Ryanair 'left us on wrong island'
A family has complained that budget airline Ryanair left them stranded on the "wrong" Canary Island after their flight to Lanzarote hit thunderstorms.
Kay Wright, 40, of Poole, Dorset, said staff did not help them to find a hotel after their diversion to Fuerteventura.
She called home for help before spending £400 on rooms for her party of five - including three young children.
Ryanair apologised for the disruption. It arranged free ferry transfers to Lanzarote and said hotel refunds apply.
Miss Wright had set off from Bournemouth Airport with children Jack, six, and George, five; stepdaughter Tabatha, 23; and her three-year-old daughter Kacey on Wednesday.
They finally arrived at Playa Blanca, Lanzarote, on Thursday.
Miss Wright's boyfriend, Tony Wainwright, 48, told Bournemouth's Daily Echo newspaper: "I don't blame Ryanair for the bad weather but to abandon a family, on the wrong island, is unforgivable.
'Safety first'
"I know Ryanair is a budget airline but surely they have some duty of care to their passengers."
The family paid about £250 for the flights but has sworn not to fly with the airline again.
Stephen McNamara, Ryanair head of communications, said: "Passengers were provided with EU261 (a European passenger rights regulation) information which outlines their entitlement to provide receipted hotel expenses to Ryanair, for refund.
"Ryanair arranged that the ferry company would carry affected Ryanair passengers to Lanzarote free of charge when ferries recommenced the following morning."
Ryanair could never put passenger convenience before safety, he added.
I really don't understand the issue, or why this is worthy of being on the front page of the BBC news?
The aircraft had to divert due to bad weather (and of course that would apply to every other airline as well if the cross-wind was out of limits - seeing as about 50% of the traffic in ACE are 738's then I'm sure many other carriers would have faced exactly the same problem), the ferry from Fuerteventura-Lanzarote was also cancelled due to the winds, and Ryanair have offered to refund the costs of the passenger's hotels in Fuerteventura for the night, as per EU entitlements. So what exactly is the problem? Would the pax have preferred Ryanair to attempt an illegal landing at an airport where the weather is out of limits, or did they want Ryanair to provide them with an inflatable dinghy so they could row themselves over to Lanzarote?
My Dad was faced with this problem about 2 weeks ago, his Ryanair flight from STN-ACE was diverted due to winds. Within 2 hours of landing in FUE, Ryanair had organised a coach to the local port, put them on the ferry free of charge, and gave them a 5 EUR voucher to buy a snack on the ferry. They arrived in Lanzarote 5 hours late...not bad seeing as they landed on another island! I think this proves that if Ryanair are able to, they do provide quite an exemplary service, and that this family in the news article really have no right to complain.
Posts: 3,539
By: wannabe pilot - 20th February 2010 at 13:17
Ryanair 'left us on wrong island'
A family has complained that budget airline Ryanair left them stranded on the "wrong" Canary Island after their flight to Lanzarote hit thunderstorms.
Kay Wright, 40, of Poole, Dorset, said staff did not help them to find a hotel after their diversion to Fuerteventura.
She called home for help before spending £400 on rooms for her party of five - including three young children.
Ryanair apologised for the disruption. It arranged free ferry transfers to Lanzarote and said hotel refunds apply.
Miss Wright had set off from Bournemouth Airport with children Jack, six, and George, five; stepdaughter Tabatha, 23; and her three-year-old daughter Kacey on Wednesday.
They finally arrived at Playa Blanca, Lanzarote, on Thursday.
Miss Wright's boyfriend, Tony Wainwright, 48, told Bournemouth's Daily Echo newspaper: "I don't blame Ryanair for the bad weather but to abandon a family, on the wrong island, is unforgivable.
'Safety first'
"I know Ryanair is a budget airline but surely they have some duty of care to their passengers."
The family paid about £250 for the flights but has sworn not to fly with the airline again.
Stephen McNamara, Ryanair head of communications, said: "Passengers were provided with EU261 (a European passenger rights regulation) information which outlines their entitlement to provide receipted hotel expenses to Ryanair, for refund.
"Ryanair arranged that the ferry company would carry affected Ryanair passengers to Lanzarote free of charge when ferries recommenced the following morning."
Ryanair could never put passenger convenience before safety, he added.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/uk/8525982.stm
I really don't understand the issue, or why this is worthy of being on the front page of the BBC news?
The aircraft had to divert due to bad weather (and of course that would apply to every other airline as well if the cross-wind was out of limits - seeing as about 50% of the traffic in ACE are 738's then I'm sure many other carriers would have faced exactly the same problem), the ferry from Fuerteventura-Lanzarote was also cancelled due to the winds, and Ryanair have offered to refund the costs of the passenger's hotels in Fuerteventura for the night, as per EU entitlements. So what exactly is the problem? Would the pax have preferred Ryanair to attempt an illegal landing at an airport where the weather is out of limits, or did they want Ryanair to provide them with an inflatable dinghy so they could row themselves over to Lanzarote?
My Dad was faced with this problem about 2 weeks ago, his Ryanair flight from STN-ACE was diverted due to winds. Within 2 hours of landing in FUE, Ryanair had organised a coach to the local port, put them on the ferry free of charge, and gave them a 5 EUR voucher to buy a snack on the ferry. They arrived in Lanzarote 5 hours late...not bad seeing as they landed on another island! I think this proves that if Ryanair are able to, they do provide quite an exemplary service, and that this family in the news article really have no right to complain.