Ryanair Cancellation - Ciampino Airport 11/11/2008

fifeken

franwilliams77 wrote: »

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.

I didn't hang about to ask. I had a friend re-book on the Internet for the Thursday flight and got out of the airport as quick as possible.

I did hear some differing stories from a few people. eg 1) On the bus back in to Rome a couple had been at the airport all day and had just been told to sort themselves out. 2) On my flight home on Thursday a couple had been bussed to a hotel (along with several others) and the bus and hotel had been paid for by Ryanair.

For what it's worth, my thoughts are that Ryanair are responsible if they chose to send your plane somewhere else (as they did with me) but I'd like other peoples views/experiences of this. I wasn't much out of pocket but 400 Euros compensation would be nice.

franwilliams77

Letter of Compliant >>>


Cancelled Flight: FR9643 Rome (Ciampino) to Liverpool

I am writing to complain about the way the cancellation of our flight (see above reference) on the 11th November 2008 was handled by Ryanair.

Our Experience
We were originally due to fly back to Liverpool at 10:40am on Tuesday morning and on arriving at the airport at 8.30am, we became aware of the chaos developing at Ciampino airport. It wasn’t until about an hour before the flight was due to depart that we were informed via the information boards that our flight had been cancelled along with countless others that morning. All we were told was that our flight was cancelled, there were no other announcement made by Ryanair or the Airport, as to what we were supposed to do following the flight cancellation.

We then decided to join one of the 2 queues forming within the main departure lounge at Ciampino airport. We joined the queue at 10.40am and along with the thousands of other stranded passengers, we queued until 17:32pm, almost 7 hours, to see the single individual Ryanair representative. During this time period we noticed that a number of UK inbound/outbound flights had been transferred to Rome’s main airport, ours was obviously not one of these.

On speaking to the Ryanair representative, we were informed that the next available flight back to Liverpool from Ciampino was on Sunday (16/11/2008), some 5 days later. As an alternative we were offered a refund on the outward bound flight, which would have ultimately resulted in a costly rebooking on an alternative carrier. After stating that either alternative was unsuitable, we pushed the representative into checking other airports and routes available. This resulted in her booking us onto flight (FR9627) from Pisa Airport on Thursday 13th November 2008.

Having arranged an alternative flight, we then asked the Ryanair representative what would happen now in terms of accommodation, transfer to Pisa airport and various additional expenses incurred by our extended stay. She informed us that Ryanair had arranged for the first night accommodation and transport to the hotel. She then went on to explain that we would have to arrange any additional accommodation for any further nights and would need to keep all receipts for any expenses incurred in order to claim these back through Ryanair’s compensation department. She then informed us that transport (bus) to the hotel for the first evening would wait outside within the bus bays. We subsequently left the original queue and went outside to find the relevant bus.
After finding no clear signs indicating which bus we were to board, we spoke to a couple of members of the airport staff. They appeared to be oblivious to any such bus service or offer for Ryanair customers and advised us to rejoin one of the information desk queues within the main departure lounge. After originally queuing for 7 hours we were extremely reluctant to do this, however joined a second queue to gain further information. After standing in this queue for an additional hour, it became clear that not only was this queue moving at the same pace as the original queue, but also that we were hearing conflicting stories from fellow passengers that no such offer of additional accommodation was in place. We also became aware that the majority of the people within the queue were in fact queuing for a flight change which we had already obtained.

Having queued for almost 8 hours we made the decision that no such offer was in place and fearing being completely abandoned by Ryanair and having to sleep in the airport that night, we decided to go it alone and rebook into our original hotel in central Rome. We then spent the additional days in Rome and travelled up via train to Pisa Airport on Thursday to make our rebooked flight home to Liverpool.

Our Complaints
Please find a summary of our complaints relating to the way Ryanair mishandled the cancellation of our flight:

· Inadequate information given to passengers
After hearing of the cancellation of our flight, Ryanair failed to provide any information as to what their passengers were to do as a result of the cancellation itself. You wilfully neglected the needs of your passengers and caused unnecessary distress.


· Inadequate staffing levels to cope with the situation
Given that the situation which caused the flight cancellations itself happened the day before, you had ample time to provide additional staff members to cope with the level of queries/re-booking you were likely to receive. You failed to provide additional staff, leaving thousands of passengers queuing for up to 10 hours to see the very few representatives available. For the majority of passengers this was an uncomfortable wait sitting or standing on a stone marble floor, for the elderly or people with young families, I suspect this was much more of an ordeal. You also failed to inform passengers of the compensation they were due for such a wait, such as free food and water.


· Inconsistent advice given to passengers
From speaking to fellow passengers within the queues it appears that each passenger was given a different offer to which none rang true. We also feel there was no consistent approach to the information being given out by different Ryanair representatives and certainly weren’t prepared to wait around for any longer to be passed around from pillar to post.

We feel that Ryanair completely mishandled the situation and treated all its passengers with complete disregard. You may well sell yourself as a cheap no-thrills budget airline, but you also have a duty of care to your paying customers, who deserve more than you provided. We also feel you have broken many points within your own customer charter.

As informed by the Ryanair representative, please find enclosed copies of all receipts for the expenses incurred during our unexpected delay.

• Accommodation
  • Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx - €100.00
• Train/Bus/Metro Travel
  • Roma Termini to Pisa Centrale - €34.30
  • Pisa Centrale to Pisa Aeroporto - €2.20
  • Ciampino Airport to Ciampino Train station - €2.40
  • Ciampino Airport to Roma Termini - €2.60

• Food
  • XXXXXXX - 12/11/08 (Lunch) - €13.70
  • XXXXXXX – 12/11/08 (Evening) - €52.00
  • XXXXXXX – 13/11/08 (Lunch) - €5.00
  • XXXXXXX – 13/11/08 (Lunch) - €9.80
  • XXXXXXX – 13/11/08 (Evening) - €21.00

Total: €243

I would hope these monies will be paid back promptly as these were costs incurred as a result of a Ryanair cancellation and beyond our control. We also feel that Ryanair had the option to redirect our departure to Rome’s other airport, which you did for selected fellow passengers, therefore placing the cancellation within your control.

I look forward to a positive response from Ryanair within the next 7 days, as promised within your customer charter.

Yours Sincerely

franwilliams77

We sincerely regret the inconvenience suffered when the flight on the 10th of November 2008 from Rome Ciampino to Liverpool was cancelled due to the runway closure at Ciampino airport. This caused a major disruption to our service and was very frustrating for both passengers and staff.

The decision to cancel a flight is only taken as a last resort and only following a detailed analysis of the situation at hand, taking into account the safety of our passengers and staff.

We note that you chose to rebook onto an alternative flight and we would like to reimburse you for receipted expenses you had. Please find enclosed a cheque for the value GBP 202.04 as final settlement of your claim.

In addition, as your flight was cancelled for reasons outside the control of the airline (extraordinary circumstances), no monetary compensation under Article 7 of EU261/2004 us due.

Yours Sincerely


RESULT - No mention of the appalling customer services, but we got the majority of our money back

fifeken

I got a similar email yesterday as well. I had requested compensation as well as expenses, as mentioned above, but they said no to this and asked me to send receipts to allow them to pay the expenses. I'd already sent them the first time round so they obviously hadn't read my original letter. I think I'll try them again.

franwilliams77

They do take a while to get back to you, but if you can claim some money back, its worth the effort. All in all RyanAir could of done alot more for its passengers and need to work on their awful customer services, but if you are prepared to push it, they are quite accommodating. However, i doubt that the majority of passengers would of even pushed for expenses.

2 Extra' days in Rome wasn't such an ordeal especially when it's paid for; Pisa though, looked a bit of a c**p hole.

gaz141

be prepared for a long fight re compo, if you look at the flightmole website you see a pattern of airlines claiming "extraordinary circumstances" for everything with Ryanair one of the worst. O'Leary campaigned long and hard against the legislation, having lost that fight, he chooses to ignore it

fifeken

gaz141 wrote: »

be prepared for a long fight re compo, if you look at the flightmole website you see a pattern of airlines claiming "extraordinary circumstances" for everything with Ryanair one of the worst. O'Leary campaigned long and hard against the legislation, having lost that fight, he chooses to ignore it

But it's good fun trying!!

fifeken

Just got a second knock back from Ryanair regarding compensation pay out. Next step is the Italian aviation authority. On a side note, I have received payback for their DCC at Ciampino airport.

budgetflyer

Your problem fifeken, is GREED.If you can get your expenses covered fine, but to try and profit from it is akin to ambulance chasing IMO.
Ryanair are a low cost budget carrier you know that when you book.
franswilliams77 refund was justified (and probably) based on what they spent and the appalling customer service they recieved in Rome.
It shows that a well worded, factual (and non dramatic) to the point letter produces a result!


This is the one main thing Ryanair need to improve on. INFORMATION when things go wrong !.
I cant see how they cant just knock up a fact sheet relating to a particular situation (poss 1/2 an hour to produce) and hand it out down a Q . The FAQ and answers relating to a particular situation may reduce the Q by HALF, instead of repeating the same stuff to each party 2000 times.
Surely that would be cost saving for Ryanair also

Alina_uk

Hi Guys...Just opened todays mail to find a £85 cheque from Ryanair as compensation for the delay my brother had in Nov., on Ciampino:) :T Thank you franwilliams 77, did copy& paste some of your ideas:cool: