ryanair - diabolical. I demand compensation

jamescredmond

Yesterday I returned from Ireland, travelling with ryanair from cork to gatwick.
A techie problem was identified with the aircraft before take-off. An engineer was called for. He didn't have a spare part. 26 people were asked to volunteer to leave the aircraft and take a later flight. Eventually 26 people agreed. luggage was removed from the hold and the remaining passengers were asked to leave the aircraft to 'identify their luggage'. back on board, a further delay was announced. re-fuelling. then a further announcement - the flight would call at stansted first, to collect the missing spare part, before continuing to gatwick. we eventuall left 2 hours and 30 minutes late, arriving at gatwick 3 1/2 hrs late. getting info from cabin crew was like pulling teeth and a request for water to be issued - temperature 23c - was refused unless we wished to purchase.

I had read about ryanair's poor level of customer service but was prepared to put it down to people over-stating their case or press exaggeration. I am now in disbelief at just awful ryanair is and determined to seek redress.
so here's the money saving question: before I blast away with letters of complaint am I entitled to compensation, and if so, at what level?
any advice most gratefully received. If I could force ryanair to cough up just a tenner it put one over this shoddy, avaricious little outfit.

jonesMUFCforever

I would never go on a budget plane without my own resources ie water, snacks and say a sandwich.

mclaren_2

you cant blame them for having a tech fault - if they let you fly and it crashed..... and as for fueling - not their fault again as they dont fuel themself, its the refulers who do it

write to customer services but you will only get an appoligy and possibly a voucher for another flight - pay for what you get i spose

YorkshireBoy

jamescredmond wrote:

...am I entitled to compensation, and if so, at what level?
any advice most gratefully received.

Do you want 'opinion' or 'factual' advice?

Opinion
I'd rather get to my destination in one piece, and wouldn't mind a little inconvenience in achieving this. On the subject of refreshments, I would be prepared to purchase refreshments on the plane if I hadn't had the foresight to take them on board with me. I wouldn't waste my time writing to them.

Fact
What do the Ryanair T&C's of your booking state?

Jem8472

To be brutally honest about it. As well as this compensation culture being one of my big big hates.

Thats life, get over it!

dmg24

Under the EU Directive, you may have been provided with food and refreshments in relation to waiting time. However, these provisions are excluded if the delay is caused by exceptional circumstances.

Exceptional circumstances is not defined but has been found to include safety issues, so your situation is likely to come under this, as it would be make it unsafe to fly without the delay.

Even if the situation was not found to be exceptional circumstances, the most you would have been entitled to was the food and refreshments, and two phone calls.

My guess is the most you would get is a letter of apology.

burbs_2

Firstly Michael O'Leary (the boss of Ryanair) is well known for his attitude within business. He will not back down and give in, he has been on Watchdog before and even then didnt faulter. He beleives that you get what you pay for, want to be treated like a king pay a kings ransom. However you still do not deserve to be treated badly.

In this case, there was a fault with the plane, which they were working to fix as quickly as possible. The time the plane isnt flying is money down the drain for Ryanair so they will work as quickly as possible. The time taken to refuel was time well spent in my opinion, nowhere worse to run out of petrol than at 30,000 feet!!!

I think the compensation culture nowadays gets a bit silly. Delays happen and although they are annoying thats life. By all means send them a letter giving them what for but the max you will get is the standard sorry letter and a possible 5% off next flight voucher or something like that. Im sure you wouldnt use the voucher anyway. Worth a try though.

Barcode

If you are flying on an airline that clearly states you must purchase your own refreshments and that no compensation is provided, then you must deal with the consequences.

I don't understand how the customer service was poor. You were informed of the reasons for the delay. Airlines have a check-list they must run through before take-off. It is common for minor things not to be working; but if the airline felt they needed to divert to Stanstead (I am guessing they have the appropriate maintenance facilities there) then it was obviously something that may have became an issue later on. Better to put safety first.

Yes it was inconvenient, and yes, a glass of water would have been nice; but the bottomline is that you knew (or should) what you were paying for. It is for these kinds of reasons that I book almost all of my flights with scheduled carriers.

cheerfulcat

jamescredmond wrote:

I had read about ryanair's poor level of customer service but was prepared to put it down to people over-stating their case or press exaggeration.

Why? Why would so many people complain if the airline weren't rubbish? They've even set up anti-Ryanair websites, for Heaven's sake!

You may find some help here. And you can read other people's horror stories; Ryanair have made a habit of this sort of thing.

jamescredmond

dmg24 wrote:

Under the EU Directive, you may have been provided with food and refreshments in relation to waiting time. However, these provisions are excluded if the delay is caused by exceptional circumstances.

Exceptional circumstances is not defined but has been found to include safety issues, so your situation is likely to come under this, as it would be make it unsafe to fly without the delay.

Even if the situation was not found to be exceptional circumstances, the most you would have been entitled to was the food and refreshments, and two phone calls.

My guess is the most you would get is a letter of apology.

Which eu directive?

jamescredmond

Jem8472 wrote:

To be brutally honest about it. As well as this compensation culture being one of my big big hates.

Thats life, get over it!

do you work for ryanair and is it a great company to work for?
a compensatory tenner from ryanair I would gladly give to charity. Ryanair is ripping it's customers off - take a look at the site recommended by another post. to be 'brutally honest' people who dismiss concerns like mine and hundreds of others (judging by the site) by saying 'that's life' are among my 'big big hates'.