Ryanair Cancellation - Ciampino Airport 11/11/2008

franwilliams77

Anyone involved in the Ciampino(Rome) Ryanair flight cancellations on the 10th & 11th of November 2008?

Has anyone attempted to contact them for compensation surrounding there flight cancellation? I'm looking for feedback on whether to go through them or the my travel insurer.

richardw

I suspect Ryanair might say "circumstances beyond our control", so it may be your travel insurance.

franwilliams77

They may say that, but the closure of the airport was due to a crash of one of their own planes. The reason apparently is Birdstrike, which is quite common within aviation. Neither airport closure or birdstrike is listed within the extraordinary circumstances in their fine print.

We were told by a Ryanair representitive after queing for 8 hours that we would receive compensation and we should keep all receipts, but whether this is a company wide response is another matter. Interestingly though they did transfer some of the flights to the other Rome Airport, but not ours.

mystic_trev

franwilliams77 wrote: »

They may say that, but the closure of the airport was due to a crash of one of their own planes. The reason apparently is Birdstrike, which is quite common within aviation. Neither airport closure or birdstrike is listed within the extraordinary circumstances in their fine print.

We were told by a Ryanair representitive after queing for 8 hours that we would receive compensation and we should keep all receipts, but whether this is a company wide response is another matter. Interestingly though they did transfer some of the flights to the other Rome Airport, but not ours.

Well if that's not an extrodinary circumstance, I don't know what is. Yes - birdsrikes are common and aircraft engines can ingest them and spit them out without any problems. This was a muliple bird stike and the Pilot lost power on both engines - in fact he did a bloody good job in getting it down the way he did.

That being said, I agree you ought to be copensated for your losses. Wether you will or not, I don't know. However, I wouldn't hold my breath.

dmg24

franwilliams77 wrote: »

They may say that, but the closure of the airport was due to a crash of one of their own planes. The reason apparently is Birdstrike, which is quite common within aviation. Neither airport closure or birdstrike is listed within the extraordinary circumstances in their fine print.

We were told by a Ryanair representitive after queing for 8 hours that we would receive compensation and we should keep all receipts, but whether this is a company wide response is another matter. Interestingly though they did transfer some of the flights to the other Rome Airport, but not ours.

Would you still be asking for compensation if people had been killed?

Maybe Ryanair planted the birds there just to get out of flying you home?

stoneman

dmg24 wrote: »

Would you still be asking for compensation if people had been killed?

Maybe Ryanair planted the birds there just to get out of flying you home?

Oh for goodness sake, you can't resist can you. We all know full well you wouldn't have bothered replying if the word Ryanair wasn't involved.:rolleyes:

hansoff

dmg24 wrote: »

Would you still be asking for compensation if people had been killed?

Maybe Ryanair planted the birds there just to get out of flying you home?

Can anyone explain the point of this post? Realistic answers only please.

fifeken

I was due to fly from Ciampino on the 11th at 8:35pm - the birdstrike was on Monday 10th but the airport never opened until approx 7.00pm on the 11th. I haven't made any attempts for compensation yet but have been thinking abuout it. My argument for it is that my inbound flight on the 11th was diverted to Fiumicino but was not used to fly back where it was scheduled to. There was apparently a more lucrative route that they could fill the plane with and then fill a plane to Prestwick on the Thursday with the displaced passengers from my flight adding to the ones already booked on the Thursday one. IMO this means Ryanair cancelled it for their own reasons, not because of the incident at Ciampino. Thoughts anyone?

franwilliams77

dmg24 wrote: »

Would you still be asking for compensation if people had been killed?

Maybe Ryanair planted the birds there just to get out of flying you home?

Yes i would still ask for compensation if people had died or not, because a RyanAir representitive told me i was entitled to it at the airport. But either way your missing the point, RyanAir mishandled the situation. They left stranded 2000+ passengers, failed to provide adequate information and broke points stated within their passenger charter. For myself, it was just a uncomfortable 8 hour wait, but for the young families and elderly people i suspect it was more of an ordeal. RyanAir would of had a fair idea the day before that the airport was unlikely to open, but still deemed it appropriate to have 2 information clerks catering for all those passengers.

franwilliams77

fifeken wrote: »

I was due to fly from Ciampino on the 11th at 8:35pm - the birdstrike was on Monday 10th but the airport never opened until approx 7.00pm on the 11th. I haven't made any attempts for compensation yet but have been thinking abuout it. My argument for it is that my inbound flight on the 11th was diverted to Fiumicino but was not used to fly back where it was scheduled to. There was apparently a more lucrative route that they could fill the plane with and then fill a plane to Prestwick on the Thursday with the displaced passengers from my flight adding to the ones already booked on the Thursday one. IMO this means Ryanair cancelled it for their own reasons, not because of the incident at Ciampino. Thoughts anyone?

I can agree to that, from what i could figure out, 6-8 outbound flights were transferred to Fiumicino and the transfers didn't appear to be in departure time order, which supports your theory. Where you given any information about compensation or RyanAir arrange hotels for passengers, there appear to be a different tale coming from every passenger i spoke to.

franwilliams77

"Ryanair sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused to customers by these flights cancellations," she said, and advised passengers to examine their travel insurance policy in order to claim compensation. - RyanAir Spokeswoman http://www.4ie.ie/irish_news.asp?id=85500