How would you react to this situation?

[Tortuga]

I think like most things the truth will lay somewhere in the middle. The fundamental mistake was to load the passengers without the plane being fueled. Pressure was on to get the plane in the air ASAP due to the delays and obviously there were a lot of miss-truths flying around regarding times and availability of re-fueling. With this in mind a cautious approach would have been better suited. Hopefully some lessons will be learnt from the situation by all of those involved including Ryanair. The article said they gave out food vouchers yet the video says everything inside the area of the airport where they were was closed - doesn't make much sense to give a food voucher when nothing is open. Straitman is correct though that responsibility still falls with Ryanair.

 

[BAM1748]

As I said, most airlines outsource ground handling at at least some airports, and many use exactly the same service providers as Ryanair. Based on Ryanair's statement, their staff did what they could, and of course their statement also apologised to the people affected, so what's the basis for your claim that their attitude is "too bad for those involved"?

They could of released a slide, then billed their ground contractors for it.

Ryanair is responsible.

 

[Jack_OC]

They could of released a slide, then billed their ground contractors for it.

Ryanair is responsible.

The problem was that the terminal was locked! Why on earth would they release a slide when there was no threat to people's safety by staying on board? Why would it have been a good idea to release people onto the tarmac in the middle of the night, in winter, while the terminal was locked? Try to get some perspective here - all that happened was people spent a total of 3 hours on a plane without moving anywhere. There was no emergency.

 

[Jack_OC]

I think like most things the truth will lay somewhere in the middle.

I agree, but "did they or did they not provide water while on board?" is a fairly black and white question, and the answer seems to be yes they did. If so, the video made at least one false claim, and it's about the most crucial point of the lot (just look at the initial comments above, it was the alleged refusal to provide water that prompted most outrage).

BTW I also said Ryanair remains responsible for their service providers, no argument there.

 

[legroom]

I don't know anything about whether water was provided or aircond was switched on but I do know this much.

If I can't afford to travel unless it is with Ryan Air, I won't travel.

Pay peanuts and you will get your monkey !

 

[mannej]

I think that the timeline on the video is deliberately misleading.

If you fast forward to the end it makes it out to be like they were on the plane for the 7+ hours, which isn't the case.

They could of released a slide, then billed their ground contractors for it.

Ryanair is responsible.

Releasing a slide - Putting the passengers at a risk that they don't need to be placed into. I don't think so.

 

[Jack_OC]

I don't know anything about whether water was provided or aircond was switched on but I do know this much.

If I can't afford to travel unless it is with Ryan Air, I won't travel.

Pay peanuts and you will get your monkey !

I certainly wouldn't choose to travel with the likes of Ryanair either, now that I can afford to spend a bit more and prioritise comfort. However, for a number of years I travelled with Ryanair at least once a month and experienced no real problems. If I still lived in Europe and didn't have much spare cash, I suspect I'd still be flying Ryanair and Easyjet and I'd generally be ok about it!

On quite a few occasions, I have had the unpleasant experience of boarding a plane and then finding it doesn't move anywhere for a long period of time - all with full-service carriers though, as far as I recall. Two such incidents spring to mind - one because it was just 2 weeks ago with Etihad. After boarding was completed, we sat at the Gate for a full 90 mins with no real explanation, and then joined a queue for take off - ultimately not getting airborne until well over 2 hours after we boarded. Fortunately I was in J getting well looked after by a friendly FA with a nice bottle of shiraz, but I'm guessing the people back in Y had a slightly different experience. The other incident that I remember well was on an MH flight from KUL where I had connected en route from Oz to DUB. I was in Y, and on that occasion we also just sat there for about 2 hours without the plane moving. I distinctly remember not being offered anything by the cabin crew (although I wasn't refused anything either - I didn't ask), and it was extremely warm on board. Eventually we were asked to disembark and wait in the terminal for another 3 hours or so while some maintenance was performed. I then missed my connecting flight in LHR and ultimately arrived in DUB about 12 hours late, to find that my luggage had gone missing!

These things happen from time to time, with all airlines. It's very frustrating when you're caught up in it, but worse things can happen. Anyway, my main point is that anyone who thinks this is a LCC phenomenon has just been lucky so far

 

[legroom]

Jack

I agree that anything could happen to anyone - even with 1st tier carriers.

But you would agree the odds is not great with LCC like Ryan Air.

It's about the odds we are talking about.

I prefer to have a better odds flying QF, SQ etc....

I certainly wouldn't choose to travel with the likes of Ryanair either, now that I can afford to spend a bit more and prioritise comfort. However, for a number of years I travelled with Ryanair at least once a month and experienced no real problems. If I still lived in Europe and didn't have much spare cash, I suspect I'd still be flying Ryanair and Easyjet and I'd generally be ok about it!

On quite a few occasions, I have had the unpleasant experience of boarding a plane and then finding it doesn't move anywhere for a long period of time - all with full-service carriers though, as far as I recall. Two such incidents spring to mind - one because it was just 2 weeks ago with Etihad. After boarding was completed, we sat at the Gate for a full 90 mins with no real explanation, and then joined a queue for take off - ultimately not getting airborne until well over 2 hours after we boarded. Fortunately I was in J getting well looked after by a friendly FA with a nice bottle of shiraz, but I'm guessing the people back in Y had a slightly different experience. The other incident that I remember well was on an MH flight from KUL where I had connected en route from Oz to DUB. I was in Y, and on that occasion we also just sat there for about 2 hours without the plane moving. I distinctly remember not being offered anything by the cabin crew (although I wasn't refused anything either - I didn't ask), and it was extremely warm on board. Eventually we were asked to disembark and wait in the terminal for another 3 hours or so while some maintenance was performed. I then missed my connecting flight in LHR and ultimately arrived in DUB about 12 hours late, to find that my luggage had gone missing!

These things happen from time to time, with all airlines. It's very frustrating when you're caught up in it, but worse things can happen. Anyway, my main point is that anyone who thinks this is a LCC phenomenon has just been lucky so far

 

[mannej]

Jack

I agree that anything could happen to anyone - even with 1st tier carriers.

But you would agree the odds is not great with LCC like Ryan Air.

It's about the odds we are talking about.

I prefer to have a better odds flying QF, SQ etc....

And apart from perception, do we have any statistics or hard data to back up what the odds really are?

 

[Jack_OC]

Jack

I agree that anything could happen to anyone - even with 1st tier carriers.

But you would agree the odds is not great with LCC like Ryan Air.

It's about the odds we are talking about.

I prefer to have a better odds flying QF, SQ etc....

But that's my point - I don't agree the odds of running into these problems are worse with Ryanair. As I said, I have flown with Ryanair a lot and not had any real problems. On the other hand, I have run into problems such as this with full service carriers. Ryanair actually has an incredibly impressive record of on-time performance - IIRC they claim to have the a better record on this parameter than any other airline in Europe. They also claim to lose fewer bags than any other airline (although that might be because no-one checks anything in!).

People seem to make the assumption that LCCs are cough all round, but that's not really the case. The difference between LCCs and full service airlines in my experience is just in factors that you might group together under the category of "comfort". When it comes to the fundamental job of getting people from A to B, the LCCs are generally as good if not better than the full service carriers.

 

[legroom]

And apart from perception, do we have any statistics or hard data to back up what the odds really are?

Only perception / "fear"

Sorry

No hard data

 

[Justinf]

I shouldn't stereotype, but the being anywhere near the American woman with the potty mouth would have been more 'annoying' than the delay.