I just cannot believe this. http://www.bbc.com/news/business-41291483 They are effectively leaving thousands of passengers uncertain of whether their flight will happen, potentially right up to when they arrive at the airport. I have never liked them, and have avoided them like the plague having only resorted to them a few times. But this will make me more determined to avoid them and I believe this may be a real commercial blow to their business. How can anyone trust them again?
Something very weird here. Ostensibly to improve punctuality, how can cancelling flights be better for PR than the odd late plane?
Shame City werent flying with them today! Ive used Ryanir fairly often as they are the nearest direct flight to the UK from where i live (though still 4 hours away) They seem pretty good when it comes to punctuality.. letting off that daft bugle thing every time you arrive on time. But i have always suspected they add a fair bit on their flight times as often the stated arrival time is about the time you are clearing customs. Maybe they have been bending the "flight-time" rules and have been found out?
Flew with them a few weeks back on my to and from Marbella. No issues about the flight out there. The flight coming home though was a completely different story with the whole plane standing at the gate waiting (with no Ryanair personnel to assist). We waited until the time the plane was supposed to leave (then half an hour after it was supposed to be in the air!) and still no word on what was happening. Ended up getting back a couple of hours after we were supposed to (miraculously just 30 minutes short of the compensation claim time), disaster.
They've now revealed the real reason is because they're changing annual leave years from Apr-Mar to Jan-Dec and they've mucked up pilot holidays meaning a disproportionate number are having to take them before it changes.
I've always travelled with the cheapest and most convenient option and not bothered who it is. Which I guess is what most people do. And I guess that's why Ryanair can pull this stunt and think they'll get away with it. Their customers tend to return no matter how they're treated. Strikes me though that the best time to change the leave year would be to start in April giving eight months to sort it out, with a requirement that staff can't leave it all to the end of the calander year, rather than be scrabbling around like this with just three months to go.
I've got a flight to Limoges on 27th. They are still selling them. You would think that they would stop selling the flights they're not going to run, so here's hoping.
I wish you good luck. Can I just offer everyone a bit of advice. When booking holidays and flights, please pay for at least the deposit on a credit card. The extra charge it may cost you is more than worth it fro the insurance on the payment you make. If someone like Ryan Air then ****s you over on it, you can claim directly with the credit card company and let them handle the hassle with the airline.
I read somewhere it only affects 2% of their flights. And in answer to Kelso it's probably not so much bad planning as it is the pilot's unions being inflexible. Pilots try very hard not to be dictated to but all the same Ryanair are probably the worst airline for doing so. If they are taking holidays to suit themselves it could well be a little dishing out revenge knowing the backlog will hurt their bosses.
Appararently many of the pilots employed by Ryan Air in the last few years are not employed but on contracts, Norwegian Air have quickly started operating offering pilots full time jobs, therefore some Ryan air pilots are/have gone to Norwegian Air!
I'd pay double to not fly with them. You're playing Russian roulette. As on this thread, everyone is likely to have a good experience with them from time to time, no problem at all, but that one time they screw you over and leave you stranded in a foreign airport with no information at midnight with a flight full of screaming, overtired kids, it will be once too often. The fact is they have a policy of not caring about their customers. They play a brutal numbers game where as long as you can be replaced by a other customer, your misery and discontent doesn't matter. People should never patronize such a vile company. I don't and won't. If you do, eventually you will regret it.
tbf before this little episode they actually topped the reliability charts ... apart from an unhealthy share of chavvy customers they aren't too bad if you only have hand luggage and you remember to bring your home printed boarding cards and (if I remember rightly) confirm your return flights. The only time I wouldn't use them for Germany was during Oktoberfest (which coincidently started on Saturday... O'zapft is!).
A mate of mine was flying with Ryan air to Birmingham airport a few weeks ago, they had to make and emergency landing at East Midlands because they had run out of fuel! It won't be long before Ryan air is responsible for a major disaster. Rancid, greedy company.
Those geniuses in the PR dept decided it was a good idea to address their shareholders in front of that board
It happens with all airlines, they have to calculate pretty accurately and when something happens (especially unexpected weather patterns) they can end up burning more fuel than planned. Of course there is always a safety margin but they can't just gamble it in the hope of reaching their destination.
Maybe, but I reckon I've flown over 500 times and the only time it has happened to me was on a Ryanair flight from Leipzig to Stanstead, via Brussels for an unscheduled fuel stop - and I've flown with them 6 times.
I have flown with Ryanair about 8 times a year on average for the last 15 years. I have never had a cancellation, I can count the number of flights that have been late by more than half an hour on one hand. My luggage has gone astray once. They have basically democratised flying in this country. They fly to regional airports all over Europe (and in the UK) and are responsible for massively increasing tourism as an industry. I regularly pay less than £20 E/W for flights into France. Do you remember when flying one way, or even not staying a Saturday night, with a National Carrier, would mean a ticket costing hundreds of pounds, because I certainly do. For all that this is an enormous ****up, there are very few apocryphal stories about past problems, given the enormous number of flights that they run. The problem is, many people still look upon air travel as something special, or premium. Thanks to budget airlines, it is not; treat it the same as rail travel and you will not be so disappointed at the 'lack of customer service'. FWIW I also fly with Easyjet and BA if destination requires it - both are far less reliable in my experience. Flybe are good though, even if it means schlepping down to Southampton to get on the plane.
Yes my flight to Dublin last year was scheduled for 7:30am to land at 9am. If it left 45 minutes late they can still say they landed on time.
That's as maybe but I bet most of that flying was in the days when dumping fuel was an acceptable practice; apart from the costs this also has a major environmental impact and nowadays doing it creates a large paper trail as questions get asked. All airlines now have to calculate for as little fuel as possible with a small percentage on top for safety. We have the world's most changeable weather so flying East to West over the UK is always difficult to calculate .... Mind you I have heard Ryanair always cut it fine, transporting unused fuel is expensive.
Yup that too .... And apparently Ryanair pilots are now taking unused sick leave to settle a pay dispute ... Talk about kicking a dog when it's down, you couldn't make it up!
There was a Ryanair pilot on LBC this morning. What he had to say about the company was shocking. If he still has a job I'll be surprised.
Watched an advert on TV last night and Ryan Air were still advertising as Europes best or number 1 airline, not sure how all this works but should not cancel all these adverts until the mess is sorted out, will Monarch going into admin help them out as there is going to be a load on Unemployed pilots for the next couple of months?
Certainly will help in the short term as flight prices have shot up on the news. All the airlines will take full advantage of the change in supply and demand that Monarchs failure produces.
