Ryanair refuses to say if it’s still selling f lights it will cancel
OUTRAGE against Ryanair is growing as chaos ensues over its decision to cancel booked flights at short notice.
Irish passengers have told the Irish Mail on Sunday that the controversial airline sent cancellation emails for a flight that subsequently took off.
GAA fans travelling for today’s All-Ireland final had to quickly re-book flights, leaving some out of pocket.
Many other unsuspecting travellers lost out on family holidays because of the announcement.
And last night Ryanair was still refusing to say if it is still selling seats on flights that it intends to cancel. The airline said between 1,500 and 2,000 flights will be cancelled daily for the next six weeks due to pilot shortages and to boost punctuality.
But it only released details of flights planned for yesterday and today, which include eight to and from Dublin. It also declined give the estimated
‘It was like a punch in the stomach’
cost of compensation for those unable to re-book flights.
Compensation will have to be paid in many cases, under EU rules, depending on the notice given and the level of inconvenience. Claims and refunds are likely to cost tens of millions of euro.
Now a fresh concern has been raised over whether Ryanair even knows what flights are cancelled. A mother and daughter from Athlone told the MoS they were devastated and out of pocket by almost €800 thanks to a cancelled flight, even though it emerged that it actually took off, they said.
Karen Brill turns 40 this week, and her eldest daughter Nadine will be 21, so in January they booked a three-day weekend in Amsterdam to celebrate. Karen’s husband Bill took Monday off to look after their younger children, so they were shocked to get a cancellation email at 4.51pm on Friday. This was just 14 hours before their expected 7.20am flight yesterday.
Karen said: ‘It’s not just about the flights, we’d booked everything; all the tours, we weren’t going to miss anything. I only booked the hotel this week, I was waiting to get a last-minute deal. I’m more upset for Nadine than myself, it’s so disappointing. We have three other kids, I was really looking forward to the break. We had our hair done and everything – we booked these seats in January and we’ve been saving.’
In despair on Friday evening, they tried to contact Ryanair customer service but both phones and online chat were down, and Dublin Airport told them all Ryanair staff had gone home for the day and were not due to return until 8am.
Karen said yesterday: ‘We were crying, to be honest, we were panicking. Nadine was in bits. Then she was on the website this morning, and she saw the flight left. It actually left, it wasn’t cancelled. It was like a punch to the stomach, the email said it was cancelled.’
She added: ‘I want full compensation from Ryanair for this, if it was a volcano or terrorism it wouldn’t be their fault, but they have taken our holiday so their staff can have holidays. I was so vexed when I heard a man from Ryanair on the radio saying it’s just 2% of their passengers, but what about us? It was our birthdays, ruined.’
Karen Dunne from Dublin also received a late-evening text. Her message arrived on Thursday about a Saturday morning flight to Barcelona. She said: ‘I got a text on Thursday night at 9.45 to say it was cancelled. I flew in and got on the computer – offered a refund or next flight. It was two seats together, I had to pay €13 each for priority it said. And I was double charged.’
So instead of leaving early Saturday morning, she missed out on a day of her short trip and flew Saturday evening. She said: ‘I was lucky to get online so soon for the last seats. It was so stressful, and we’ve lost a day really.’
Alison McCormick McCann, who has Multiple Sclerosis had to pay almost €200 when Ryanair added an extra day to her trip. Due to fly at 11am on Monday from Dublin, the Newry woman instead had to fly early this morning, with the added stress of leaving home at about 4am. She said: ‘I have MS so we wanted to fly on Monday, it’s quieter. This is mad, I don’t know how they can do this. We were lucky we had a few pounds to book the extra night, but we’d planned a shorter trip.
‘I have MS and tried to fly when it was quiet’