Ryanair flight delayed by nearly 4 hrs - some advice required

nero33

I recently flew with Ryanair for the first time.  My return flight was from Fes Saiss Airport to Stansted, scheduled to depart at 1110.

At about 1100 we were told there was a slight delay (no reason given).

Then we were emailed by Ryanair to say it'll take off at 12.30pm; then 1300; then 1330 and so on.

We boarded at approx 1420 and departed approx 1500 and arrived approx 1715 (instead of scheduled 1330)

At no point we're we informed via the PA that there was a delay and if there were any announcements they were only in Arabic and/or French.

One passenger mentioned 'Fog' but weather conditions in Fes were fine because other planes were taking off and conditions at Stansted appeared fine.

So we're still in the dark as to what happened.

Is this something we could put in a claim for?  Like I say, it was my first trip with Ryanair and I've never previously been on a flight that's been delayed by more than an hour.

Thanks

la531983

If this was on the 3rd November, the inbound flight from London was diverted to Rabat

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/g-rukf

The flight map of the inbound plane is here, as you can see numerous attempts were made to land at Fes before they gave up and went to Rabat

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/g-rukf#32b038ec

Therefore it must have been weather imo. No compo is due if this was the flight in question and if this as the reason.
Tried to find the arrivals board for the 3rd Nov, cant find it, but found it for the 4th and its a quiet airport but every single flight coming in was delayed by hours.
The two late Ryanair arrivals on the 3rd are showing as being delayed 2+ hours also, thats as far back as the website goes.

eskbanker

Eligibility for compensation is dependent on the reason for the delay, and in particular whether it was "caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken".

Nothing to lose by submitting a claim, but don't be surprised if Ryanair cite extraordinary circumstances, which puts the ball back in your court to try to make a case that the reason was within their control....

la531983

"For the vast majority of commercial flights, the pilot disconnects the autopilot when on final approach (typically between 1,000 and 500ft) and lands the aircraft manually. For the pilots to manually conduct the landing, the outside visibility must be a minimum of 550 metres and the cloud base must allow the pilots to see the runway when the aircraft is at 200 feet above the ground. If they can’t see the runway at this point, they can’t continue the landing and must fly a ‘go-around’."

Ryanair arent responsible for the fog, which in a place like Fes must roll in and out quite quickly. At a quiet airport with not a huge amount of flights a day fog wouldnt have too much of an impact on take offs (because its quiet anyway), hence why planes would have still been taking off (ones already on the ground before conditions got worse)

Ayr_Rage

@la531983 the approach minima vary depending on ground and aircraft systems and even pilot currency/qualification.

What you have quoted is the CAT 1 ILS  minima, there are 3 main ILS categories and CAT 3 has 3 sub categories too.

Now throw in modern GPS based approaches and you have even more variables !

la531983

Ayr_Rage said:

@la531983 the approach minima vary depending on ground and aircraft systems and even pilot currency/qualification.

What you have quoted is the CAT 1 ILS  minima, there are 3 main ILS categories and CAT 3 has 3 sub categories too.

Now throw in modern GPS based approaches and you have even more variables !

Fair points. I'm just trying to think why it would have to go around multiple times, and then eventually divert, if its not for a weather event, be that fog or something else like wind. 

nero33

la531983 said:

If this was on the 3rd November, the inbound flight from London was diverted to Rabat

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/g-rukf

The flight map of the inbound plane is here, as you can see numerous attempts were made to land at Fes before they gave up and went to Rabat

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/g-rukf#32b038ec

Therefore it must have been weather imo. No compo is due if this was the flight in question and if this as the reason.
Tried to find the arrivals board for the 3rd Nov, cant find it, but found it for the 4th and its a quiet airport but every single flight coming in was delayed by hours.
The two late Ryanair arrivals on the 3rd are showing as being delayed 2+ hours also, thats as far back as the website goes.

Yes, it was 3rd Nov 2023.

Flight No: RK 2773

Dep Fes:  1100

Arrv Stansted: 1330

As I said, no information was given to us at the airport other than to stop queuing at the final gate and then 4 hrs later. Asking us to queue up again.

Thanks for those links.  There doesn't seem to be any info attached to my flight no./link.  Maybe I don't really understand what I'm looking for as it looks like a lot of technical data.

I cannot see where it states any delays and the reasons etc.

If as you say it was weather related and that is not a valid reason to claim, then I will not claim.  I don't fly much and haven't done so for many many years.

la531983

nero33 said:

I cannot see where it states any delays and the reasons etc.

It doesnt. But there is a map on the 2nd link, zoom in on Morocco and look at the path the inbound flight took, why do you think planes take multiple attempts to land before then having to divert to another airport landing successfully first time? I have put 2 and 2 together and come to the conclusion a weather event (may not have been fog, could have been wind) stopped the flight from landing at Fes. It wouldnt be surprising for Fes to get shrouded in fog suddenly given where it is.

Your job is proving Ryanair otherwise. I dont think you can. 

nero33

la531983 said:

nero33 said:

I cannot see where it states any delays and the reasons etc.

It doesnt. But there is a map on the 2nd link, zoom in on Morocco and look at the path the inbound flight took, why do you think planes take multiple attempts to land before then having to divert to another airport landing successfully first time? I have put 2 and 2 together and come to the conclusion a weather event (may not have been fog, could have been wind) stopped the flight from landing at Fes. It wouldnt be surprising for Fes to get shrouded in fog suddenly given where it is.

Your job is proving Ryanair otherwise. I dont think you can. 

Thanks for the explanation.  I wouldn't have a clue where the plane I was due to fly in would've come from.

But it seems weather was the cause, that's good enough for me although it wreaked havoc with my booked coach back home!

la531983

nero33 said:

la531983 said:

nero33 said:

I cannot see where it states any delays and the reasons etc.

It doesnt. But there is a map on the 2nd link, zoom in on Morocco and look at the path the inbound flight took, why do you think planes take multiple attempts to land before then having to divert to another airport landing successfully first time? I have put 2 and 2 together and come to the conclusion a weather event (may not have been fog, could have been wind) stopped the flight from landing at Fes. It wouldnt be surprising for Fes to get shrouded in fog suddenly given where it is.

Your job is proving Ryanair otherwise. I dont think you can. 

Thanks for the explanation.  I wouldn't have a clue where the plane I was due to fly in would've come from.

In this case it was a Stansted based Ryanair plane (there are a fair few of them!) which had set off from STN first thing.

Ryanair only seem to base one plane at Fes, think at the moment its 43 at STN.

nero33

la531983 said:

nero33 said:

la531983 said:

nero33 said:

I cannot see where it states any delays and the reasons etc.

It doesnt. But there is a map on the 2nd link, zoom in on Morocco and look at the path the inbound flight took, why do you think planes take multiple attempts to land before then having to divert to another airport landing successfully first time? I have put 2 and 2 together and come to the conclusion a weather event (may not have been fog, could have been wind) stopped the flight from landing at Fes. It wouldnt be surprising for Fes to get shrouded in fog suddenly given where it is.

Your job is proving Ryanair otherwise. I dont think you can. 

Thanks for the explanation.  I wouldn't have a clue where the plane I was due to fly in would've come from.

In this case it was a Stansted based Ryanair plane (there are a fair few of them!) which had set off from STN first thing.

Ryanair only seem to base one plane at Fes, think at the moment its 43 at STN.

Appreciate your help.  Thanks