spainrico

I have never knocked Ryanair because I have never had a problem with them.

A while ago members of my Spanish family who work for AENA based at Madrid airport mentioned AENA were fed up with Ryanair demanding priority landing because they were low on fuel.

Today in the Euro Weekly News paper pg2 they report a Rynair arrived at Alicante but could not land due to excessive winds and so was diverted to Valencia where the aircraft only had enough fuel left to make one more attempt (fortunately successful) at landing before running out of fuel.

Makes you think does not it?

St. John

Nothing that man does surprises me. They accepted a booking from my sister Stansted to Granada on May 2nd and returning May 11th. After they had taken the money from her credit card for the flights they calmly informed her that they were no longer planning flights between Stansted and Granada from May 4th. They offered her a return flight from Malaga to Stansted, for which she would have to pay. They still have not reimbursed here for the original return flight, or for the £80 expenses she incurred because they cancelled the Malaga-Stansted flight on that day. Cheap and cheerful is one thing - blatant ripping off and hanging on to money they are not entitled to is another.

agoreira

http://www.ihateryanair.co.uk/
It's been happening for a long time, it's nothing new!
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle4641716.ece

frigilianafreddy

If you look at the CAA stats this is by no means confined to Ryanair. In fact ryanair pilots have issued fewer fuel panpans and maydays than some other airlines.

Even though I think Uncle Mick to be a most distasteful individual, his marketing skill does run to realising that killing 150 people would damage his bonus for a year or two.

Casita

I'm still fuming about them cancelling U.K. to Granada flights, especially when they are still flying to 2 other destinations from Granada, I heard their original contract for Granada ends in October but no other airline could take up the lost summer months because of that. The lost revenue to Granada must be hurting, and I hate Malaga airport!!!!!!

I had had also booked a U.K.-Granada flight which was then cancelled but was given the choice of flying to Malaga, I accepted that offer, but changed the dates to suit alternative means of transport and even added another 2 days on, there was no extra charge even though at the time the fares were much higher than I originally paid.
However adding another 128kms each way to my journey didn't make up for that.

ex_exile

But Ryanair features strongly in the category of near crashes, incidents that could easily have become accidents, missed apporach at cork springs to mind where the pilot screwed up the approach and failed to properly execute a go around, both the recent Tripoli and Bangalore crashes are currently being ascribed to improperly executed go arounds, 300 dead.

I was on a Ryanair flight 3 years ago that frightened the bejebaz out of me and everybody else on the plane, promissed that I would never fly them again. They are an accident awaiting passengers to plough into the ground.

kyles Mummy

that's very bad I'm told they should carry at least enough for 1 1/2 - 2 hours emergency flying time. They must have been flying on vapor.

frigilianafreddy

I'm not going to leap to their defence because all these are genuine problems. However they are now the biggest carrier, in terms of passengers, and will be prominent in any bad news figures.

I booked BA, with 6 months notice, from London to Poland. A couple of months before they cancelled that route. Yes they refunded me, but by then the easyjet flights were an extra £100. They didn't compensate for that. I've also landed on a BA flight with such force that all the oxygen masks came down! We all have horror stories - Ryanair will have more of them because of their size.

Ryanair have been the biggest European carrier for several years. They have less crashes, crash landings and deaths than many national flag carriers. Including BA and Air France. And why shouldn't an airline close a route if it's not making money. That's what BA did with my Poland route, and what Ryanair did with Granada. That's just business - only a charity would do otherwise.

Google these things - you will find many more references to the national flag carrriers. Despite them flying fewer passengers than Ryanair.

Splatt

Last month when the volcanic ash crisis first appeared I happened to be in Birmingham awaiting a flight back to Spain. I entered the airport to see that all flights from Birmingham had been cancelled bar one - the Ryanair flight to Alicante.
When I enquired I was told that it was down to the airline, not the airport, who would fly.
I spoke to a Ryanair representative who 'off the record' said that she wouldn't like to be getting on that plane. Needless to say I was pretty scared and thought the flight would be cancelled. It wasn't, and I made the decision to get on the plane, this was the only time I have ever been a nervous passenger. When I boarded I noticed that all the cabin crew were male, knowing that women have a spooky sixth sense this only compounded my fears.

Needless to say the flight went without a hitch, but it did make me wonder what exactly had transpired at Ryanair HQ, considering all other airlines grounded their planes.

frigilianafreddy

No airline CEO thinks all flights should have been cancelled. Nearly all of them flew through the stuff on test flights.

Having said that I don't think Uncle Mick was one of them.

Oh, and by the way - and whatever the airport staff said, the decision to close airspace had b**ger all to do with the airlines. It was a CAA decision.

And if CAA had banned the route to Alicante Ryanair, and everyone else, would not have been flying it.

Once again, I'm not defending Ryanair - just pointing out that they are all the same - and our views are dictated by our individual experiences (good or bad) rather than examination of the facts.

Rotor

Commercial pilots having to make a mayday call because of low fuel stand to loose their license and I`m sure there would be an inquiry for a pan call as well.

Mitzyboy

You are correct, its not the airline that makes the overall decision it's NATS that tells them.

agoreira

I'm certainly no fan of Ryanair, but they certainly have the right to close any route that is losing them money, they are not a charity set up for expats. If the route was profitable, they'd still be running it, and whilst it will be an inconvenience for many, Uncle Mick has never ever worried about the feelings of anyone. If I were a shareholder, I'd be all in favour of him closing any routes that did not make a profit, whoever unpopular it was.

St. John

Of course non-profitable routes should be closed - but not 3 days after taking money to fly that route. You can't tell me that he woke up one morning and said 'let's cancel all the Granada flights'. These things take planning and a lot longer than 3 days is necessary. It's not just ex-pats that used this route - the majority of people on the many flights used by my family were Spanish. They tell me that the 'planes were mostly full, the only exception being the May 2nd flight.

pete_l

That particular closure was talked about here 3 months ago (link). I think it's fair to assume that the reason they took your booking was down to cock-up, not conspiracy.