A few days ago, I was flying home from Rome on Ryanair, after an excellent day with my girlfriend. We arrived at the airport, and initially the flight was ‘on-time’. About an hour and a half before departure, a one hour delay was slapped on. There wasn’t a proper explanation, but this was because the airport staff (not only working for Ryanair, but all the other airlines too) were quite desperate to get home (the flight was now going to leave at 2315).
However, the plane turned up an hour late as expected, and we all got on and sat down. We then heard the proper explanation from the captain. Basically, earlier on in the day our plane was on it’s way to STN, and was diverted to LTN due to thunderstorms. The passengers were bussed back to STN. Then, they flew our plane all the way to Rome empty to pick us up. This must have taken a pretty nice chunk out of their profits on that particular day?
The day after, a few friends of mine were on the same flight back to STN from Rome. Their flight was on time, but as they approached STN the visibility was very bad. A number of planes were circling for half hour or so, and then eventually decided to divert to EMA. So they flew to EMA, but rather than bussing the passengers or telling them to make their own way home (as many stories would tell us), they actually re-fuelled then attempted to fly back to STN an hour later. This time, they managed to get on the ground.
Now, I know some of you will say that ‘if you flew on proper airlines then this is how you would be treated every time’, but it doesn’t sound like the usual Ryanair horror stories we hear does it?
By: hawkdriver05 - 17th June 2006 at 01:30
This “Ryanair” sounds alot like Southwest………fly SW at ur own risk…..or at least show up 3 hrs early! That “A” boarding card is GOLD!!!
By: wannabe pilot - 16th June 2006 at 18:44
Hmmm… the only problem I’ve got is with this line…
So presumably the passengers at STN expecting to fly to Rome were left there… no time to get them to LTN and down to Rome before the airport closed, and no spare aircraft at STN to operate instead of positioning empty.Great for you WannabePilot, but maybe not so great for some other passengers… though having said that, it would have been no surprise if the passengers in Rome hadn’t been left there to look after themselves so some kudos to FR.
Well if we all take the stories we hear to be true, you would have expected Ryanair to have left us in Rome, having ‘had’ to cancel the outbound flight. The fact that they flew down empty seems quite a surprise…I’m quite sure that the fuel used, and the refunds issued for the outbound, would have cost them heavily that day.
By: diesel1 - 16th June 2006 at 17:57
Hmmm… the only problem I’ve got is with this line…
Then, they flew our plane all the way to Rome empty to pick us up
So presumably the passengers at STN expecting to fly to Rome were left there… no time to get them to LTN and down to Rome before the airport closed, and no spare aircraft at STN to operate instead of positioning empty.
Great for you WannabePilot, but maybe not so great for some other passengers… though having said that, it would have been no surprise if the passengers in Rome hadn’t been left there to look after themselves so some kudos to FR.
By: Flex 35 - 16th June 2006 at 11:13
Is it not a legal requirement? 😮
Doesn’t appear to be in Ryanair’s case.
Flex
By: murph - 16th June 2006 at 11:08
Ryanair most of the time are good; its just certain things annoy me when flying on them. One thing is the large influx of Eastern European crew they have, which to be honest most of them can’t speak great English. Other than that though I have no problems with them, I just wish they had more crew who could speak audible English!
Flex
Is it not a legal requirement? 😮
By: Flex 35 - 16th June 2006 at 11:04
Ryanair most of the time are good; its just certain things annoy me when flying on them. One thing is the large influx of Eastern European crew they have, which to be honest most of them can’t speak great English. Other than that though I have no problems with them, I just wish they had more crew who could speak audible English!
Flex
By: murph - 16th June 2006 at 10:17
A slight improvement in their public image (in the last 12 months or so they’ve taken a massive battering) certainly won’t do them any harm!
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June 16, 2006 at 9:50 am