Maybe the airline was too busy selling its calendars:
Ryanair dumps passengers on wrong island – doesn’t care
by Scott Carmichael (RSS feed) on Feb 19th 2010 at 4:00PM
A planeload of passengers on a Ryanair flight from the UK to Lanzarote (one of the Spanish Canary Islands) learned the hard way that low cost carriers carry a hidden price.
Instead of landing in Lanzarote, the plane landed in Fuerteventura (about 30 miles from their intended destination).
Bad weather had forced the plane to divert, but usually when a plane has to divert, a normal airline takes care of its customers.
Obviously, Ryanair isn’t considered to be a normal airline, so the passengers were told to get off the plane, and after refueling, the plane took off, leaving the passengers to fend for themselves.
There were no Ryanair staff at the airport, and with no way to reach anyone from the airline, the passengers had to book hotels for themselves.
The next morning, the passengers were able to grab a ferry to their correct destination, losing a night of their vacation and any hotel nights they had booked.
A Ryanair spokesman confirmed that the flight had indeed been diverted, but was quick to point out that “if flight disruption is outside the control of the airline, no monetary compensation is due.”
So there you have it – flying with Ryanair really is a gamble, and you don’t even know whether you’ll actually arrive at your destination. Perhaps they can make some more money by starting a “will we get to our destination” lottery on their flights.
By: Lord Ollswater - 12th April 2010 at 12:27
I had a similar problem with my home printed boarding pass for an easyJet flight last October.
The scanner at the security gate couldn’t read it so I was sent back to the check-in desk. Unlike the Ryanair incident though, I was allowed to go to the front of the queue and had a new BP printed for me straight away. I think the entire incident, including walking to and from the gate, took about 3 minutes to resolve and I was more than happy with the service, in fact I was pleasantly surprised.
Whilst Ryanair’s business model undoubtedly works very well, this is another example of why I don’t use them. I can’t believe that they couldn’t have let her move to the front of the queue and get a new BP printed. Then she could have made the flight and the other passengers wouldn’t have been inconvenienced either. It sounds suspiciously like they didn’t care whether she made the flight, and that’s not the type of service I want from an airline.
By: TonyT - 25th February 2010 at 12:16
It has always suprised me that BMI Baby never made a big thing of this, RyanAirs routes often use out of the way airports often hours from the named destination and in one case in a different country, BMI Baby however tend to use the airports at the destination it says…
By: bloodnok - 24th February 2010 at 19:59
Ah, a nice biased article on Ryanair again! Never let the facts get in the way of a good bit of bashing!
Seems Ryanair have apologised to those concerned, arranged the ferries the following day for free, and issued forms on how to claim back the cost of the hotel for the night.
Whilst the whole thing isn’t ideal, I struggle to see what any other airline would have done in such circumstances.
By: Gooney Bird - 24th February 2010 at 16:08
Our Gee it is nice to see someone who isn’t Ryanair bashing. Like you, I have never had a problem and always found them to be very efficient.
At the end of the day you get what you pay for and nobody forces you to fly with them! The website spells out the true cost of the flight before you hit “confirm” so the total cost is not exactly hidden!
It is a harsh commercial world out there, especially amongst the airlines, and when you see how many have recently gone to the wall, it is good to see one that is truly profitable!
Good luck to them.
By: Our Gee - 24th February 2010 at 15:50
I have had experience of both Ryanair (about 30 flights over the last 10 years) and major carriers on long haul flights. I have never had a problem with Ryanair except on one occasion on a Liverpool to Nimes when the incoming Aircraft had a Bird Strike which damaged a Landing Light. Ryanair flew a spare part up from Stanstead and we where on our way 3 hours later. Pretty good I thought. We travel on the above route about three times a year at an average price of around £100 return which we consider to be a bargain. I did price a return flight to Nice from Teesside via Amsterdam with KLM and it came out at over £600. No Contest !!. By contrast on a regular trip to Lagos our KLM DC10 went Tech at Lagos about an hour before departure and was cancelled. About 30 of us where transfered onto the BA flight to Gatwick that same evening. We arrived next morning and I was wondering just how I would get to Teesside. BA gave me a ticket for the Bus to Heathrow where I was booked on the first BMI flight up the Teesside. We landed just before the Amsterdam flight. Fantastic service all round. I agree that it does sound a bit rough on the unfortunate folk who where “dumped” at Fuertevuntura but surely the price they paid for their ticket should be taken into account.
By: MSR777 - 23rd February 2010 at 20:04
Agreed, and we all know why that is. I can’t condone the way that RYR treat their staff but maybe its something that the BA cabin crew should bear in mind.
By: Gooney Bird - 23rd February 2010 at 00:02
I have never hidden my dislike for this type of airline and as a point of principle I refuse to fly on any of them. However the people who DO fly on them strangely seem to expect to be treated the same as those flying on full service carriers such as BA, Lufthansa etc and expect the same passenger welfare regimes that the passengers on the full service airlines enjoy….extraordinary! With this type of “airline” as with a bus or train operator you pay your fare which, according to the Ryanair business model, gets you the right to place your bum on the seat and thats it. Do you find bus and train companies puting people up in hotels and/or providing a free meal in the event of disruption? A shame that these passengers had to learn the hard way. Goodness knows I’m not defending Ryanair and its own interpretation of traditional passenger service obligations but people really have got to wake and smell that wretched coffee. You pay peanuts for the seat then you WILL be treated like monkeys. Don’t use ’em!
I quite agree. However unlike BA (cabin crew strike) and Lufthansa (pilots strike) at least Ryanair don’t have strikes!
By: PilotKeith - 22nd February 2010 at 21:25
No matter how cheap the flight, they should at least get you to your destination! Did these people get a refund for their utterless pointless flight, or did o’leary keep the money?
I personally refuse to fly with the airline, the amount of banana skins they put in their booking process, (hidden charges for just about everything) is borderline deceitful.
By: MSR777 - 19th February 2010 at 23:57
I have never hidden my dislike for this type of airline and as a point of principle I refuse to fly on any of them. However the people who DO fly on them strangely seem to expect to be treated the same as those flying on full service carriers such as BA, Lufthansa etc and expect the same passenger welfare regimes that the passengers on the full service airlines enjoy….extraordinary! With this type of “airline” as with a bus or train operator you pay your fare which, according to the Ryanair business model, gets you the right to place your bum on the seat and thats it. Do you find bus and train companies puting people up in hotels and/or providing a free meal in the event of disruption? A shame that these passengers had to learn the hard way. Goodness knows I’m not defending Ryanair and its own interpretation of traditional passenger service obligations but people really have got to wake and smell that wretched coffee. You pay peanuts for the seat then you WILL be treated like monkeys. Don’t use ’em!
By: Arabella-Cox - 19th February 2010 at 22:47
Didn’t they check the fine print on their tickets? “Any similarity between your intended destination and actual destination is purely coincidental!”
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February 19, 2010 at 10:17 pm