Complain about a product or service

Ryanair

declan of ager (lleida), Spain October 5, 2009

For the second year in a row, Ryanair have cancelled winter flights from my local airport in Reus (Tarragona) Spain to Dublin. Last year they tried to use as an excuse a technical reason--slowdown in servicing of their fleet by Boeing--but this year they have just simply cancelled all flights from 2.11.2009 to 27.3.2010. This has resulted in me having to pay 5 times more to re-book with national airline Aer Lingus at short notice, pay higher parking charges at Barcelona airport, travel further.

My understanding was that airlines could not simply cancel a flight just because it was unprofitable. Ryanair seen to be adopting a policy of accepting reservations (AND your money) until the level of reservations justifies or not the flight in question. Is this legal? I imagine that this has affected not just myself but the 100’s of customers who have bought tickets in good faith to travel from november to march inclusive, & not just on this route. Irish citizen resident in Spain

Julie of Belfast, OTHER March 27, 2009

Julie of Belfast OTHER (03/27/09)
I booked a return flight, on-line, for my lttle boy and myself to London.I booked it around 6 weeks prior to departure. In the meantime, my little boy's name changed by deed-poll. It was now different to name on booking. When i was sent notification to check in on-line, i was unable to, for this reason. I telephoned the call centre, who advised me to check in at the airport as they needed to see the official legal documents for the change of name.

When i got there, i explained to the Ryanair assistant all of the above. She proceeded to have a whispering conversation with her colleague, which i timed. This went on for 1 min, 45 sec. Then she spoke. She explained that tere was no record of the conversation i'd had with the call centre on file, therefore, she could not prove i did speak to them. Then came the sting. She said, regardless of the issue concerning my little boy, i should've have checked in on line. Failure to do that meant a penalty of 20. Coupled with his name change, and inability to check in on-line for him, meant another 70. 90 in total.

I strongly protested and she reluntantly, as she said 'waived' the costs. But insisted i checked in on-line for the return flight. No reference was made to terms and conditions of this. On my return, i tried to check in on-line. I was one minute over four hours prior to departure, and was told to check in at the airport. When i arrived and tried to do this, i was charge 20 for my ticket and 20 for my little boys ticket, penalty, for failure to checkin 4 hours prior to departure.

I queued up at the reservation centre. There was around 30 people in front of me, and more behind, all queing for the same reason. Of course, failure to pay the penalty, meant no permission to fly. I asked the assistant why i was being penalised for this and he said it was purely a penalty so that people would remember to check in online four hours prior to departure!!!! 600 was taken by Ryanair in 15 minutes flat for this!!! Surely, this is illegal?

I was so frustrated, having a little boy with me who was bored queing, i started to cry with humiliation. The assisiatant said nothing. I was made to feel as if i had been stitched up, for i couldnt travel Without paying the penalty. The assistant was cold, un reassuring and totally used the power of this situation to his advantage. When i told him i wouldnt be using Ryanair again, he just said 'up to you'.

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.

Follow us on Twitter.

Back to the top |