Can we get a refund if we don't fly

Jarvi

I will ignore the personal insult as obviously you do not read the comments raised here. I reiterate the comments made by me that Ryanair have costs involved in making a booking and as far as they are concerned have done what was asked. Through no fault of theirs you want to involve them in additional costs (admin) to cancel the booking. Why should this be done for nothing? Your comment that the airline has taken money due to the taxman and then keeping it for themselves shows complete niaivety on your behalf.  It was like saying, years ago, the the Road Fund Licence money should have been used solely for the upkeep of the roads. All money received goes into a "pot" and not into separate accounts for tax, fuel etc. and only at the "end of the day" the appropriate money is handed over to the government.

If you are looking for an airline that will accomodate unforseen circumstances AND make changes for no cost then do not choose a cheap airline but pay the full price and get a refundable ticket from the likes of B.A./Iberia.

The bottom line is you gets what you pay for

My hubby and son were in Poland when the Ash cloud hit and they had flown with THAT company! I was up early and saw the news, rang my hubby and he told me that they were due home as expected! I told him that it had just been announced that any planes due into the UK after 12 noon would not be allowed to fly, they were due to land at 12.25! He said they were boarding the plane as we spoke! My stomach was in knots at this point! I sat in turmoil until I received a call 2 hours later from hubby, they had sat on the plane for 1 and a half hours and were then taken off it again! They went straight to the 'Customer Service' (ha ha!) desk and were told the next possible flight to the UK from Krakow was Thursday, a week later! My son, who is a school teacher, was due back at work on the Monday, as was hubby, so they were panic stricken. They were also told by the woman at the desk to book online!! In the middle of Krakow airport with no access to a computer! Great! They knew there was no point going back to Krakow and trying to get a hotel for a couple of days either, as it was the funeral of the President that week and the place was full! 

They went outside the airport and found the nearest information point and found a very helpful passenger who had found a coach that was going to be travelling across to France! A long journey, but they had no choice! So they then spent 26 hours on a coach, managed to then get on a train, and finally got a taxi to Calais. At Calais the ferries could not take any more foot passengers until Sunday, this was Friday evening! They phoned me, I booked myself on the 3 a.m. ferry from Dover to Calais, drove with youngest son for 3 hours, went across and picked them up and got the next ferry home! We finally got them back home at 2 p.m. Saturday afternoon! And what did THAT company give them back, their return airfare and that was it! And they only got that because the government told them they had to, they had originally refused to pay any money back! I will never book with them again, no matter how cheap they are! And to add insult to injury, we went to Spain a few weeks after this, and as we waited at Malaga airport for our plane home, the ash cloud started again, and who was the first to cancel all their planes - yes THAT company! We were flying with Monarch, they flew, we were an hour and a half late taking off and they had to go the long way round, but they got us home! And the funniest thing of all was the fact that the plane was full of passengers who had booked last minute seats on our plane when THAT company had cancelled! I can't repeat on here some of the comments made by those passengers about THAT company!  By the way, I have taken the advice of steone and refuse to name THAT company! I think you all know who I mean!

 Ryanair will no doubt reap the whirlwind in due course. In the same way as the earlier corresponent I use them when they offer the best combination of price and convenience but where there is a choise they never win. Ryanair do not offer customer service. they offer a product which will make them a profit andFirstly they do not offer service they offer a profit is their only concern.

I had cause to book a flight with Ryanair for the end of this month (yes, the flight date has not yet even been reached). Sadly, a close relative died, forcing us to make the journey just over three weeks early, overland. I am now in the ludicrous situation that I would need to travel nearly two thousand miles in order to use the flight. With little hope in my heart I checked the Ryanair site to discover their policy on bereavement. they set it out in detail with clear time limits. If you decide you do not wish to fly and your flight is within fourteen days of the death of the family member then a fax number is available to send a claim and a copy of the death certificate.

These circumstances do not come near covering my case so being a reasonable sort of chap I thought to call them and discuss the options. That's OK when you have a landline or even a mobile available (provided you don't mind paying the premium rates) but if your system does not cope with non-geographic numbers too bad. Being a persistant sort of chap I discovered the number of their head office at Dublin airport (+353 1 812 1212). They could only give me a premum rate number I could not use 

A polite request to speak to someone in head office who may be able to help was denied. A further polite request to speak to the Managing Director's secretary which was also denied. A final offer to speak to anyone before I called my lawyerwas met with a suggestion that I should proceed with legal action.

As it happens I am currently within a mile of the Ryanair head office. I am now considering a personal vist!

Invariably a discussion of this nature ends up with a suggestion that one should take the matter to the County Court - Small Claims. Ok if you live in the UK but trying to deal with a claim as a resident of Spain becomes prohibitive through time and attendance issues. My recommendation will always be - try to avoid Ryanair - but if all else fails and you have to engage with them, maintain a degree of optimism that all will be straightforward and accept that if any difficulties arise you have probably paid a possible bargain price, do not get an ulcer through worry and anxiety, and try every alternative carrier open to you.

Recommendations may be superfluous but in order of preference I would enquire of Easyjet, Jet-2, or Monarch, but at the end of the day one should always realise that Ryanair still carry a record number of passengers. Only a small minority of us appear to have difficulties, and certainly in Spain there appear to be many satisfied customers. The Spanish Government appear to have a few disagreements with Michael O'Leary though!

In conclusion, I have a son who lives in Barcelona and commutes to Luton several times in a month. He claims that providing he complies with Ryanair's rules regarding baggage allowance, booking- in etc his experience is that he invariably keeps to his travel schedule and maintains his low cost travel.

 I completely disagree. It is not inevitable that a discussion of this nature ends up in the county or any other courts. It is sad that there are always apologists around for companies like Ryanair whch have no regard whatsoever for customers. I would remind the previous correspondent of the saying which begins "Rules are made for the guidance of wise men" and wise men remember who is king!

Ryanair are extremely successful despite their appalling attitude to customers, compolete flouting of international agreements and laws, misleading statements and arrogance. They are often the only available carrier and certainly most often the most competitive carrier. The last point, however is no excuse for their attitude. Price has never been a determining factor in quality iof service. It is entirely possible to be courteous, considerate and compasionate regardless of your pricing policy.

It is also possible to be avaialbale to your customer. Only the mean spirited coward hides behind subordinates.

So Deluzian will boycott Ryanair? My neighbour in Spain regularly requests that I book her flights to the UK. Her instructions have been for some time now that I avoid Ryanair. She then tells me all her specific requirements - time of travel, destination, must have rail links etc, etc. I discover the costs and opportunities from a variety of carriers. She always, out of curiosity, asks for a comparison of costs with Ryanair. She then faces a quandary when she finds that Ryanair might be the cheapest option!!

Do remember that I did say invariably the suggestion is made to seek to resolve any dispute in the County Court - an option best available to those who are resident in the UK, who can devote the time and opportunity to engage with a Court's timetable.

Ryanair undoubtedly are cavalier with their customers, and live by a "take it or leave it" attitude. They do however remain "King" as is recorded by their commercial success. They have very recently made the arrogant statement that at  Alicante Airport Spain's tourism has lost a significant income opportunity because of Ryanair's withdrawal of flights, which apparently other carriers have not fully replaced. Will Ryanair accept the conditions imposed on them when the new airport at Corvera opens? Whatever we have to say against Ryanair they remain a king-pin in the overall commercial pattern for that new venture.

At last we have some sane comments about Ryanair. Thank you vivajonsey. We need to understand that Ryanair are a commercial airline that are here to offer, usually, the lowest fares. One way they do this is by not having a large complaints department and hoping that the complainant will just give up. Thank you to everyone who has not been successful in getting a refund/reimbursement from them as this keeps down the costs to the rest of us. By now everybody should know that all Ryanair do is fly you from "A" to "B" with the least delays. When you are dealing with around 70million passengers per year things will go wrong. I understand that some of the employees are human and humans do make mistakes. We don't like the way Ryanair deal with these mistakes but if everybody who complained got what they thought they should then the fares would have to increase. Simples! We all have a choice. Do we want the convienience of Ryanairs routes/times or are we prepared to spend more time going to a different airport or fly at unreasonable times. You, I trust, are sensible and weigh up the pros and cons of every flight before booking. We all know that if you if you follow their rules the vast majority of flights are ok.

Just a final comment.......I heard that Ryanair had started negotations to buy Murcia San Javier airport and if this is correct then R.I.P. Corvera.

Hi Steone,

I was very interested to hear your comment about RyanAir possibly buying St Javier - I can see this makes a lot of sense from their perspective.  But please can you clarify the source - ie Is this just a rumour or has it been substantiated ?

Thanks

Hi Acer

Regrettably it is only a rumour. However I have heard it from two different sources so we can but hope. There is also a lot of negative  chatter about Corvera which could mean them not opening until 2014/5   IF Ryanair took over San Javier would they then abandon Alicante and move everything down to MJV? That would probably force Corvera to close and maybe halve the throughput of Alicante. Very interesting...........but maybe just wishful thinking

Hi Steone,

Thanks for yours, but I think we are on different sides of the fence.  I despise RyanAir and their loathsome culture and would like to think that the Spanish authorities are not too enamoured with them either.  But the Spanish are clearly desperate to balance their books, so it may just be true.  Sad if that's the case - I like St Javier, the staff there are amazingly helpful and friendly.  Most unlike the RyanAir culture.

 San Javier (Murcia) airport is also a military airbase and, as such, cannot operate a civilian service 24 hours a day.  The current passenger numbers is around 1.6 million a year but could probably handle twice that number.  Alicante handles nearly 10 million of which 80% is international.  Unless the military moved and San Javier was extended considerably, then Ryanair taking over the airport may be wishful thinking.  Hence Corvera.

The Spanish Government are currently under fire from the EU for engaging in unrealistic and unsustainable projects. A classis example of this is the airport at Castellon in the Valencia Region where the airport has been put up for sale before is is even commissioned and a plane has landed or taken off.

The announcement that the Military will take back  the airport at San Javier and it will close to commercial traffic sooner rather than later has, I understand, been confirmed. Whatever work may be currently seen as being undertaken at San Javier is believed to be as a result of some very serious miscalculations by the local authorities who apparently engaged in contracts which could not, for contractual and commercial reasons, be cancelled.

The idea that Ryanair would be prepared to buy San Javier would be, and probably is, so far fetched as to be incredible. Corvera is nearly completed. Test flying and the proving of facilities are just now getting underway and I think it is reasonable to predict that commercial flights are likely to begin by, I suggest, June or July next year.

Murcia as a region is committed to encouraging the building of the new Paramount Theme Park at Alhama, with the first stone scheduled to be laid on the 27th May next. If plans move as expected it is predicted that some M3 additional visitors will be arriving annually into the Murcia Region by the year 2015-2016. Corvera is an essential part of the required infrastructure to cater for this prediction, and the only doubt as to whether Michael O'Leary and Ryanair will engage at Corvera could be the attitude by the Spanish Tourist Authorities to that Company and their demands. It appears that in April this year some 131,000 tourists failed to arrive at Alicante because of Spain's dispute with Michael O'Leary. I suggest that  even the most intransigent of management - Airport, Air Carriers, Politicians, Local Government and Planners will eventually wake up to the stupidity of this situation.