Ryanair grrr

neil9313

caroline1973lefty wrote: »

Hi there can anyone advise me of my rights? I was booked on Ryanair (i know, i know) to fly back from Lanzarote on Tuesday. Due to strong winds all flights were delayed by several hours, so we sat in the airport for hours, contintually being told that we'd be allowed to board in an hour, then another hour, etc. After about 5 hours, most airlines started flying. But Ryanair then cancelled all its flights.

In the chaos caused by zero customer service, the queue was enourmous (3 planes full), and there was no-one around to answer questions. It was clear to me that Ryanair didn't give a toss about helping us get out and we might be stuck there for days, so we booked a charter home two days later. So this cost us 90 euros plus an additional two nights accomodation and food, plus all the food in the airport etc.

Apart from the refund of a flight ticket, is there anything else we'd be entitled to? I realise Ryanair can't control the weather, but the fact that all other airlines managed to fly and they didn't, makes me think that they just didnt want to pay their staff to hang about, or something, and that this isnt really reasonable behaviour and we ought to be entitled to something?

Obviously I realise this serves me right for flying Ryanair in the first place... won't make that mistake again.

Caroline,

can we have the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

Anything missing from your post?

Heliflyguy

dmg24 wrote: »

The biggest problem with Ryanair is passengers that don't know what they are doing.

So remember to get that degree in travel consumer law before booking Ryanair again, or pick an airline that gives a damm about its stranded customers.

jillie1974

ryanair crew may have run out of flying time??

PandorasJar

There are only three airlines that I will never fly with again, RyanAir is top of that list. In future, I hugely recommend EasyJet. True it's not in the same league as Virgin (god I love that airline!) But in terms of return on your price, they are very good.
Yes they have their flaws too, but for two airlines which aren't much comparison in price, there is a massive difference in customer service etc.

Tembele:

Was it his choice to not put his full name? Or was it a booking mistake? My mum and her friends all flew on wrongly named passes a couple of weeks ago, as the data had been incorrectly entered by the airline and it was sorted out at the airport. However they had notified them well in advance.
If the airline mucked up, you might get a refund, however I know that with most airlines I've been with, it is your responsibility to check before the day, so even if it is their fault, you're in the wrong.
Also on a ticket, you put your full name, the one on your passport, whether it's one you like or not.

A passenger name can be changed online at the rate of £100/€100 or via the airport or reservation centre at the rate of £150/€150. Name changes can be made up to 4 hours prior to the scheduled flight departure time either online or via a reservation centre (subject to opening hours). Any name change made to a flight reservation must be for that individual passenger's complete flight itinerary.

If the ticket wasn't in his name I don't see the fault lying with them. Personally I wouldn't have let him fly either, because sods law says that it's the one time you'll be caught out not doing your job properly. It's not worth it for them

I hope that didn't come across too harsh, but the fact is, a large airline won't care about screwing a few customers over, that's why you have to be whiter than white on everything, so no fault can possibly lie with you. Hope you can sort some money back from them though.

Caroline:

You should be entitled to the cost of accommodation and travel incurred by the delay from your insurance. This would have either been purchased in addition to the ticket or as part of paying on a credit card. However if not, then it is purely a battle against RyanAir... If they put on an additional flight and you took them up on it, they would have had to pay for things incurred by the delay. But if you have changed flight, and it was your decision to do so, I can only see them refunding your RyanAir return ticket cost... as a goodwill gesture, most would do more, unfortunately you pay for what you get with RyanAir.
Hope you get somewhere on it, it's a frustrating situation.

You also have to understand that the cancellation could have been for a number of reasons. All delays have a knock on effect. Staff need rest time (legally), flights need to be approved to take off and land, if flights on schedule are coming in, they (except in extreme circumstances) have priority etc... I do understand the frustration of not knowing though, I was stuck in a two day delay last year with it being announced in hour intervals! The not knowing what was happening was worse than the delay itself!

P

voiceofreason

You know, people incorrectly capitalising the "A" I find almost as annoying as O'Leary's cattle-line itself.....

PandorasJar

voiceofreason wrote: »

You know, people incorrectly capitalising the "A" I find almost as annoying as O'Leary's cattle-line itself.....

The site itself does it They have a booking link under RyanAir.

I do it because I don't like the look of it run into one. One run in word that looks like it needs to be changed annoys me far more in my own post, than misspelling it!

P

Zapp_from_Planet_Zogg

I presume the OP was provided with a passenger notice pursuant to Article 14.1 and 14.2 of EU Regulation 261/2004 when the flight was cancelled?

This should have been provided to all affected passengers by the Ryanair handling agent and explains passenger rights in the event of cancellation or delay.

As for the suggestion that the crew were 'out of hours', this is quite possible as Ryanair crews do fly very hard schedules. However, the flight crew running out of time is not the passengers problem and the airline still has a duty to offer care and assistance under Regulation 261/2004 and the Montreal Convention.

The OP should have been offered either a full refund or rebooking, free of charge, on the next available flight (or any other flight chosen by the passenger, subject to availability). The OP is also entitled to be reinbursed for reasonable expenses to cover accommodation, travel expenses and meals. I don't think that the airline needs to reimburse the alternative flight, so long as they refund the original ticket.

Regulation 261/2004 does also provide a mechanism for compensation (at fixed rates), although the airlines seem rather adept at avoiding paying this and, in the OP's circumstances, it is probable that the airline may be excused on the grounds of 'extraordinary circumstances'.