A FLIGHT MESS
Family €4k down as cancellations hit outbound and return journeys
A FAMILY is more than €4,000 out of pocket after a holiday nightmare which saw both their flights axed due to threatened strikes in France.
Jo-ann and John Sheridan were due to travel from Dublin to Nice on June 24 but were told two days before their journey on Ryanair had been cancelled due to the industrial action.
To add insult to injury their return flight, which was due to leave yesterday, was also axed because of strike threats.
Jo-ann, 42, told the Irish Mirror the experience has been a nightmare.
She said: “Time away with family has always been really important and this is after being ruined.
“We were stressed getting here and we’re stressed leaving here.
“Ryanair customer service was just so unhelpful. There’s no reason they can’t have a crisis system in place.”
Jo-ann and John travelled to the south of France for a family break with Lilie, 15, Jozef, 13, and 12-year-old Marie, along with three other relatives.
Their expenses started to rack up when they were told of the first cancelled flight and had to fork out an extra €2,000 in air fares to find another route via Copenhagen.
Jo-ann added accommodation, flight transfers and kennel bookings for their dogs would have been lost otherwise.
The family are now stranded in France after their return flights were axed.
They will now spend an extra €1,800 to fly from Marseille with Aer Lingus tomorrow night as the next Ryanair flight from Nice is on Thursday.
Other costs include two extra nights of accommodation, almost €300 on an airport transfer and loss of earnings from John’s job.
Jo-ann will also miss an important hospital appointment to treat a rare blood disease.
She complained about a lack of customer service from Ryanair who she claims told her she could find alternative flights home through the carrier’s partner airlines, if she did the legwork. Jo-ann said she called the airline every two hours on Friday and numerous times on Saturday but there were long wait times and she claims they were hung up on twice when they quoted their reference.
Both suggestions she provided for alternative routes home were declined by head office after they spent days waiting on approval.
Jo-ann added: “Everything I did to get home I did myself. They were going to leave us here until Thursday. I was clearly upset on the phone. We’re lucky to be in a position at the end of a holiday to have funds to do that.”
The group travelled from Waterford with granny Jane, 66, niece Cody, 21, and 17-year-old nephew Josh.
A Ryanair spokesman said: “The customers in question requested a refund of their outbound flight, which was processed on June 25, and requested a re-routing with an alternative airline for their return flight.
“However, there was not enough availability on their chosen routing and they instead requested a refund which is being processed.”
Aer Lingus and Ryanair were forced to cancel a number of flights at the weekend due to threatened strike action, with Nice, Marseilles and Lyon the affected airports. The strike was called off on Friday night, too late for Ryanair to reinstate the flights.
HUNDREDS of families have had their hard-earned holiday plans disrupted by yet another French air traffic control strike.
The industrial action is timed to have maximum impact and to hold airlines to ransom.
The Sheridan family are more than €4,000 out of pocket as a result.
French workers are legally entitled to withdraw their labour – but they risk damaging their own tourism industry and put people off visiting the country.
Airlines too must do all they can to assist their passengers caught out by these disputes.