Outcry as Ryanair axes 2,000 f lights to clear staff holidays backlog
RYANAIR has been warned it must pay compensation and costs that could total £100million over the cancellation of 2,000 flights.
The budget airline is cancelling 40-50 flights a day for six weeks – likely to affect at least 285,000 passengers.
The carrier had claimed the decision was taken to ‘improve punctuality’ and failed to mention that travellers were legally entitled to compensation.
But the real reason for the move appears to be failure to organise staff holiday rosters, causing a backlog of leave.
More than 30,000 had flights cancelled with little warning over the weekend. They included routes between Dublin and Edinburgh, Frankfurt and Glasgow and Berlin and Glasgow.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is to investigate.
Yesterday officials made clear Ryanair was legally bound to offer alternative flights, refunds and compensation of £110 to £220. It will also be liable to pay for food and accommodation of passengers forced to choose an alternative flight.
But some said last-minute cancellations had left them out of pocket due to non-refundable accommodation costs, or they had been forced to book expensive alternative transport.
Others said they had been stranded abroad. Passengers took to social media to vent their anger. Catherine Christie, of Westfield, Falkirk, said: ‘I just know that I WILL NEVER EVER fly with them again, no matter how cheap flights are.’
Dublin resident Emma Brennan said her family had to fork out for new tickets to ensure they would make it to a family wedding in Glasgow.
Which? travel editor Rory Boland said it was ‘essential’ that Ryanair releases a full list of affected flights. The airline posted details of 55 cancellations in the next three days.
It had initially announced the change under the headline: ‘Ryanair to cancel less than 2 per cent of flights over next six weeks to improve punctuality.’ It then said performance levels had fallen, partly because of problems with air-traffic control and strikes.
Ryanair’s chief marketing officer, Kenny Jacobs, said: ‘We have messed up in the planning of pilot holidays and we’re working hard to fix that.’
Head of communications Robin Kiely said the airline would ‘be doing our utmost to arrange alternative flights and/ or full refunds for them’.
There was no mention that customers were legally due compensation under EU law.
Aviation minister Martin Callanan said: ‘I am very concerned to see all of these reports of stranded Ryanair passengers.’
He said customers must be fully compensated. The CAA said: ‘We fully expect all airlines to meet their obligations regarding passenger rights.’