2015. See you all then!

Please hurry back when you've got less time.