Widespread Ryanair cancellations from September 2017 until March 2018

[whole diary]

[TonyK]

It is an unsatisfactory rebooking, further away from my ultimate destination, but getting Ryanair to talk to the other airline to allow me to rebook (which might now be with a different airline at a higher fare!) will be very interesting, if nigh on impossible. I'd be interested in knowing the CAAs^» (Civil Aviation Authority - about) thoughts on how they go about it.

The other airlines will be rubbing their hands with glee! In the final days of BA^» (British Airways - about)'s Dash-8 service to Glasgow, a plane was cancelled and the passengers booked onto the newly inaugurated Easyjet A319 service. Oh how they laughed when they found that the rest of the passengers had paid as little as a tenth of what they had paid! Ryanair may find the opposite problem.

[ChrisB]

Ryanair have said they've briefed their staff to offer rebooking, but only up to 3-times the cost of the fare they refund. Not many other airlines offer £15 flights x 3 = £45 max!

I'm currently out of pocket by £21.01 & ending up further away from where I'm heading. Now awaiting communication from Ryanair to explain how I go about claiming this. Together with my Eur40 credit, I might just get another return flight out of them

[TaplowGreen]

Ryanair have said they've briefed their staff to offer rebooking, but only up to 3-times the cost of the fare they refund. Not many other airlines offer £15 flights x 3 = £45 max!

I'm currently out of pocket by £21.01 & ending up further away from where I'm heading. Now awaiting communication from Ryanair to explain how I go about claiming this. Together with my Eur40 credit, I might just get another return flight out of them

I guess your question is........"Ooooooooos gunna pay for it?" 😃

[grahame]

From The Herald

Passengers hit by Ryanair cancellations are being offered discounted rail travel between Scotland and London.

Caledonian Sleeper is offering a 20% discount to passengers who have made a now-cancelled 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.

[IndustryInsider]

Ryanair have said they've briefed their staff to offer rebooking, but only up to 3-times the cost of the fare they refund. Not many other airlines offer £15 flights x 3 = £45 max!

I'm currently out of pocket by £21.01 & ending up further away from where I'm heading. Now awaiting communication from Ryanair to explain how I go about claiming this. Together with my Eur40 credit, I might just get another return flight out of them

I guess your question is........"Ooooooooos gunna pay for it?" 😃

You can crack a joke too often, you know?   

[Chris from Nailsea]

Ryanair are going to pay for it, apparently. 

Another update, from the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Ryanair backs down over passenger rights for cancellations

Ryanair has bowed to regulator demands and spelled out more options on offer to passengers affected by its planned flight disruption.

It has avoided possible legal action by emailing those affected by more than 20,000 flight cancellations.

On its site, Ryanair acknowledges it is required to offer those on cancelled flights full refunds or comparable tickets on rival carriers.

Civil Aviation Authority boss Andrew Haines said Ryanair had "capitulated".

Earlier this week, Mr Andrew Haines said he was "furious" the airline had not been complying with the law by failing to offer to re-route passengers on rival airlines.

In the airline's first wave of cancellations Ryanair offered affected passengers a £40 voucher per cancelled flight as a way to say sorry.

The budget airline said it had taken on more extra staff to process the expected increase in customer claims.

Ryanair was forced by the CAA^» (Civil Aviation Authority - about) to clarify that passengers affected who previously "may have chosen an option that was not suitable for them as a result of any misunderstanding of their EU261 rights" were entitled to change their mind, for example by opting for a flight on another airline instead of a refund.

If no Ryanair flight was available to get customers to their ticketed destination, customers can now opt for a comparable flight on Easyjet, Jet2, Vueling, Cityjet, Aer Lingus, Norwegian or Eurowings, the airline clarified.

Mr Haines confirmed Ryanair had contacted the aviation watchdog late on Friday afternoon and said; "Our job is to protect passengers' rights and ensure that all airlines operating in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) are fully compliant with important consumer laws. Where we find that an airline is systematically flouting these rules, we will not hesitate to take action, to minimise the harm and detriment caused to passengers, as we have done with Ryanair in recent days. 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," Haines added.

Ryanair's Kenny Jacobs said: "We are committed to processing all such claims within 21 days of receipt and hope to have all such claims settled before the end of October."

Ryanair cancelled up to 50 flights a day through to the end of October, affecting 315,000 passengers.

It then cancelled another 18,000 flights between November and March, affecting the travel plans of another 400,000 passengers.

The disruption was brought about because of an error with pilot holiday rotas and Ryanair said cancelling flights would "eliminate all risk of further flight cancellations".

The budget airline said it has updated the Frequently Asked Questions section of its website to reflect all of these changes.

[grahame]

Another update, from the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

The disruption was brought about because of an error with pilot holiday rotas and Ryanair said cancelling flights would "eliminate all risk of further flight cancellations".

Utter screw up - but perhaps this early cancellation to restore a robustness to what's left is best overall for the passengers who were (or wanted) to book - a model for others who find themselves with an unfortunate lack of operational resource to consider?

[TaplowGreen]

Another update, from the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

The disruption was brought about because of an error with pilot holiday rotas and Ryanair said cancelling flights would "eliminate all risk of further flight cancellations".

Utter screw up - but perhaps this early cancellation to restore a robustness to what's left is best overall for the passengers who were (or wanted) to book - a model for others who find themselves with an unfortunate lack of operational resource to consider?

If you're alluding to GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), there are a number of important differences;

1) Unlike O'Leary, Hopwood has yet to acquire the courage, honesty or common decency to publicly acknowledge that he/GWR have a problem, have messed up or apologised. He appears to be the largest invisible structure on the planet.

2) GWR is used by many thousands of people on a daily basis to get to work - it is an expensive, overcrowded and publicly subsidised virtual monopoly which people have no choice but to use. Ryanair is a low cost airline primarily taking people on budget leisure trips in a very competitive environment where there are in the most case alternatives. The consequences of GWR scything through their timetable in the way you suggest has far more serious consequences, and would of course expose the incompetence within the organisation.

3) The only thing "unfortunate" about GWR's lack of operational resource is that the organisation is seemingly unfortunate enough to lack Leadership who are able to manage their workforce properly - this was not an unforeseeable scenario, most likely they thought that they would "get away with it" - in this aspect at least there is a similarity with Ryanair.

4) How would you suggest that GWR would finance alternative travel arrangements in respect of all the services that would be cancelled in a similar model for those who have booked/are unable to cram themselves on to the remaining services? That's an awful lot of taxi fares!

.....I think that'll do for starters! 

[IndustryInsider]

After this PR^▸ (Public Relations) disaster I wonder if Ryanair's slogan of 'Always Getting Better' might be quietly dropped?

[grahame]

If you're alluding to GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), there are a number of important differences;

Totally agree - but that doesn't mean that there aren't lessons to be learned and thought given to the approach taken.  With an airline, the next flight is likely to be a very great deal later, whereas on many GWR services there's alternatives that'll knock you back just an hour ("just" is a poor word to use if you're late for an interview, of course).

Ryanair operate - they say - 600,000 flights a year - so 18,000 cancellations is just 3% - or 6% if they're over a six month period. Last Sunday, GWR cancelled 48 services (or had done by 07:00 that morning), 12 of which came from the 13 trains scheduled to call at Melksham - that's a 92% cancellation rate at that station, with no other operator or line providing any trains, and no alternative public bus service along the line of route on a Sunday.

If GWR were to say "Sundays until 3rd December, we will run the first two round trips and the last two round trips, cancelling the trips between", that's a 30% cancellation rate, and we could actually trust them to provide driver, train manager and train (not just promises to do their best), it would be marketable ... as would a similar action on two round trips in the middle of the day on Saturday.   We could even market loss of the 11:47 up and 12:47 back on Monday to Friday

[Timmer]

I agree Graham, it would be better if GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) put their hands up, admit they have a staff problem and produce a realistic timetable for Sundays. One that they can operate so at least you know there will be a train instead of this lottery every weekend to see if they train you intended to catch has appeared on Journey Check because of lack of train crew.

Won't happen because that's to sensible and admitting you have a problem.

[IndustryInsider]

I agree with what you're both saying, though today I can't currently see any cancellations flagged up, so had, say, the Melksham service been reduced, it would have been an unnecessary reduction.  I say than now hoping a wave of cancellations doesn't now get announced!

I suppose you could apopt the approach where you decide upon and then advertise certain selected services that they are 'unlikely to operate' and then if all is well on the day they can be reinstated.  Perhaps that's the best (or least worst) way forward?

[John R]

So, how much is this going to cost Ryanair?

In the first instance the compensation/rebooking cost is going to be huge. And having accepted the principle that legally they can't just refund and leave pax in the lurch if the flight is more than 14 days in advance, this will be true across their operations, not just in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) where the regulator stood up to them. The same wording is on their country specific websites (albeit in English!)

And remember, having set the precedent, no longer will they be able to drop a route at 14 days notice, which they've done in the past many times, without incurring substantial costs.

Then there is the cost of having 25 planes more than expected lying idle over the winter. I'm sure they cut very aggressive deals with the Boeing and any lessors, but would be surprised if they can wriggle their way out of some cost.

Next, there's the recognition that the pilots' terms need to be improved by some degree.

And finally, there's the brand reputation. In the short term, I would have thought that would be huge. I'm sure bookings have been substantially down in the last couple of weeks, and I expect that will continue. Even with seat sales, people now recognise that being let down runs the risk of incurring substantial losses to other parts of the holiday arrangements.  Longer term, yes, the effect will diminish, but I would have thought there would be a residual effect for some years, and with a business model predicated on very high seat occupancy, even a small effect could be significant.

Finally I notice the MO'L only owns 4% of the company, so he is very much answerable to the shareholders, who will no doubt be looking very closely at his performance and that of the management team as they manage their way through this situation.

[TaplowGreen]

If you're alluding to GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), there are a number of important differences;

Totally agree - but that doesn't mean that there aren't lessons to be learned and thought given to the approach taken.  With an airline, the next flight is likely to be a very great deal later, whereas on many GWR services there's alternatives that'll knock you back just an hour ("just" is a poor word to use if you're late for an interview, of course).

Ryanair operate - they say - 600,000 flights a year - so 18,000 cancellations is just 3% - or 6% if they're over a six month period. Last Sunday, GWR cancelled 48 services (or had done by 07:00 that morning), 12 of which came from the 13 trains scheduled to call at Melksham - that's a 92% cancellation rate at that station, with no other operator or line providing any trains, and no alternative public bus service along the line of route on a Sunday.

If GWR were to say "Sundays until 3rd December, we will run the first two round trips and the last two round trips, cancelling the trips between", that's a 30% cancellation rate, and we could actually trust them to provide driver, train manager and train (not just promises to do their best), it would be marketable ... as would a similar action on two round trips in the middle of the day on Saturday.   We could even market loss of the 11:47 up and 12:47 back on Monday to Friday

With the best will in the World I think the issue somewhat transcends Sunday services for Melksham, important though these are, and that was the context of my reply which you have (very selectively) quoted 😉.......it's having an impact on much of the GWR network, 7 days a week......it's not as easy as adopting the attitude of "just get the next train" when it's so dangerously overcrowded due to earlier cancellations that even a wafer would struggle to get on board.

At the very, very least, Hopwood should be apologising , explaining, and advising what is being done to address the problem.

Right now, he's far behind O' Leary in the PR^▸ (Public Relations), honesty & moral stakes. For anyone in his lofty position, that cannot be a comfortable place to be.....but is an achievement of sorts I guess.

[grahame]

At the very, very least, Hopwood should be apologising , explaining, and advising what is being done to address the problem.

Indeed.  We have asked for an official explanation and advise as to what is being done to address the problem that we can share as being from GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway).    Not a great one for demanding apologies - the best apology is an admission that there's an issue and effective prioritised action to sort it.

Note the explanation already offered to me at a very high level indeed concerning training on the staffing issue - being addressed both be recruiting new staff, and also by "time" in that the peak of new training will pass. A similar director level explanation of the stock shortage with units having to be retained beyond their finish dates (so more than usual numbers in for service) and others having to go because they're contracted to others would also be good to have more officially explained, and once again (!) "time" - once electric trains are running from London to Didcot.

The point I was making, though, related more to having a robust schedule rather than letting bits keep breaking off the current one that's not robust, and we don't know what will break off.  In theory, I'm off again on the 09:20 tomorrow. In practise, I have to wait to the morning to see if that can happen, and if not have alternative plans as I have an unslippable event to attend.

I am quoting TransWilts purely as an example, but I have spoken with others concerned with most smaller / more local / less frequent services over the last 10 days and our concerns are far from unique.