NOW OPEN: the MSE Forum 'Ask An Expert' event. This time we'd like your questions on TRAVEL & HOLIDAY DEALS. Post by Wed and deals expert MSE Oli will answer as many as he can.

Lightning strike at Stansted airport- compensation?

245

Replies

  • peachypricepeachyprice Forumite
    22.3K Posts
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Forumite
    peterbaker wrote: »
    Do they use their booked taxi to go to Stansted, or?

    Unless advised by their airline if they don't turn up for their flight they will not be able to claim compensation or make an insurance claim.

    I'm surprise you didn't know that.
    Accept your past without regret, handle your present with confidence and face your future without fear
  • edited 27 May 2018 at 8:13PM
    hollydayshollydays Forumite
    19.8K Posts
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 27 May 2018 at 8:13PM
    It's not Ryanair's habit to be useful to the customer at times that may involve monetary loss to,them.
    But it's something we already knew about Ryanair.
  • edited 27 May 2018 at 9:03PM
    peterbakerpeterbaker
    3.1K Posts
    edited 27 May 2018 at 9:03PM
    Unless advised by their airline if they don't turn up for their flight they will not be able to claim compensation or make an insurance claim.

    I'm surprise you didn't know that.
    Are you imparting useful knowledge, or relaying part of something you think you once understood? Either way, the airline left it very late to notify they had cancelled and so they have stranded pax both on their hands. and in their face so to speak. Thank you for your concern, and if you could compare and contrast the separate issues of travel insurance claims and EU261 care in your next contribution, I am sure some might find it useful.
    ...something we already knew about Ryanair
    Yes but that is why we legislated against what we already knew so it should have stopped, should it not?

    I have just seen a pic of what is currently happening inside the terminal ... and am just told the queue runs from Ryanair all the way down to Burger King and part way back. Still it seems just one member of staff on the desk, plus what looks like two armed policemen with machine guns to keep the customers in good commercial order.
  • resilieresilie Forumite
    179 Posts
    well fml - rebooked this morning on an evening flight...which was also cancelled with 1h notice...have been waiting for someone to pick up at the call centre for 1 hour now too...did 210 miles to and from the airport today and spent 15 quid on parking...surely there must be some sort of compensation for this?
  • loskieloskie Forumite
    1.8K Posts
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts
    it's called insurance
  • loskie wrote: »
    it's called insurance
    What is called insurance? Pray tell us how that works? Meantime I’m told Stansted Airport seem to have allowed tannoy announcements in the last half hour which advised those in earshot that there are no flights for 3 days, and just now, none for four days.

    I think that rather than machine gun armed police in attendance at the Ryanair desk, we should have some serious minded CAA enforcement officers on duty there tonight, dictating the pace.
  • resilieresilie Forumite
    179 Posts
    well thanks I got insurance but it would still be helpful for someone to pick up the phone so I can arrange a flight to where I actually need to go... it's not just about the money, it's about decent customer service..I have been waiting on the phone for 2h!!! Have to get this done now as no chance I can spend that much time on the phone with hyper toddler up tomorrow,,,but thanks, that's been helpful...

    Peter tell me more about the announcement at the airport...no flights for a few days? can't be right, a few took off today..
  • edited 27 May 2018 at 11:06PM
    peterbakerpeterbaker
    3.1K Posts
    edited 27 May 2018 at 11:06PM
    Peter tell me more about the announcement at the airport...no flights for a few days? can't be right, a few took off today..
    Yes I think quite a number got off perfectly ok to suit the airline. We are talking about the lack of spare capacity for four days, not the lack of Ryanair flights. I am reporting it second-hand from the lads at the airport. Normally Ryanair make no tannoy announcements in the main terminal. When things are more routine, Ryanair only make PA system announcements in the satellites they are using. However, it appears that either they or Stansted Airport have decided this evening that they need to do something about the people queueing in the main terminal landside to speak with the Ryanair desk about rebooking spare capacity, or rerouting, and of course accommodation and sustenance for those they have stranded.

    First, there was the suggestion in the earlier PA announcements that flights could be "rebooked online", and resille has given us a clue how that sometimes is a waste of time now having had two cancellations today for the price of one?

    Then this evening, they reportedly made a PA system announcement suggesting no chance of rebooked flights for the next 3 days (that's because Ryanair flights are generally well booked in advance so very little spare capacity for rebookers and now it will have quickly been used up).

    Then quite quickly after the "no flights can be rebooked for three days", came the "no flights can be rebooked for four days" as I understand it.

    It isn't a question of whether the airport is operating, it is of coure a question whether airlines want their complex schedule messed up for more than a day.

    So they cut their direct losses by announcing cancellations to suit their operations tomorrow when they can be confident they have all the aircraft they need at Stansted to start a clean sheet on a new day.

    The passengers they let down badly today are, as of 80 minutes time, part of yesterday's news and someone else's problem if they can get away with it tonight.

    I am watching Sky News, and I see very little about the real story. They had a reporter on the unofficial spectator patch this morning on the far side of the runway, talking about an earlier problem but sadly completely misled their travelling audience by seemingly leaving the scene and missing the main news story. They had suggested the cancellations were this morning, when the worst of the cancellations in fact were not even executed until mid afternoon on the "let's cut our losses today and start tomorrow like today didn't happen" basis.

    I found out about the likely cancellation using my informal knowledge of Ryanair's patterns of daily operations of their aircraft and watching for what was happening to earlier routes likely planned for the same aircraft. That information was not available from Ryanair, or the airport who gleely reported on their respective websites that the flights Ryanair must surely have been in the process of planning to cancel for some hours, as "on time" until mid afternoon.

    Maybe they were just waiting for the tv cameras to go home - Sky News actually bogged off to Colchester to film some fire brigade rescued pet fish in a bucket 12 hours after lightning burned the roof off a house ...

    I guess passengers still hemmed in at the terminal at Stansted feel a bit like those fish, but with less water ?
  • Keep_pedallingKeep_pedalling Forumite
    13.9K Posts
    Eighth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Forumite
    resilie wrote: »

    Peter tell me more about the announcement at the airport...no flights for a few days? can't be right, a few took off today..

    Flights have been and still are departing this evening, and Mondays early morning flights are still scheduled

    http://www.stanstedairport.com/flight-information/flight-departures/
  • edited 27 May 2018 at 11:15PM
    peterbakerpeterbaker
    3.1K Posts
    edited 27 May 2018 at 11:15PM
    Flights have been and still are departing this evening, and Mondays early morning flights are still scheduled
    That snippet doesn't help stranded passengers who want to rebook on cacelled routes that are, according to the airport/Ryanair airport announcements, now fully booked for four days, now does it, KP? That's the real question, not is the airport moving again, and will it move normally tomorrow. Sure it is and will. The stranded passengers ain't moving anywhere fast though, now are they? They are persona non-grata if they are still hanging around in the morning and haven't got "the message" to that effect.
This discussion has been closed.
Latest MSE News and Guides

Energy Price Cap change

Martin Lewis on what it means for you

MSE News

Best £1 you've ever spent?

Share your most impressive bargains

MSE Forum