UKC

Has anyone had trouble with fight cancellations?

Flight from Liverpool to Oslo cancelled today, according to TeleTex.

Ryan Air blaming delivery problems with new aircraft, but apparently, the aircraft arrived before Christmas and their Christmas schedules were unaffected.

They are really cancelling due to poor sales, but coming up with other excuses, so as to get out of paying compensation.

In reply to Viva la Trance: I heard they knew about these flight cancellations weeks ago... i was told about the plane thing about 2 weeks ago! Sod Ryanair.. unreliable!

In reply to Viva la Trance:

If anyone hears any more news please put it on here. I am off to Rjukan Friday and I know a number of others who are off in the next month. If cancelling flights becomes a regular thing, then better be warned and fly to Oslo- Main airport

In reply to Laubie:

Hi Laubie

We are going in early Feb and are now looking at Ferry alternatives!
Apparently Ryan-air have been cancelling flights to a lot of European destinations! We as a collective must be able to voice our concerns somehow - maybe the BMC whose travel insurance we tend to get canmake some waves?

Here are some recent press articles etc;

http://www.newratings.com/analyst_news/article_1181896.html

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=405860&in_...

http://www.finfacts.com/irelandbusinessnews/publish/article_10004320.shtml

In reply to Viva la Trance:

If you book now and they cancel due to no planes they will have to pay compensartion as it is something they knew about before taking your booking. someone will throw a spanner in Ryanairs worrks soon, one of the big operators will fly one of their executives on a delayed/cancelled flight, claim compensation and then apply for a winding up order till they get it. Then the floodgates will be open.

In reply to Viva la Trance:

Are you saying that they are not paying compensation because the cancellation is caused by lack of aircraft? Surely they have to compensate you anyway, as you've paid them for a service that they're not providing?

In reply to Viva la Trance:

We had our flights changed from Saturdays to Friday and Sunday. THey are right about the plane delays. Boeing had a strike which delayed the delivery of the new 737-800s.

The older 737-200 aircraft were being retired and/or sold when the strike happened at Boeing. Ryanair operate such a tight schedule that even one aircraft delayed will affect the schedule.

In reply to Simon Caldwell:

They will refund the air ticket price or place you on the next available flight, possibly days later.


They will not compensate for any other loss, e.g. the week's hire cost for Rjukan, you'll have to hassle your insurer for that.

They’ll basically wash their hands, turn their backs and say hard luck

In reply to Viva la Trance:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3040432.stm

the new rules have not been tested yet, but will be soon I think.

In reply to Viva la Trance:
i was coming back from poland at new year and my flight in frankfurt was delayed for 6 and a half hours. my flight was supposed to leaved at 18.15 but didnt leave till hours later. to make matters worse,i had already been in the airpory since half 7 in the morning so i was stuck in the airport ALL Day! we are supposed to be entiltled to €250 compensaTION FRom ryainair if you are delayed for more than 5 hours and i wrote off to claim it but apparently its not their fault so im not getting it BUT the reason the plane was dleayed was cos a flight to belfast took the plane that was supposed to go to london stansted so we had to wait for it to go to belfast and come bak again. im sorry, but if that is not ryainairs fault, what is???

In reply to dlh: I flew out to Torp on the 28th of Dec and back on the 2nd Jan with Ryanair, all on time no problems, and we have just confirmed our flights for the 28th Jan and 4th Feb and they say there is no problem. It's less than two weeks so hopefully we're OK. I've just booked a trip in April over Easter and they are still taking the bookings. Aparantly its only affecting 1% of the scheduled flights so I think I will keep risking it rather than go for the ferry option.

In reply to Viva la Trance: don't know what people expect from such cheap flights. it's a price to pay or would everyone prefer a return to the good old days of costly air travel?

In reply to yer maw:

You do expect to be able to travel if you have a ticket, and not have to pay £700 to get from liverpool to Berne as a friend had to do two years ago. That one trip negated three years cheap flights.

In reply to Smatcard:
We flew out in December and back in January with Norwegian Airlines (www.norwegian.no) and they provided a good service. Planes on time, lots of leg room and 20kg luggage allowance. And it was cheaper than Ryanair too. Fully recommend them to anyone else. They fly into Gardemoen though, which isn't really a problem, just an extra 30 mins drive to Rjukan.

In reply to Viva la Trance:
I've flown 7 return trips, Ryanair liverpool to Granada and back since last May and not had a problem.

In reply to Viva la Trance:

dunno what all the fuss is over. when will people realsie that ryan air is a bucket shop and you get whta you pay for. Sorry I have no sympethy it' s cheap and therei s a price to pay for that ---- crap quality and service.

If you want cheap air travel ..that is the price. Everbody then has to follow the lowest denominator and that is ryan air. talk about setting the standards.

In reply to the inknown climber:

I don' follow this 'crap quality and service' - I have used them loads, they have been cheap. clean and on time - and that's all I ask of an airline.

Chris

In reply to Viva la Trance:

I've used Ryan a lot in the past 5 years and never had a single problem with them.

In reply to Viva la Trance:
The weather over here is absolutely ferocious at the minute, major quantities of snow and temps down to minus 25 in the north with storm force winds!!! Do not even contemplate the ferry, having made that journey a couple of times in the winter I would heartily recommend ryanairs fecklessness and the potential delays in an airport over the prospect of bobbing round in the north sea!
Doubtless top conditions in Rjukan now though, we were there xcountry skiing at new year and there was plenty of snow (read ice) then before the last dump. Have a good trip!!

In reply to Viva la Trance:

I flew BA to Grenoble last week - cheaper than Easyjet, with leg room, and breakfast. On the way back there were 7 passengers on a 737 - BA deserves better custom than that - and the flught times were better than EJ too.

In reply to nniff:

BA have seriously messed us around over the past few years with cancelled flights and timetable changes - don't think we will be using them again if we have a choice!

Chris

In reply to Viva la Trance: i know they had a few problems over the christmas / new year period but I think this was due to bad weather. Two friends were stuck at stansted for 12 hrs before they could fly. The thing that annoys me is the reliabilty of flight information/ announcing of delays. I dont know if this is the responsibility of the airline or airport. For instance I was picking friends up from Bergamo, checked on the Ryan Air site b4 leaving that they were on time. By the time I got to the airport the flight was delayed 2 hrs.
Over the years thanks to RyanAir I have had some incredibly low cost travelling, and I would have to say for the amount I have payed I feel I have had value for money.

We booked flights for 5 of us from Liverpool to Torp for flights 11th Feb (outward) and 18th (return) of Feb. These were booked and paid in Nov. We received an e-mail late Dec about the flights being cancelled. We have now transfered to the Stansted-Torp flight on the same dates at no extra charge.

In reply to KA:

Is Stansted nearer of further than Liverpool for you to travel to ?

In reply to Viva la Trance:


Well, much of a muchness. Out of the 5 of us, 2 from Shrewsbury, 1 from Oswestry, 2 from London so someone was always going to have to travel. Now it's the 3 of us from up here going down there!!!!

In reply to Viva la Trance:

There are other cheap airlines beside Easyjet and Ryanair.

Look at Thomsonfly;

http://www.thomsonfly.com/en/offers.jsp?ito=1725&itc=93

BMIbaby, Jet2, along with others.

I could go to Alicante for £50 including taxes this weekend or for £63 in April, not a lot really.

In reply to Viva la Trance:
Yes, there are many cancellations. In january almost 50% of the planes from Stansted to Aarhus, DK, was cancelled, and a large number Stansted-Esbjerg. 16 planes was taken out Luton-Nimes - which means a reduction of 50%. Ryanair just rechedule people who has booked and paid - I had 3 such incidents, and also in November i experienced that they cancelled a flight from Nimes to Luton. The excuse was due to weather conditions. At the same time military planes were coming in and out of the airport, no problem. A little rain, but not enough to cause problems for a plane to land. They said it had gone to Montpellier, 70 km from Nimes and in the same weather zone. Technically we are ligible to a compensation of 400 euro according to the new EU High Court ruling, but alas.....

In reply to Lisbeth Nielsson:

We had no problems.
However, the flight back on Friday evening was full of semi-drunk Norwegian football fans, who travel to watch English premier teams. Noisy and a bit boisterous at times. So the UK does not have a monopoly on dickheads, seems endemic across Europe.

In reply to Viva la Trance: I wish people would stop saying that Ryan Air flies to Oslo, because they don't. They fly to a small regional airport nowhere near Oslo. It probably takes 1,5 hours to get to Oslo from that airport (provided theres little traffic on the road), whilst it only takes 19 minutes from the Oslo airport in to the city centre (all hours of the day/week).

The name of the airport Ryan Air flies to is Torp - Sandefjord airport. Torp is the actual area in which the airport is situated, and Sandefjord is the closest town, being 4-5 towns south west of Oslo.

You're all being taken for a ride by Ryan Air.

They took me for one hell of a ride before Christmast,
Nime - Liverpool - Nimes for a grand total of £10 and that was including taxes.

ace

The Ent

In reply to Death Star Constructor: I don't understand why people slag RyanAir of so much. It is a budget airline, no more no less. If the destination doesnt suit or the service not adequate or the total price after everythingis added doesnt come up cheapest then fly someone else.

T

In reply to Viva la Trance: I had a flight booked to Sardinia at the beginning of March. Had an email in January saying the flight was cancelled due to runway maintenance. Might check now to see if that is the case.

In reply to Viva la Trance: Whilst on the Ryan Air subject there's a program on Channel 4 tonight about quote:

A major undercover investigation into the way in which Ryanair, one of the largest and most successful low-cost airlines, operates. Two Dispatches reporters spent five months secretly filming the airline's training programme and onboard flights as members of the cabin crew. What they found may make you think twice about flying Ryanair again

In reply to Goatster:

It is cheap, if you book at the right time. nothing new in what the budget airlines do 0- they just factor the seating, just as the hotel trade has been doing for years.

They will allocate a number of cheap seats then prgoressivley ramp up the prices until they are the same as a mainstream carrier.

In my view, you pay the price they offer and should expect them to fulfill thier contract i.e. deliver you at the place you requested, in a reasonable time and with no additional cost to you.

JD Wetherspoons are cheap, but you would complain if tey gave you half a pint of flat carling instead of the Stella you ordered.

In reply to Viva la Trance: whatever you do, don't sit in seat 1a

It is possible to get recovery of expenses under the EU regs. You need to be persistent and prepared for a long wait. Last March my flight from torp to Prestwick was cancelled just as we were about to board. Had to be bussed to a hotel and stay overnight. An interesting comment by ryanair staff at the time was yes we are aware of the new EU regulation but "Ryanair does not agree with it" In July I finally got this money refunded after involving the Air Transport Users Council. The day after I got this money refunded I arrived at Edinburgh airport at 830am to check in for my easy jet flight and was informed that the flight had been cancelled weeks ago. didn't you get the e-mail? No and neither apparently did all the rest of the folk queing behind us. Was initially told the money would be refunded if we could prove we did not get the e-mail - under EU regulation the onus of proof rests with the airline. We had to buy flights to fly with BMI at £140 extra. This money was finally refunded in November again, through intervention of AUC.

Tips - the AUC are overwhelmed. They will only deal with your complaint when you have exhausted your remedies with the airline. AS they allow the airline 4 weeks to respond to any correspondence it can take a while before they will deal with your complaint. Its worse with Ryanair as all correspondence goes snail mail, easy yet does at least enter into e-mail correspondence. The AUC themselves take at least 4 weeks to deal with the complaint.
In both cases as soon as the AUC wrote to the airline they agreed to cough up immediately. They did not even attempt any of the arguments used against me for several months in my correspondence with them.

The EU regs are available on line and the AUC site is very helpful on what you may be entitled to.

In reply to Chris Craggs:

Sorry but Ryanair are fcuking crap wait till you have your flight cancelled and see how they treat you.
So far with Ryanair......Booked 1 flight, flight cancelled, not Ryanairs fault is what the Ryanair girlie mouthpiece says, so now I'm down £40 for the cheap flight? Down £90 for the first 2 nights hotel costs which were prebooked and not refundable plus cost of getting to the airport and back home, about £30 worth of petrol, plus booking holidays from work that I cannot rebook, suddenly an idea to have a cheap holiday to Rome turns into an expensive waste of time, RYANAIR ARE CRAP.

In reply to sophiekeltie:
Ryanair don't fly to Belfast so knock that one back into their lap!!

In reply to Viva la Trance: Try flying SAS instead. I'm flying to Bergen from Gatwick in a few weeks time to go ski touring near Voss. £75 return all in. I know that's a bit more expensive than Ryanair, but at least I can take on my skis for free. (£17 per pair each way with Ryanair). You can also fly Manchester to Oslo fairly cheaply with them.