Ryanair deserts passengers in the desert
Passengers stranded in Morocco were refused compensation by the airline after it claimed it had notified them of the change by email – less than 24-hours earlier
How would you feel if you turned up at the airport to fly home after a holiday abroad only to find that the airline had, at the last minute and without telling you, brought forward the flight by an hour, and the plane had left?
What, then, if you subsequently had to spend £450 and endure a night in the departure lounge at Gatwick airport, just to get home – and were later denied* the promised compensation after* the airline argued it shouldn't have to pay it because it had sent a warning email 22 hours before the plane was due to leave?
This was the experience of Glasgow-based postgrad student Elizabeth Reilly who along with 20 other passengers watched in dismay as the plane she was booked on departed Marrakech airport, in Morocco, flew off without her.
Sadly there are no prizes for guessing the airline involved. It was Ryanair.
Reilly's unfortunate story started when she arrived at Marrakech airport at the end of March to fly back to Luton airport. Despite turning up an hour and a half before the allotted departure time of 10am, the board showed the plane was in fact leaving at 9am – and the gates were closed. It later emerged that Ryanair had changed the flight time 22 hours earlier, only notifying passengers ... by email.
"There were 20 of us all in the same boat. Needless to say no one from Ryanair was on hand – it was left to a local agent who, after a long wait, rang Ryanair's head office. We were told the flights had been changed and we should make alternative arrangements and submit a claim for compensation when we got home."
Reilly says the left-behind passengers started scrabbling to get on alternative flights. After a long wait she was able to get on an evening easyJet flight to Gatwick at a cost of £345. Having missed her connecting flight to Glasgow, she was forced to spend an uncomfortable night in the terminal, and to buy another flight the next day, at a further cost of £92. "As soon as I got home I sent off my claim expecting to be reimbursed, but was told that because Ryanair had notified the passengers of the change, no compensation would be paid. The idea that people who were on holiday should be responsible to check their home emails every hour is crazy – especially in a place like Marrakech where finding the internet is not the easiest. Ironically, I had checked them the night before, but there was no message then. They could have easily phoned or texted me on the mobile number I gave when I made the booking, but they didn't," says the trainee psychotherapist.
She says the flight time change may have been because the UK clocks had gone forward the previous* day.
"I'm a frequent flyer but never have I taken a flight where the departure/take-off time was changed as a result of a time change at the destination. Flights always go by the local time of departure – all other flights travelling to the UK – Air Maroc, EeasyjJet and Thomson – were not affected by this change. They were happy to just abandon us to our fate," she says.
A spokesman for Ryanair said the passengers had been sent a text warning them of the time change, but claimed Reilly had failed to supply a mobile number at the time of booking – something that is hotly denied by the student.
But after Guardian Money intervened, Ryanair performed a rare U-turn, and has agreed to pay her compensation. A spokesman said: "An IT systems error [meant] a small number of passengers failed to receive our initial* schedule change email.
"Our customer care agent was unaware of our IT systems error when replying to this passenger, and therefore denied compensation. However, as our system failed to contact this passenger our customer service team will now contact her to bring this matter to a close. Ryanair apologises to this passenger for any inconvenience caused and asks passengers to ensure they correctly enter their mobile phone number during the booking process so that Ryanair can inform them of any changes to their flight schedule."
Since then, Reilly has been offered* €400 (£360) she was due under the EU compensation rules. Ryanair also offered to pay her the extra *expenses that came out of missing its flight.
If Ryanair had refused to pay compensation, passengers would have been advised to take the airline to the Irish small claims court at courts.ie to enforce their rights to compensation under the EU air passenger rules.
Or they could lodge claims with euclaim.co.uk, but this is a private company that will take a slice of whatever compensation it achieves.
Fonte: guardian.co.uk
Passengers stranded in Morocco were refused compensation by the airline after it claimed it had notified them of the change by email – less than 24-hours earlier
How would you feel if you turned up at the airport to fly home after a holiday abroad only to find that the airline had, at the last minute and without telling you, brought forward the flight by an hour, and the plane had left?
What, then, if you subsequently had to spend £450 and endure a night in the departure lounge at Gatwick airport, just to get home – and were later denied* the promised compensation after* the airline argued it shouldn't have to pay it because it had sent a warning email 22 hours before the plane was due to leave?
This was the experience of Glasgow-based postgrad student Elizabeth Reilly who along with 20 other passengers watched in dismay as the plane she was booked on departed Marrakech airport, in Morocco, flew off without her.
Sadly there are no prizes for guessing the airline involved. It was Ryanair.
Reilly's unfortunate story started when she arrived at Marrakech airport at the end of March to fly back to Luton airport. Despite turning up an hour and a half before the allotted departure time of 10am, the board showed the plane was in fact leaving at 9am – and the gates were closed. It later emerged that Ryanair had changed the flight time 22 hours earlier, only notifying passengers ... by email.
"There were 20 of us all in the same boat. Needless to say no one from Ryanair was on hand – it was left to a local agent who, after a long wait, rang Ryanair's head office. We were told the flights had been changed and we should make alternative arrangements and submit a claim for compensation when we got home."
Reilly says the left-behind passengers started scrabbling to get on alternative flights. After a long wait she was able to get on an evening easyJet flight to Gatwick at a cost of £345. Having missed her connecting flight to Glasgow, she was forced to spend an uncomfortable night in the terminal, and to buy another flight the next day, at a further cost of £92. "As soon as I got home I sent off my claim expecting to be reimbursed, but was told that because Ryanair had notified the passengers of the change, no compensation would be paid. The idea that people who were on holiday should be responsible to check their home emails every hour is crazy – especially in a place like Marrakech where finding the internet is not the easiest. Ironically, I had checked them the night before, but there was no message then. They could have easily phoned or texted me on the mobile number I gave when I made the booking, but they didn't," says the trainee psychotherapist.
She says the flight time change may have been because the UK clocks had gone forward the previous* day.
"I'm a frequent flyer but never have I taken a flight where the departure/take-off time was changed as a result of a time change at the destination. Flights always go by the local time of departure – all other flights travelling to the UK – Air Maroc, EeasyjJet and Thomson – were not affected by this change. They were happy to just abandon us to our fate," she says.
A spokesman for Ryanair said the passengers had been sent a text warning them of the time change, but claimed Reilly had failed to supply a mobile number at the time of booking – something that is hotly denied by the student.
But after Guardian Money intervened, Ryanair performed a rare U-turn, and has agreed to pay her compensation. A spokesman said: "An IT systems error [meant] a small number of passengers failed to receive our initial* schedule change email.
"Our customer care agent was unaware of our IT systems error when replying to this passenger, and therefore denied compensation. However, as our system failed to contact this passenger our customer service team will now contact her to bring this matter to a close. Ryanair apologises to this passenger for any inconvenience caused and asks passengers to ensure they correctly enter their mobile phone number during the booking process so that Ryanair can inform them of any changes to their flight schedule."
Since then, Reilly has been offered* €400 (£360) she was due under the EU compensation rules. Ryanair also offered to pay her the extra *expenses that came out of missing its flight.
If Ryanair had refused to pay compensation, passengers would have been advised to take the airline to the Irish small claims court at courts.ie to enforce their rights to compensation under the EU air passenger rules.
Or they could lodge claims with euclaim.co.uk, but this is a private company that will take a slice of whatever compensation it achieves.
Fonte: guardian.co.uk
