Thousands are left stranded by Ryanair strike
TENS of thousands of Ryanair passengers were left stranded yesterday after nearly 400 of the airline’s flights were cancelled when pilots went out on strike.
Staff in Ireland, Germany, Sweden, Belgium and the Netherlands are staging a 24-hour walkout over pay and conditions.
The Irish-owned firm said 396 flights – about one in six of those scheduled – were grounded meaning more than 74,000 passengers could have been affected.
The budget airline said the strikes were “regrettable and unjustified”.
It said: “The majority of customers have already been accommodated on another Ryanair flight. We want to again apologise to customers affected by this unnecessary disruption and we ask the striking unions to continue negotiations instead of calling any more unjustified strikes.”
One Ryanair customer, whose flight was cancelled, tweeted: “No one is on the phone and livechat. They don’t even do a refund.”
Another wrote: “Thanks to Ryanair for cancelling my flight home and ensuring all of the de-stressing I have done on this trip is cancelled out in an instant.”
Travellers are being offered refunds, or alternative flights, where possible.
The airline is under no legal obligation to issue refunds, as strike action is considered an “extraordinary circumstance”.