Airport Extortion 21 April 2008 at 2:18PM edited 30 November -1 at 12:00AM in Overseas Holidays & Travel Planning 48 replies 3.8K views

symonds

Hi all,

I thought I'd share this unsual and upsetting experience with you all. I've been travelling regularly for over a decade now, and I've never experienced anything like it.

I've just got back home after a wedding in Barcelona. The ticket cost £35 from Bristol to Girona, Spain. I arrived at Bristol airport with plenty of time to spare and went to the check-in desk, but was redirected to another queue at the Ryanair information desk.

This is odd, I thought to myself. So I wandered off to a queue snaking back about 50 people long. There were some pretty angry and emotional people in the queue. An airport representative told us Ryanair had decided to void any tickets that had been booked without providing 'advanced passenger information' to satisfy the requirements of the Spanish government. However we were told it would be possible for us to board the same plane if we paid Ryanair £220.37 and re-booked the ticket.

There were lots of Spanish people in the queue along with other EUs. We were all told we would have to pay for our tickets again to board the plane, even though we had all already paid for a seat on the same flight.

Most people booked another flight for Saturday morning for £50 and went back home. I was one of a handful that paid the ticket and assumed it was some kind of error. The staff were not employed by Ryanair since Ryanair doesn't employ it's own staff at the airports from which it operates.

I thought I'd share my experience and hopefully get some ideas on how to get these people to give me a refund. I have the email addresses and contact details of all the other passengers made to pay again for their seats.
Another guest flew with Ryanair to Girona yesterday and had also failed to fill in an immigration form online. He was allowed on the flight! :mad:

chalky_bertie

:eek: :eek: Absolutely shocked :eek: :eek:

Can this be right for an airline to do?

melb

I don't want to make you fee any worse that you already do but when I flew recently with Ryanair it was pretty much impossible to ignore the fact that you had to fill in Advance Passenger Information forms giving your passport details before the flight. It stated that this information was needed before the outward flight. However, I agree with you that it is ridiculous that you had to buy another ticket - they should maybe have just given everyone a warning. I'm surprised so many people had not noticed it on the website

symonds

melb wrote: »

I don't want to make you fee any worse that you already do but when I flew recently with Ryanair it was pretty much impossible to ignore the fact that you had to fill in Advance Passenger Information forms giving your passport details before the flight. It stated that this information was needed before the outward flight. However, I agree with you that it is ridiculous that you had to buy another ticket - they should maybe have just given everyone a warning. I'm surprised so many people had not noticed it on the website

You are right, however I thought that the booking process would include these details. It clearly didn't, so I think you had to log in again to the website and find the form somewhere on there. In fact Ryanair appear to make it as easy as possible to fail to enter these details.

I received four emails from Ryanair since I booked the ticket in January informing me of schedule changes but no reminders about the fact that my ticket was worthless.

It seems to me that Ryanair have set up this system for people to fall, unfortunately this covert policy seems to have worked too well, with almost half of the passengers on the flight dismissed rudely from the check-in desk.

moonrakerz

Now that you have to supply "advance passenger information" to the Spanish authorities, do they actually man the immigration desks at the Spanish airports now ?
The last two times I have been there you just walked in !

benjus

Whilst their methods sound pretty horrible, it doesn't surprise me hugely. Ryanair are known for sticking to the absolute line of their T&C from time to time with absolutely no leeway, while at other times you may get away with things a bit. The fact is that when you booked, you ticked a box to confirm that you had read and understood the terms and conditions, which included the following:

Passengers are required to submit this information after they have completed the booking process or at the latest up to 4 hours prior to flight departure via the "My Flight" section on the home page of www.ryanair.com.

I also noticed the following in a reminder email I received from Ryanair:

If you are travelling to Spain (including the Canaries and Balearic Islands) from the UK, Republic of Ireland, Poland, Slovakia, Morocco, Malta & Switzerland. Ryanair are required to collect specific passport or government issued national identity cards from every passenger travelling. This information must be provided prior to the departure of your flight. Please click on the link below and retrieve your booking & complete the security questions for each passenger travelling.

So I think it's a bit unfair to say it is designed to encourage people to fail. It's also a requirement that applies to all airlines, although most will accept the information at check-in. I must admit that I once forgot to supply API (and yes, I got away with it) but I was fully aware that I was supposed to have done it.

dzug

moonrakerz wrote: »

Now that you have to supply "advance passenger information" to the Spanish authorities, do they actually man the immigration desks at the Spanish airports now ?
The last two times I have been there you just walked in !

No - but it means they have an even greater excuse not to man them as they know who's coming!!

exel1966

Ryanair make it abundently clear throughout their system of the need to provide advance information to the Spanish authorities.

Even from the search page prior to booking you have to acknowledge this message in a pop-up window as it's impossible continue without doing so :

"if you are travelling to Spain (including the Canaries and Balearic Islands) you must provide Advance Passenger Information which Ryanair are then required to forward to the spanish authorities before flight departure"

At booking confirmation it again advises you to complete the information in advance and explains how to do this.

Ryanair is liable to a fine from the spanish authorities for landing passengers on spanish territory without having first supplied the necessary information. The spanish authorities also have the right to refuse entry to anyone not supplying the information.

As has been said Ryanair are very strict when it comes to the T&C's.

symonds

You're are right of course, but nevertheless half the passengers on the plane missed it. We were either a thick bunch, or something has gone awry. A friend of mine arrived on the next day and also had failed to enter the details, they entered them for him and let him on the plane. Ryanair have now stated that on Friday 18th April, 2008, it's policy towards passengers that fail to fill in 'Advance Passenger Information' will not be allowed onto the plane.

However there seem to be a couple of caveats.

1 - If you bribe them a couple of hundred quid they will 'bend' this new policy.

2 - If you fly with them on the day after this new policy has been introduced, as my friend did from Manchester, then you're ok.

hammy_the_hammer

i can see why an airline could become draconian with their policy regarding API. however if they're prepared for you to board the same flight that you didn't provide the API for on condition you purchase a new ticket somewhat weakens their position.
i'm not sure how you should proceed with this as ryanair don't give a t*ss anyway

angel

So is this only for Spain? I'm travelling to Dublin on wednesday and I was asked for my details when I checked in online.