Ryanair tells passengers: let’s get you there by bus

RYANAIR last night said it would replace cancelled flights with buses as it attempts to quell the cost of the fallout from mass cancellations.

The budget airline is telling customers that it will offer “comparable alternative transport” which may be a flight, train, bus or car hire, with costs “assessed on a case-by-case basis”. The option will be offered to customers whose cancelled flights cannot be replaced with another Ryanair flight, or another flight with one of Ryanair’s seven “partner airlines”.

The offer comes despite orders by the Civil Aviation Authority to offer customers whose bookings have been cancelled replacement flights with other airlines.

It is thought that buses, trains and hire car options could be offered to fully replace internal flights and as partial solutions to replacing overseas flights. It could mean customers having to fly to alternative airports and then catching a bus or driving themselves the rest of the way.

Last night Ryanair refused to clarify the practical implications of its “alternative transport option”.

Consumer groups accused Ryanair of being “reluctant” to do the right thing by customers who are already suffering after having their flights cancelled. Alex Neill, Which? managing director of home products and services, said: “Ryanair’s response may get close to complying with the regulations, but it still smacks of a lingering reluctance to do the right thing by its customers.

“The CAA now needs to watch Ryanair like a hawk. It must take firm action if the airline is found to be failing the hundreds of thousands of

passengers who have been caught up in this mess.”

Following threats of legal action and multimillion pound fines, Ryanair last night caved into the CAA’S demands and offered nearly 700,000 customers with cancelled flights compensation for hotels and other expenses. Andrew Haines, CAA chief executive said: “It appears that Ryanair has now capitulated. We will review their position in detail and monitor this situation to ensure that passengers get what they are entitled to in practice.” Kenny Jacobs, Ryanair’s chief marketing officer, said: “We apologise again sincerely for the disruption and inconvenience our rostering failure has caused some of our customers.”

Passengers hit by Ryanair cancellations were yesterday (fri) offered discounted rail travel between Scotland and London on the Caledonian Sleeper.

A 20 per cent discount is being given to passengers who have made a nowcancelled Ryanair booking until the end of February next year.

The budget airline announced this week it was axing 18,000 scheduled flights between November and March, with flights between Glasgow and Stansted and Edinburgh and Stansted among those affected.

The overnight train service said passengers can travel within a day of their original flight booking and use the code “Ryanair” when booking online. Passengers must bring a copy of their original Ryanair booking on check in to the train, Caledonian

Sleeper said.

Ticket prices in November cost from £36 for a seat, £64 for a shared cabin and £136 for a family ticket of two adults and two children.

hundreds of Eurostar passengers were delayed at St Pancras station yesterday as services were suspended for three hours due to signalling problems.