Reply With QuoteI'd say cancel and book something else.
Ok...
Due to be going to Rome in a few weeks and they emailed me yesterday to say that the flight times for the return flight have been changed so instead of leaving rome at 10.15am our flight now leaves at 6.45am!
So what do I do?
Its annoying cos we are going with the kids it means we'll have to go to sleep earlier the night before and cuts down on our time sightseeing etc!
Do i just suck it up or complain? your thoughts please!
I'd say cancel and book something else.
I think you'll find you get a free booking at a time which suits, meaning no matter the price, it costs you nowt.
Check the small print, you'll need to contact "customer services"
Colin.
That's anoying, but you'll need to be up at a silly time in any case to get to airport/check in etc (even on your original flight time), and with kids I assume you'll not be burning the midnight oil in any case. See it as more of an adventure getting up in the middle of the night to go to the airport and you'll be arriving back in the UK first thing and after a few hours kip can still have the rest of the day - whereas with the later flight more of your 'normal waking' day is going to be eaten up with the travel.
You're on holiday.... relax and go with the flow, is what I say. Enjoy Rome and the fun of not having to follow a normal routine.
Thanks all!
Will get in touch with CS at ryanair and see what they say!
Cant cancel the whole thing as hotel booking was seperate and not flexible
Is this to Rome Ciampino? Its half hour from town, you will need to get there by 04:30, probably taxi or nowt that time of day, so up with kids at 03:00 for a 03:45 pickup?
Swallow it an book a later flight, you might end all killing each other otherwise!
Ryan Air, I Would Rather Walk
Last year I had a similar problem with Ryan Air, again flying to Italy. They moved the time of our outbound flight on THREE occasions. This meant we needed an overnight stay in a hotel prior to driving on the next morning to our villa. I attempted to address the matter with their customer services however, it seems Ryan Air don't do customer service. Good luck, but from my experience you will get no satisfaction. I would rather walk than fly with them again.
Ross
+1 I flew with them a few years ago & vowed then never to use them ever again. I don't know what their site is like now but when I booked with them it was a nightmare trying to opt out of all the hidden charges.Originally Posted by ross62
Agreed. Ryanair are on my own personal 'banned supplier' list - if I can't get there without flying Ryanair I'll go somewhere else instead. Since then I've found Easyjet to be only slightly more expensive but a much better experience - as far as bucket airlines go anyway.
None of which helps the OP! Good luck with your issue...
N
I would rather walk to my destination in wellies full of broken glass than book another Ryanair flight..
Sorry I forgot to mention the £12 per head booking fee when I paid by debit card which was a pleasant surprise when you had entered all your details & finally navigated through all their money grabbing pitfalls.
^ What he says.
As it happens, we went to Rome a fortnight ago on EasyJet out of Bristol - great flight times (11am out, 4pm back) well organised, and we managed to take a 20kg suitcase for about £40 compared to >£100 on the flight we took with RA to France last year.
fiumicino poses a few probs : don't be tempted to take the coach link into the city - it has very variable travel time and we were late coming back and only just got the flight luckily having allowed an extra hour. If there's more than 2 of you, taxi is best, IIRC theres a fixed charge from the city to fiumicino of 40 euro. Otherwise take the train. One other thing to mention about fiumicino is the shite signage. There's also quite a lot of walking involved between terminals there.
If you have to take RA, the best net usable space carry on luggage is apparently a "Really Useful Box" 18 litre model. You might want to epoxy on a carrying handle
http://www.staples.co.uk/office-supp...ia-storage-box
The charmers on RA have a habit of making you test your hand luggage in the measuring frame only at boarding. When your luggage is a teeny bit too big, they screw you for top ££ to stick it in the hold. Don't line O'Leary's pockets more than you need.
Last edited by Bristolian; 23rd October 2012 at 22:01.
I'm flying to Italy quite often as home is there and I never use Ryanair... if you book with some time you can get some decent fares from BA.
Regarding your issue, well, I agree with the proposal saying that a small taxi fare will sort you out for this time...
Ryanair do a lot of things wrong, but they do move tens of millions of passengers.
They have really helped reduce the cost of air travel too.
Ross's thoughts just about mirror my own. When all goes well, they are fine. When anything goes wrong - forget it.
as suspected a crappy reply from RA:
Dear Customer,
Thank you for contacting Ryanair.
Regrettably, It is sometimes necessary to make changes to flights times, as it is for all airlines. We do our utmost to inform customers of any changes to their flight times and offer alternative flight arrangements, where possible, to assist the customer.
Customers are free to accept or reject these new travel arrangements. However, Ryanair does not accept responsibility for additional expenses incurred by passengers due to the acceptance of the new flight timings. Our Conditions of Carriage (see below extract ), Terms and Conditions and website Travel Questions detail to customers that flight schedules are subject to change without notice.
Article 9 - Schedules
9.1.1 The flight timings shown on your Ticket or elsewhere may change between the date of reservation and the date of travel.
9.1.2 When we accept your booking, we will notify you of the scheduled flight timings in effect as of that time, and it will be shown on your Confirmation/Itinerary. It is possible we may need to change the scheduled flight timings after you have booked your flight. If you provide us with your e-mail address and an away contact number, we will endeavour to notify you of any changes by such means. In the situations not covered by Article 9.2 below, if, after you make your reservation, but before the date of travel, we change the scheduled departure time by more than three hours and this is unacceptable to you and we are unable to book you on an alternative flight which is acceptable to you, you will be entitled to a refund for all monies paid in respect of the time changed flight, without further liability.
If the time does not suit then please contact our reservations department and they can see if there is any alternative flight times.
Please note that if you have any further queries relating to this request you will have to submit another request via our web form.
Yours sincerely,
Lisa
- - - Updated - - -
They couldn't even be bothered to use my name!!!
we are flying into Ciampino though
Ryanair are no better or worse than Easyjet or Jet2, just like utility companies, ISP's or mobile providers, they are all great till something goes wonky, then they are all crap.
I fly to Bilbao and Barcelona regularly, had good and bad experiences with them all, last Wednesday was great, an on time Ryanair flight to El Prat from Leeds/Bradford, £26 total cost. Last Friday was bad, a Jet2 flight back, delayed, delayed again, then sat on tarmac for 40 minutes, still, £46 total cost.
You have got to expect and be prepared to put with inconveniences when not using a private jet.
There are probably enough disgruntled Ryan Air / low cost airline customers on here to invest in one.
knew i should have used the private jet!
(was being tight on fuel!)
I have to say that while I understand people have reasons to, I go out of my way not to give them any business. I was organising a Stag to Barcelona and it was a dream with BA (bulk reservations and allowing just a deposit to be paid till 4 weeks before etc) and once all the fees & cack LyinAir add on was compared it was the same price near enough after adding on costs of getting to the airport and the risk of being stranded.
If I go on a stag / lads trip I sometimes *have* to use RyanAir as thats the sort of places they go. Otherwise I just view it as feeding the troll. :P If enough people avoided them then they would change as its all about the money to them so they get none of mine until they give me what I feel is "value".
Reading this thread I have to give some credit to Britsh Airways and Expedia for their customer service. The Mrs and I booked Vegas for Christmas and New Year but were going to be flying out Christmas day as it was about £300 cheaper to do so than fly out on 24th. A few weeks later we got a call from Expedia saying that BA had now cancelled the flight on the 25th and asked if we would like to cancel the trip or if they could fly us out on the 24th or 26th instead at no extra charge so we took the 24th. Then i suddenly thought that was fine but the hotel wasn't booked until 25th so what would we do? "No problem sir, we'll arrange and pay for the extra nights stay in the hotel as way of compensation for the inconvinience" was Expedia's answer.
The one and only time I've used a budget airline was EasyJet who cancelled the flight when we were on the plane due to a tug hitting the front wheel as it was pulling the plane and they then deemed it unsafe to fly!! By the time we all got off and bussed back to the terminal i was 3 hours away from my connecting flight in London. EasyJet employees just shrugged and said "sorry, but not our problem" when we got to their customer service desk and they had no other flights available. Rather than lose the holiday altogether i ended up spending close to £400 getting last minute tickets on a BA flight that JUST got us in on time for our connecting flight but it was the most stresful time I've ever had on a flight and nearly cost us our holiday.
I hate flying Ryanair and are normally avoided at all costs. But last week we had to fly over to Spain as my wifes father was very ill in hospital and we were told to get there as soon as possible, so unfortunatly Ryanair was the only option at the time, and their last minute flights are not cheap either. The flight was horrible, and my wife was understandabley very upset and the whole way there was constant announcements for smokeless fags, or scratch cards, by very grumpy overweight air hostesess. We flew back with AerLingus and they were miles apart, nicer planes, nicer staff and they are courtious too, and they were cheaper!
Never again will I fly Ryanair.
Yep - that's the self imposed rule I also follow.
I'm gonna apply apply the NO NOT EVER RYANAIR RULE also after this trip - cant be bothered with the faffing and stupid card charges it is ridiculous!
I do a fair bit of travelling and I'm trying to get through life without ever having to touch RyanAir or any other dodgy low cost airline like that. So far so good. I'd really rather swim and run to my destination. Sorry to hear about your problem. I'd rebook on a different airline if I were you.
Never flown with Ryanair due to a combination of 'dislike of that contemptuous piss-taking clown' and benefitting from reading and hearing about the unfortunate experiences of others.
Last edited by KavKav; 25th October 2012 at 18:09.
Ryanair will never be short of customers who won't accept the true cost of travel...
Their reply is to be expected...they do what they do and make money.
Personally i would'nt ever set foot on a RA flight ever again.
I don't care about the "service" and "add -ons", perceived "added values" or even designated seats, I just like flying to Barcelona for £26.
And that's why there will always be a market for a service that gets you there cheaply most of the time (but provides crap or no service when it goes wrong).
This isn't a criticism, by the way, just an observation. Ultra-cheap service providers survive and prosper because there are enough consumers, possibly the majority, who value ultra-cheap service. Is this sensible money-saving by consumers or are people being too cheap for their own strategic good? Time will tell.
Comparisons with 'free'[1] services on the Internet and the difficulty that many service vendors find with charging a fair price for a better service might be informative.
Footnote:-
1: Yes, of course, 'free' Internet services aren't free, even if it seems like it. If you're not paying then you are in fact the product. This ties back into the view that people might be too cheap for their own strategic good.
Last edited by markrlondon; 27th October 2012 at 02:17.
Will avoid at all costs the possibility of ever flying with Ryanair. He doesn't need or even miss my money but I feel much happier not giving him any of mine!
There are lots thing I like doing, but flying and waiting about in airports is not one of them, it's 2012, the glamour went decades ago. I loathe every minute until I escape at the other end, it's like catching a bus or train but with added stress and boredom. No amount of "good" service, "free" this or "added value" that, is going to make it any more enjoyable for me. So yes, the cheap carriers are wonderful for me, at least I am paying very small amounts of money for my misery.
+1
I use Ryanair all the time for 3 hour journeys to Portugal and back, just like jumping on a bus, and about the same price.
Just follow their rules, watch a movie on your iPad, kip for 20mins and you are in the sunshine.
Colin.
They're useful at times - they practically fly to my in-laws' doorstep, which wasn't an airport that was served pre "budget" airlines (let's not call them budget any more, because on the whole they're not that cheap).
On-board - they're ok. On the one hand you don't have to go through the rigmarole of eating a small and usually mediocre meal, on the other, you do get occasional sales messages - not that I'm sure there are that many fewer than on a normal airline. The staff on the 'plane seem to have improved since their early days when they seemed to recruit only surly and aggressive Dubliners.
Posting Permissions
