A few months back I sat frantically trying to book flights to see our good friends who live in Northern Spain. We had known we were going to go for a while but as you do, had left it a little late to book flights and the prices had gone up. After searching for a while, I knew our cheapest option was going to be Ryanair.
This made me nervous immediately.
Anyone who’s anyone knows they are by far the worst airline for customer services, hidden extra prices and just generally unhappy staff. I see so many things shared on social media about unpleasant experiences people have had. I always remember when I travelled to Marbella for a hen do, being told by a member of Ryanair staff that I needed to re print my boarding pass, as the wrong one had been torn. They described their employees as ‘bastards’ and informed me I would be charged if I had the wrong piece of paper.
When I read this now, I must have been out of my mind booking flights from Stansted to Biarritz, where my friend was going to pick us up. We thought we had a good deal and then luggage prices were added on. An extra £100 just to take bags!! I remember paying and having that uneasy feeling at the time. Something was niggling at me as I typed in my credit card details.
Fast forward a few months and that niggle turned out to be an omen.
Half way down the M1 I get the text to say our flight had been cancelled.
No explanation. I searched around on Twitter and found the excuse of storms. It was a gorgeous sunny day and no other airlines had cancelled flights. They also blamed delays on a lack of air traffic control in some of the destinations but to be honest we didn’t believe a word of it.
They offered a refund or to try and rebook.
Right!!
No Ryanair flights to Biarritz until Sunday. No other airlines did direct flights from Stansted, so we were looking at 2 or more changes and looong journeys. To be honest I also wouldn’t trust Ryanair to get us home on our booked return flight. I’ll never trust them again.
With all the recent strikes and bad weather many people have been in our situation but what makes it worse is Ryanair are refusing to compensate for any involving the strikes, as say it is ‘extraordinary circumstances’. Utter crap. We currently don’t know if we will get a full refund for the whole trip. We will definitely be trying and looking into compensation.
In some ways we are fortunate to have had our main holiday to Crete earlier in the year but we were so excited to be seeing friends for the week, the heat, spending time together and having a break. Ryanair has totally ruined that for us.
We are sensible people. We all were upset and disappointed and angry. We know things could be worse but we have time off and time together. Stopping for a food break often makes everything seem clearer!
But what about all the people who have had their flights cancelled before their main summer holiday, their first holiday in ages perhaps? Saved for ages. Stress, losing days and precious time travelling later. Losing precious money. It’s appalling, so disappointing and just not acceptable.
So for me now it’s a no brainer. I will NEVER EVER book a flight with Ryanair again. Cheap, shitty flights are not worth the upset and disappointment. I would rather pay the extra money and not be let down at the last minute. I’d rather go on a plane where staff want to be there and are not going to slag off their employers. I’d rather have an airline where you know what’s included from the get go and there are no hidden charges. I’d rather have an airline who care about their passengers.
Ryanair you’ve lost custom and I hope after this last week or so, you lose a lot more. Ruining so many holidays and not even offering to compensate some is a disgrace!
The flight I never took will be my last with you.
