24 July 2015 2922 words, 12 min. read Latest update : 8 November 2023

Ryanair: the best complaint letter ever sent + tips to get compensated

By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab PhD in marketing, director of IntoTheMinds
Complaints are important for companies aiming at improving customer satisfaction and loyalty. Yet, most companies don’t answer complaints (50-60% according to the interview of Prof. Davidow you can listen below), which is a very frustrating experience for complainants. This is […]

Complaints are important for companies aiming at improving customer satisfaction and loyalty. Yet, most companies don’t answer complaints (50-60% according to the interview of Prof. Davidow you can listen below), which is a very frustrating experience for complainants. This is what you should expect if you ever want to complaint to Ryanair. What you also may expect from Ryanair’s answer to your complaint is a defensive attitude. Based on my long complaining experience and the numerous “fights” I’ve won, here are my tips. In this article you’ll also find some distraction in the form of a complaint letter (probably the best I’ve ever read) sent by a dissatisfied customer to Ryanair.

What does the future look like for Ryanair ? Well, if you want to read our post-covid predictions for Ryanair, take a look at this article. You might not like it, but we think Ryanair’s future isn’t actually that bad.

Table of contents

Ryanair’s worst practices

Although Ryanair made its complaints’ statistics public in 2014 (and quite frankly they weren’t that bad) the 2019 pilots’ strikes shed light on other, less positive, practices. Passengers could expect systematic denial of their rights and long waiting days.

Trying to get compensation from Ryanair is a lengthy process that often ends up in disappointment. Remember for instance in 2018 passengers who received no compensation or those who got a check which eventually got bounced.

What should you expect if you send a complaint letter to Ryanair?

Let’s be honest. You should expect nothing but a denial letter. For a long time Ryanair has loudly claimed its focus on low-costs rather than on service quality. Although Ryanair’s CEO is trying to change things and regain market share, on the field bad employees’ habits are hard to break. This is actually quite common about firms in general and airlines in particular. They first focus on defending their interests rather than being customer centric. You may remember the story of Dave Carroll and United Airlines (don’t miss Dave Carroll’s interview here), or that of Kenny and Crédit Mutuel. Both achieved millions views on YouTube.

Unfortunately Ryanair’s bad practices tend to propagate to other airlines those days. A study published by consumer watchdog Which? in 2017 revealed that airlines’ decision to refuse compensation to passengers was incorrect:

  • in 83% of cases for Norwegian
  • in 77% of cases for Ryanair
  • in 69% of cases for Thomson
  • in 73% of cases for Iberia
  • in 48% of cases for British Airways

A Scientist’s View on Customer Claims Management

Prof. Moshe Davidow is one of the world’s leading experts in customer complaint management. We had the pleasure of producing a podcast with him on the topic of customer satisfaction. In the excerpt below, he discusses the issue of customer complaint management and gives us several insights on what practices companies should follow.

What should you do to enforce your rights

It happened to me that on my way to the RecSys conference in Vancouver, my flight was delayed 5 hours. I was flying with Air Canada from Brussels on that day. I wasn’t expecting any issues in getting compensated but Air Canada opposed all kinds of fallacious arguments to refuse compensation. The case had to be brought to court and I eventually won. I took slightly over a year to win.

I knew I was right and I had taken all precautions to prove it:

  • I innocently asked a flight attendant what the reason for the delay was and I recorded it (“tires had to be changed and there was no tire available at the departure airport”)
  • I didn’t take advantage of the free miles voucher Air Canada gave us when we arrived (which would have forfeited my rights)
  • I kept all receipts
  • I took pictures of the delay announced on the screen

I asked RefundMyTicket to act on my behalf but even they faced difficulties and took the case to court 12 months after the flight. Once the legal process started however, Air Canada magically started to cooperate and paid the expected compensation

This is what you should do to get compensated by Ryanair

If your flight is delayed and if you think you are eligible for a compensation, don’t lose your time writing a complaint letter to Ryanair (except if you want to vent your frustration; in that case use this form). Let professionals do it for you. They have better chances of success and will handle everything for you. The only thing you need is patience. A lot of patience.

Here are a list of firms that can handle your claim on your behalf. They work on a no-cure-no-pay principle. Pay nothing, submit your claim and wait. I used RefundMyTicket but there are many other firms of this kind: FlightRight or AirHelp.

Success fee vary from one company to the other. Make sure to compare before making a decision. Once you have “hired” a company to handle your claim you won’t be able to change.

A complaint letter to Ryanair that makes history

I stumbled upon an amazing complaint letter recently on the Dear Customer Relations website.  This letter was originally posted by James Lockley on Facebook and ridicules Ryanair’s employees’ bad practices. It’s an amazing piece of text that will certainly make your day, especially if you once flew with the Irish airline.

The complaint letter posted by James Lockley on Facebook.

The complaint letter posted by James Lockley on Facebook.

What most struck me in the answers provided by Ryanair’s employees is their total lack of empathy, inability to be creative and deviate from the rules, and their unwillingness to take initiative. Initiatives taken to better satisfy a customer should be rewarded; a company where they aren’t or where employees are afraid of taking initiatives is totally wrong on what service quality and satisfaction means.

It seems that O’Leary still has a much to do to improve his firm’s brand image.

Happy reading …

complaint-letter-ryanair

Dear Sir/Madam,I am writing for the attention of your customer experience team. I am definitely a customer, and believe me, you didn’t fail providing us with an experience.

My wife and I had booked to fly from Stansted on the Thursday 17th April, evening flight to Bratislava. After 2 hours of fun, fun, fun, stuck on the M25 doing 20 mph, we arrived at Stansted check in with just one hour until the flight. Knowing the strict Ryan Air policy on ‘check in closes 40 mins before the flight’ as you are the Low Fare Taxi of The Skies, we went straight to the Ryan Air assistant and explained our plight. She said we were still within the time and all would be fine but we had to make the attendant at check in aware and he would assist from there.

We approached the attendant as instructed and explained. Unfortunately, in the main part, due to him being a child, and forgetting to bring his mother to work, he heard only half of the words before his brain fell apart like a wet cake. He led us to the line for closing gates, advised we should wait and all would be ok. We stood patiently in the line for 20 minutes. We got to the front of the line and the lady, who we shall from this point refer to as Vacant, explained that she had literally just that second closed the flight and we had missed it. We complained that we had done as instructed and she said it was the child’s fault because he should have advised her that we were trying to board a closing flight and that because he hadn’t told her it was therefore our fault we had missed the plane.

Confused by this process of blame apportioning, another check in clerk, who we shall refer to as Not That Bright, tried to blame us for not responding to the last call for the flight as we should have made ourselves known. I argued that the last call had not been made. Not That Bright then questioned Vacant on whether she had done a final call. Vacant did what she does best and looked, well,…… After establishing that the child had not informed Vacant we were here, and Vacant had forgotten to do a last call and that all of this was irreversible, and my fault, Not That Bright and Vacant conferred to agree this was not a problem they wished to deal with and told us to get in a very, very long line of very, very unhappy people at the quite wrongly titled ‘Customer Services Counter’ as it was in fact a Customer Shouting Desk. We complained and requested the attention of a manager.

Out came Colin, a man so angry all his hair had literally fallen out. He was so aggressive I can only assume he had accidentally inserted something sharp into somewhere private and been unable to remove it before he came to work. He was definitely a middle Gimp. I know this as Vacant and Not That Bright were clearly quite scared of him, and he can’t have been a Big Cheese as he was talking directly to customers and we all know from the papers that no-one in Big Cheese management at Ryan Air has ever seen, let alone spoken to an actual customer.

Middle Gimp had clearly listen hard at Ryan Air Middle Gimp school as he managed to take two perfectly calm and sane adults and in a matter of seconds reduce them to angry people considering violence.

‘Check in opens 3 hours before the flight’ he barked repeatedly as if it was the answer to every question in life. We tried to ask Middle Gimp direct questions about why it was necessary for us to miss the flight because the Child had forgotten to do his job, and Vacant had forgotten to do hers.

‘Why is this our fault, and why should we miss the flight because Ryan Air staff have admitted they made errors?.

‘Check in opens three hours before the flight’

‘Do you acknowledge we have just cause for complaint as we tried to do the right thing and the only reason we are not on the plane is because of communication failures with Ryan Air Staff?’

‘Check in opens three hours before the flight’

‘What colour are my trousers?’

‘Check in opens three hours before the flight’

‘Do you think economic sanctions on Russia will diffuse the escalating situation in Ukraine?’

‘Check in opens three hours before the flight’

‘Were Man Utd right to fire David Moyes?’

‘Check in opens three hours before the flight’

‘My tinkle is hurting, could you take a look if I promise not to tell anyone?’

‘Check in opens three hours before the flight’

Middle Gimp then conferred with Vacant and Not That Bright, and agreed that this was all our fault as we should have noticed that Child had made an error and we should have called the flight ourselves to assist Vacant in doing her job because she was clearly busy being, well,…… Middle Gimp then insisted we go to customer the Customer Shouting Desk, as he was definitely not going to do anything else. This was handy as the queue was very long so that by the time we would reach the front the plane would be half way to Bratislava and the problem would be solved.

We waited patiently in line as customer after customer stood at the desk to hear the same song;

‘No, no, I can’t do that, no, there are no Middle Gimps available, no, no, sorry, no, give me all your money’

We got to the Customer Shouting Desk and explained our plight to the lady there (who was actually very nice and clearly should not be working for Ryan Air as a result). She apologised but explained that Middle Gimp had finished being angry for the day and had returned to his padded cage, and there were no other Middle Gimps around. We would have to book in to the flight for the next day and we would have to pay £110 each to change the ticket. When she tried to re-book the flight she said that the flight we had tried to get was actually delayed by 1 hour and still at the airport and that what we should do is run to the gate with all our luggage, she would call through and they would check our bags into the hold at the gate. We ran as fast as we could, which is not very fast because I am fat, to security to do as instructed. Security advised us that because our flight should have left, even though it hadn’t, the ticket machine would not open the barrier for us and we would need to return to the Customer Shouting Desk.

We waited patiently in the very long queue yet again for about 40 minutes to discover the nice lady had also gone home now so we had to explain the whole thing again to a new lady that looked like all the joy had been removed from her life at birth. She recited the Ryan Air customer services song with a sterling level of apathy and dreariness, I am surprised she could muster the will just to breathe and stay alive.

‘No, no, I can’t do that, no, there are no Middle Gimps available, no, no, sorry, no, give me all your money’

She recited it with perfection, Middle Gimps across the world would have been in awe and the effectiveness of the techniques taught in Middle Gimp School. Seeing no other option but to hand over all our cash and come back the next morning we happily paid and got new flights.

As the new flight was at 6.25am in the morning we decided to get a hotel, we paid £79 for a room and got a taxi.

So, our customer experience was insightful and liberating. From the incompetent Child with a brain so full of girls and Vauxhall Corsa modifications he couldn’t actually listen or speak, through Vacant and Not That Bright who decided on reflection that anything they did wrong was our fault for not pointing it out to them, right through Middle Gimp who made a Tasmanian Devil look calm and Zen like, and the sad one, oh so sad, having every last drop of life sucked out of her by her chosen career at the Ryan Air Customer Shouting Desk. I very nearly jumped over the desk just to give her a cuddle and tell her everything would be alright if she could just muster the will to leave the Ryan Air Customer Shouting Desk and find a more fulfilling job, like starting the very first Israeli pork pie factory, or being a parking attendant in Tower Hamlets, or in fact just resigning herself to a slow and uncomfortable death would have been indistinguishable from the current position and would require much less effort.

The net result of this ‘experience’ was;

New Flights – £220
Hotel £79
Taxi x 2 £50
Worlds most expensive sandwich in the only hotel we could get £35

1 x significant breach of Tort Law (2008 as quoted by Lord Atkin) by Ryan Air, Google it, it’s a cracking read. I will leave you to decide the monetary value of this.

1 x very angry and upset wife, in particular with Middle Gimp for being so unbelievably rude.

1 x Missed wedding reception for our Slovakian family (sorry, forgot to mention this nugget earlier) who all turned up from all over the country to see us for an event we were forced to miss, because Child and Vacant are clueless at best and Middle Gimp has anger management issues.

So, thank you Ryan Air for a comfortable and enjoyable experience. I have watched a program called the news so I fully expect this to land on the desk of the customer services team underneath the empty bottles and sandwich wrappers that you also file there. You treated us badly, you cost us money and made us miss our wedding reception through a display of incompetence I have not seen since Greece was allowed to have money and a cheque book.

I sincerely doubt you will do anything about this, compensate us, apologise, or even respond according to the news, so I have sent this recorded and sign for delivery to absolutely confirm my opinion of Ryan Air and that it is not just ‘lost in the post’

Regards

You bunch of…………….

DJ Lockley

P.S. Maybe Middle Gimp in particular, but Child, Not That Bright, and Vacant should purchase one of your reasonably priced tickets and go to Slovakia (assuming they were actually allowed on the plane). The Ryan Air employees there are smart, clever, bilingual, helpful, and polite and they should in my opinion experience an example of how they should do their jobs. The Slovak staff could explain it to them, but they wouldn’t be able to understand it for them, so it may be a waste of time after all.

Picture : Rob Wilson / Shutterstock.com


Posted in Marketing.

28 comments

  1. After problems with making our online Ryanair booking. We added 1 checked bag and seats and checked the cost and paid. The booking email came through without any of the extras.
    This letter sent by DJ Lockley made me feel OK for getting mad and drinking Gin and tonic to help ease the pain.
    I do not want to purchase luggage now at the higher price so I ‘ll just have to wear everything that would have been checked in. My name will be Fat for the Flight Jones

  2. Ryanair has been in business far too long and they should be avoided at all costs.

  3. Still trying to get a response from Ryan Air. Lost my sons bag. Bag containing figure skates and sports equipment for an international camp. He is there and unable to train on the ice. At best we’ve wasted one week. At worst – we won’t ever find the skates again. Cost of £650 to replace. And boys boots need to be ordered from factory which shuts every August.

  4. If you ever purchase a Ryanair flight just make sure your insurance covers “Abandonment ” . There will be a time when using Ryanair will not be covered by your policy . Sound advice is never ever use this airline , price may sound cheap but your replacement flights home will be expensive and not compensated by Ryanair. The process of applying for reimbursement is that all details have to be on one page no more than 4 mb. This whole process is to put you off from applying . This has been our experience of late . Ps we are still married.

  5. Still waiting for refund when they change the flights to over 3 hours my husband has dementia so could not fly in 3months Iv had 173 email from them 9 confirmations of refund back in my bank and 1 email with condolences on my bereavement customer services are a disgrace but wont give up even if I have to sit in the offices at swords and cause havoc

  6. There are three fiscal policies behind Ryanair’s commercial success – and continued existence – despite its being one of the world’s most unpopular airlines. One is that Ryanairs’s ‘cheap’ flights are effectively paid for by the mugs who buy Ryanair’s disfunctional ‘extras’ such as priority boarding and fast track. The second is the ‘penalties’ which Ryanair inflicts on uninformed passengers, for not online-printing a boarding pass. The third secret is that the ground staff, at least at UK airports, are encouraged to regard passengers as toxic distractions to be swatted away like flies or mosquitoes. There are other money-saving scams such as not cleaning aircraft between successive flights; and underpayment of flying staff. But the three pillars of success for this monstrous scam of a so-called airline, remain those quoted above. Its truly a case of ‘caveat emptor’ if you are unfortunate enough to have to use Ryanair.

  7. Just had the worse treatment from the so called ‘professional staff’ of Ryanair.
    Issues when getting onto plane at Manchester due to an idiotic crew member, issues with being treated like cattle at Budapest airport, a Ryanair check onto the plane staff actually attempting to charge both me and my wife €25 each for our hand luggage, until I pointed out that due to Ryanairs incompetence in introducing this new rip off cost they have had to wait until Dec 1st to activate said rip off.
    And finally over charging for “duty free” items on the plane as it appears now that Ryanair are in control of the European exchange rate euro to GBP, in short a €20 item should be £17.80 Not £19 as quoted to me by a crew member, I pointed out his mistake so he then said oh!!! Ok it’s £18.60 then, obviously maths is a weak point for him.
    I have been trying for 2 days to actually put a formal complaint in place, however Ryanair have an uncanny ability to pass you onto people who wait 40 minutes to tell you that they can’t help as you are contacting the wrong dept or simply cut you off during conversation or live chat, however I am not going to give in, oh yes and I went onto Ryanair to get the receipts for our in flight purchases and guess what We don’t exist on the flight quoted !!!!!! Is this not very very suspect???

  8. The worst example of customer satisfaction today 19.022019 at Ryanair check.in desk Otopeni Bucharest we had experienced
    the most shockingly unprofessional and rude lady if I can call her ”LADY” in her desperate need for more money to squeeze out from Ryanair customers JUST asking her to reveal her hidden badge or her name she was threatening us with the airport, security action and missing the flight
    Name got slipped out by one of her colleagues
    ”Andrea ”

  9. Ryan Air passenger ‘assitance’ (I say that with my tongue very much in my cheek and have to be careful not to bite it off in anger! We took my 80 year old mother to See the Tall Ships for her birthday – on her bucket list – Ryan Air nearly managed to make sure she did in fact kick the bucket! On the way, we realised that it was virtually impossible to push a wheelchair and manoeuvre on board luggage which means assistance passengers are effectively forced to pay more to check their cabin bags into the hold. Forunately other kind passengers helped us out. On arrival at our destination there was no wheelchair once my mother disembarked which meant my mother had to stand and wait ont he tarmac and we were signifcantly delayed leaving the airport resulting in extra charges on the taxi we had booked to meet up at the airport. On the way home my mother was asked if she could manage the plane steps – as she was having a good day and because she likes to be no bother she said ‘yes if she could go slowly’. On disembarkation she climbed slowly down the steps and was puffing on her inhaler when she was then asked to climb back up and come down the lift as the wheelchair and assistance vehicle was on the other side of the plane! We refused not least because my mother was already breathless at that point! Thanks Ryan Air – a truly memorable 80th birthday trip of a lifetime!

  10. We had a similar event this week, 24/9/19 trying to board 1825 Ryanair flight FR1081 at Lisbon terminal 2, all going well until the boarding gate opened and passengers started to queue on the tarmac in sight of a Ryanair plane, we were then told boarding was suspended and we should return to the boarding gate and there was an hours delay, at the same time text messages were recieved from Expedia and Ryanair saying there was a 105 minute delay and the expected departure was 2010.
    After a while we were told we could not stay at the gate as it was airport policy and as we had technically left Portugal we had to re enter the country but this could only be done at Terminal 1, we were put on buses and taken to the other terminal where we had to pass through passport control and customs as if we had just landed, once this was done we were marched across the terminal by a member of Ryanair staff who all of a sudden disappeared near the entry gate for Terminal 1, airport staff then tried directing us to the gates to scan our boarding passes, being uncertain most passengers stuck together and declined which caused arguments which resulted in the young girl member of staff becoming bemused and stressed, retiring from the scene, one passenger tried scanning his pass but was denied entry this alerting security staff who after several arguments denied access to everyone, another young girl from airport staff appeared and after being bombarded by over 40 passengers started to use her phone to enquire internally what the problem was, eventually she advised us that we all had to make our way back to Terminal 2 and directed us all to the public shuttle bus at the entrance, here the disappearing Ryanair pied piper magically reappeared indifferent to the chaos hed just caused to already unhappyfare paying passengers.
    Arriving back at Terminal 2 we all found the queue toward the boarding process almost to the Terminal door, enquiring at the Ryanair desk an indifferent uncaring woman shrugged her shoulders and said we’d have to go to the rear of the queue, we and other Stansted passengers then pushed into the queue upsetting passengers trying to board other flights, this commotion caused security staff to call Stansted passengers to side gate where we were scanned by a handheld scanner checking the passport response by verbal questioning to confirm identities. On teaching security check those who had brought refreshments purchase after the first checkin had liquids confiscated, mine by an ignorant rude security guard who was unsympathetic with our plight stating it didn’t matter how many times we came around hed confiscate our drinks. Some other passengers had trouble getting duty free goods through which caused further delay to the plane whilst this was sorted out. The plane departed at 2028, 123 minutes late with some seat not occupied. No apologies were forthcoming until we landed at Stansted when the pilot gave the standard delay apology and thanking us for flying with Ryanair.
    The whole sorry episode was worthy of a slot on Holidays from Hell TV programme.
    Oh and the reason for the delay… Ryanair had redirected our originsl plane to fly at short notice to Brussels and we had to wait for a replacement, probably to save giving compensation to either set of passengers.
    This was the worst flying experience in 19 years and although not a regular Ryanair customer will in future avoid this company like the plague choosing other airlines even if they are more expensive, also in any return to Portugal Lisbon airport will be avoided if at all possible

    David U

  11. SO FAR FROM MY EXPERIANCE WITH RYANAIR THEY SHOULD ENGAGE THE SERVICES OF NICHOLAS CAGE THEN THEY COULD REBRAND AS CON AIR !!!!!!!!

  12. Yes after Ryanair promised that my (or any-ones) flight was cancelled the the next available could be chosen or a refund. However the next available flight is a lot more money and now they want you to pay the difference. I am hoping in law that if you have purchased an item (a ticket and return ) then the equivelant should be offered and not to pay any difference. Because of the demand due to cancelled flights all flights are now more booked and cost conciderably more.

    ?? This wouldnt happen at Argos ??

  13. Typical Ryanair , not my cup of tea but my dear mother who is 72 wanted to go to Dublin on the beer , so we booked for Easter and due to Covid-19 it was cancelled . The airline was returning our hard earned money but now its vouchers for future flights which the will charge the earth as you probably have to put the voucher number in first so they recognise who else to con . The email i received also said i can still ask for a refund but as always i am waiting for a response and i am also queuing every day to chat to an agent . Open times are 6am till 9pm and still no answer . Customers are sat in a virtual queue as there are probably no agents working , just another cock up from Raynair so we all take our vouchers and not get a cash refund , never will i book with these again would rather pay more to another airline than fly with these buffoons

  14. Well, we just never learn, do we? Mr O’Leary wants us all to rush back onto his crammed planes as soon as possible BEFORE it is even safe to consider ever flying again in the current Covid-19 pandemic.
    BUT do not worry as he will make sure we are all WEARING A MASK so there you go, fly the wonderful Ryanair with no worries of catching the virus and being gravely ill or maybe dying!
    ANYBODY WHO TAKES A RYANAIR FLIGHT MUST BE MENTAL, PLEASE AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE OR LIKE THE CORONAVIRUS. THIS COMPANY REALLY IS DISGUSTING.

  15. I was warned not to book with Ryanair, but for so called cheap flights, I booked with them. Boy, did I make one big mistake! This company, this O’lear Is a con man. He get s away with anything he wants. My flight was cancelled in mid May due to Coronavirus, I applied for my refund on line but no confirmation from Ryanair, only that it would take two to three weeks to process. This is now 9th August 2020 and they haven’t paid a penny. I hear on the media from O’Leary asking customers to be patient because they are working with reduced staff. Correct me if I am wrong but is O’Leary not packing people into his plains like sardines!! So why can he not take on more staff in his offices. I tried to phone them also but as you guessed, even this has problems. It took 1hour and 10 minutes to get through, said hello, then the line was cut off. RYANAIR YOU ARE A DISGRACE. Anyone who books through this lot needs needs to think again, don’t do it. You have been warned!!!

  16. We foolishly used the voucher to rebook our cancelled flights to France in May to the end of August. Unfortunately with the lockdown rules on return we can no longer go .Having been on Ryanair’s customer helpline for 1 1/2 hours , we were told that because we used a voucher we could not transfer our flights , that’s transfer not refund .How can this make any difference.Also they still owe me for other cancelled flights in May .I will never use this outfit ever again

  17. I am waiting for a NoShow receipt from Ryanair since March,
    In April I was told I would have it in 5-10 days,
    phoned many times since , told I was on priority list,
    As of August 20 th. I am still waiting for same

  18. Great stuff, good old Ryan air. I was contacted by these clowns in May to say that my flights in July had been changed and that I ( my party ) were eligible for refunds if I simply filled in an online form. The form was duly filled in and sent requesting a cash refund .I received a response stating that me money would be returned within 20 working days, guess what, yes you got it no show. I contacted them again via there live chat and was told how sorry they were and that it was going to take 8 weeks . Oh dear no show again. sorry it will be paid by the end of July. Yet again another promised deadline goes by without any refund . I contacted them again via live chat and was told how happy they were and that they had issued me with vouchers. I have declined said vouchers and requested again that they return my cash . The online operative simply stated that they would prioratise my request . It is now September and still nothing. I have recently had other trips cancelled, Thomas cook returned my money within 2 weeks . My friends are telling me that Jet 2 are only taking 48 hrs. O’leary is a crook . I was also told by there operative that I must go through them before I go to my credit card company . I believe that this is another lie and I am contacting my C/C supplier in the morning. Ryan air are still raking in cash from unsuspecting victims. Some people have no shame.

  19. I CANT UNDERSTAND HOW THEY CAN CHANGE THERE TERMS AND CONDITIONS ANYTIME THEY WANT.
    TO LET YOU BOOK WITHOUT WORRY THEY ARE ALLOWING ALL BOOKINGS MADE TO BE ALLOWED TO CHANGE TWICE… SO I BOOKED TWO FLIGHTS, ONE OF WHICH WAS CANCELLED SO OK CANT BE HELPED I CAN GET A REFUND AND CHANGE THE OTHER FLIGHT. YES….. !!!!! NO!!!!!!!
    SEEMS LIKE ORIGINALLY YOU COULD CHANGE UP TO 4 HRS BEFORE YOUR DEPARTURE (TRUE I USED THIS SERVICE) … CHANGED TO MUST BE AMENDED 7 DAYS BEFORE DEPARTURE… NOW ALTHOUGH THEY QUOTE “AT LEAST 7 DAYS BEFORE DEPARTURE” THEY THEN MENTION DOWN BELOW IF YOUR WITHIN THE 7DAYS THEN THE FLIGHTS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO BE CHANGED WITHOUT FEES. I MIGHT BE STUPID BUT WANTING TO CHANGE MY FLIGHT ON 17TH JUNE AND HOLDING FOR 2HRS 45MINS ON THERE RYANAIR CHAT LINE ON 10TH JUNE I WAS TOLD I WAS TOO LATE. I TRIED TO SAY I WAS ON THE 8TH DAY BECAUSE THURSDAY TO THURSDAY IS 8 DAYS AND THERE IS 7 DAYS IN A WEEK BUT NO…. BUT NO 7 DAYS IN RYANAIR TERMS IS 8 DAYS IN NORMALITY AND THE 8TH DAY DOES NOT COUNT IT HAS TO BE BEFORE THAT, EVEN THE GIRL EXPLAINING THIS TO ME TOLD ME IT DOESNT MAKE SENSE AND I SHOULD COMPLAIN AND PROVIDED ME WITH AN ADDRESS. WHICH I MIGHT ADD LEADS YOU ROUND AND ROUND IN CIRCLES. WILL I NEVER LEARN

  20. Hi Ryan air (who do not only not care about customers, but are actively cruel and cheating us),

    Please see below for the nitty gritty details.

     My young son and I were in an airport in Gdansk Poland, Europe traveling back home to the UK. The following occurred this past Friday the 10th of September 2021.
    I seek redress on our behalf.

    1.Your app was installed but did not work for check-in the day before. As such it was not possible to check in earlier. I arrived at the airport and had to check in by manual with a cold hearted person. 
    They stated my hand luggage which was fine for flying to my destination on Ryan air a few days earlier was not going to fit on the plane, and it required check in for an exorbitant extra price. 

    This in the end did not make sense as since I was denied check in ;as we shall see and had to book another flight later that afternoon to the closest I could to the original destination, I was again allowed to go through with my hand luggage without issue on the next flight. 

    2.So twice the hand luggage was fine and this time the staff made an issue for nothing at all. Very appalling gall they had.

    3. They said I need to pay checking fees even though the app didn’t work the previous day etc. When you login online it always redirects you to the app so this is an issue. I offered them my card to pay.

    4. They said they could not give me boarding cards unless I showed them my PLF for covid.

    5. I said “I am soon to board with my young child, and my wife and children have been waiting at home for almost a week. Please give the boarding cards and I will have it filled in before I arrive at the gate. I do not want to miss the flight.” They refused. Then I was near the end of filling it out, and the staff member said “I must go” and sent me to two other staff. Those two other staff went on a power trip shouting they cannot issue me a boarding pass because the hand luggage needs to be checked in. I told them I had just flown Ryan air with this very hand luggage they said this airport is different. I said alright just go ahead. They stated that unless  I show them the Plf I cannot check in. I said it’s almost finished, please print the passes and I will show it to you in a minute.
    Your email communication does not say you will be refused a pass, just you may not travel without the proper documents. Travel occurs when you are about to board last time I checked and this has been the practice I have seen throughout covid in multiple jurisdictions within the EU. Indeed common sense indicates so. Furthermore you state in your communications this inconvenience is out of your control. Your staff certainly had discretion to print passes before the stated deadline of 40 minutes to the gate.(I was there twenty minutes earlier than the closed check in time). And then hold them until the PLF was ready or refuse me boarding at the gate if I did not have it.. This is an entirely new level of draconian behaviour.( I know a case of someone the check in told you could show it at the gate and only showed it before boarding the aircraft and it was still ok.)
    They stonewalled until they said one cannot get any more boarding passes since it is forty minutes before the flight. Then they cursed at me in front of my son and sent me to book another flight. There was a long queue of refused passengers there crying and all they did was say buy a new ticket online. We at least did not get cheated by the other staff there, who did not advise us that online is cheaper than at the booking tickets desk.
    This is happening over a  half hour before the flight leaves, and is a total travesty. As by all accounts I had every right to go on that flight with all documentation now ready. This is a small airport. Has common decency gone out the window!
    For the first and second flights with you that week, and when someone checks-in on the app or online they are allowed to upload covid documents later. Furthermore there is no law that disallows one from arriving at the gate without a plf. It would easily have been filled out prior to arrival at the gate. I saw at the gate there were people who were told they could fill out the plf by  your staff on the spot. ( The Irony is that in the UK the border police stated they did not even want to see the PLF when I offered it to them. I have traveled many times at the height of covid for serious business and the airlines were all ok with it being filled out before boarding at the gate. Previously it was only something required upon arrival. And I was witness to someone arriving from the United States during a lockdown for essential travel where the UK airport staff in the passport helped the person fill it out before clearing passports.) 
    The lack of common sense and courtesy and common decency here is absolutely appalling and galling!
    I was stranded as I was at the mercy of cruel staff. At 5.36 am in a stopover country far from home. After traveling for 24 hours already, it took me another day and a half to get home because of their intransigence and buying another two tickets, taxis and trains to get to my home in the end on Saturday night.
    Furthermore your staff started cursing at me in front of my son. Something I have yet to witness after decades of international travel. This is just adding insult to injury.

    My flight was due to depart at 6:10 am. My Plf was ready at 5:36 am.(4:36 Gdansk time where I was). There have been times where you took off late by over an hour and I did not complain.. This flight boards at the last minute and I could easily have made it onto the flight through security etc. I offered that should a boarding pass be given, it would be at my own risk if I missed the flight. However your staff stated that even though they were at check in and for thirty minutes beforehand refused me a check in boarding card etc they were not allowed to issue me a boarding pass. They should easily have printed them out, and then held them in their hands until the plf was ready if they are now the almighty arbiters of the law. Has your staff become the passport control, who knows how to be more humane than your check in staff?

    I cannot imagine poorer service and more exemplary cruel insensitive level of normal interaction for any business let alone an airline service. Your staff emitted a putrid strong palpable despicable hate for us.. I have never encountered this level of hate directed at us anywhere else.
    I had to suffer as well as my young son. So did my wife and children at home.
    I seek full compensation and will waive no right’s to pursue a lawsuit for the discriminatory nature of your rude staff’s behaviour to us.

    If the money is not refunded and credited to my account within the next forty eight hours I shall pursue all larger claims in full in both social media, Lawsuits and regular media. I was refused boarding for no adequate reason, and through the faultiness of your technology deployed. We were verbally abused and denigrated by your staff who cheated and insulted their customers. we had to be injured as a group through this insane behaviour and got home only a day and a half later.
    My details for the refund are as follows.
    The booking reference I did not fly is attached below. The new booking I made is  reference number…. I had to book luggage on this in case the horrible ….will once again claim hand luggage doesn’t fit when it did each other time. So please refund me the fees for the extra luggage i had to book and not use either.The train receipts in order to get home are attached. The taxi from the airport was 30 pounds..But I have no receipt for that.

    Warm regards to the human who has any sympathy while reading this, if not, go find a human heart!

    P.s. During boarding -against the rules, your email states -the gate staff stuffed us into a hot and unbreathable bridge boarding stairwell. As the plane had not yet been emptied yet. And when it was time to help a customer descend the stairs with her hand baggage and baby push chair etc your staff let the poor mum struggle not offering an ounce of help when it was clearly needed. I did help her, and I hope you will too. You play by rules made up of your own invention, and violate your own rules with impunity. So why can you not be flexible to help yourself not cheat a customer.

    Is it the pleasure of cheating someone that you cannot help but enjoy!

  21. Having read your letter Yehuda Levin, I am now of the opinion that Ryanair are using misinformed, incorrect Covid Travel rules as a new “upsell” opportunity requiring passengers to pay £100 each to change their flight. I travelled home with my 13yr old granddaughter from Cimpino Airport Rome to Stanstead on the 10th October 2021. With all our documents to hand at the Boarding gate the Ryanair steward refused us permission to board the plan. She wrongly insisted that my granddaughter should have had a PCR Covid test that day, The UK Gov rules clearly stated that as of the 4th October children under the age of 18 if travelling with a double vaccinated Guardian should follow the same rules as the Guardian and did not require a pre flight test. The steward was rude, aggressive and just shouted over me when I tried to update her on the new rules. She threatened to call the security if we did not leave the area immediately. At the so called information desk I was sold 2 new tickets for a flight that day at 21:50hrs. When asked where I might get my granddaughter tested she did not know only suggesting I should get a taxi to town and walk round to find a test centre, although it was Sunday and a Festive holiday so all the Pharmacies were closed. A very kind taxi driver suggested we drive the 55km to Fiumicino where there were several Test centres at a Cost of 155euros return. This was done and a negative test produced. At the boarding gate for the 21:50 flight the steward did not ask to see the test only stating, after she had checked my NHS vaccine QR code “she is with you she needs only her passport” So if you are thinking of flying Ryanair and the price is very reasonable, think again, it could cost you three times as much if you are unlucky enough to be picked as their “upsell” target.

  22. On the 26th of January I was in the surroundings of Gate 112 at Dublin Airport, waiting to board the flight FR7044 to Malaga. It was around 06.50 am aproximately.Two Ryanair ground staff (a tall male in his thirties with dark hair and a slim brunette female with glasses in her late forties or fifties) were sitting in front of me. They were both chatting maskless for a good while. When I politely asked them to put their masks on again, they became extremely defensive and agitated, accusing me of taking pictures of them (I had just taken an screenshot of my QR Code) and demanded to show them my phone. I refused to show them any photos from my phone as they are part of my privacy. Then they stated they didn’t have to wear any face mask as it is apparently not obligatory according to some supossed law or Directive as the older lady mentioned. When I enquired about the public announcement coming from the speakers related to the obligatory use of face masks in the airport , they continued saying they didn’t have to wear any masks. The older woman even asked me if by any chance I had any idea about her medical history and that maybe she was exempt from wearing any masks at all. She then pointed at other passengers around that apparently were not wearing any masks ( I didn’t look at them) and told me to ask them to wear their masks too.

    I couldn’t believe they were talking to me in such an abusing and threatening manner, pointing fingers at me while still not wearing any masks. There was never any need to respond to my enquires in such way. They even said that I was harassing them…Funny enough I felt I was the one being harrassed).
    Then they both left. The man went to board my flight and the lady went away, or so I thought. When I approached my gate I could see the older lady watching defiantly from some distance, I guess she thought I was going to talk to some other Ryanair staff about the incident. Which I probably should have done.

    I found the whole experience very intimidating and I felt that these two ground staff were exercising an abuse of power with threats and stating they had some especial privileges not to wear any masks, when things would have been much easier if they just put the masks on from the beginning, I don’t think I was asking anything offensive. In this Covid Climate how can passengers be expected to follow any Covid related rules when the same staff is not only not setting an example but attacking those who try to enforce the rules? I truly felt from their aggressive and absurd attitude that things would have very easily escalated and resulted in me being denied getting on board.

  23. I admire your good humour. The experience at the hands of such incompetents is however very frustrating. I recognise ‘Vacant’ but I think that this is a family name and not a first name as he has multiple siblings working within Ryanair.
    My latest frustration with said company was an attempt to book a flight. When I went to pay for the flight, a message appeared saying “Our computer systems are down and your booking could not be completed.” So I booked with another airline. 10 days later I noticed a charge of €1206.87 on my card. Phone call to Ryanair put me through to one of the Vacant clan. Told I had in fact made a booking. I queried not only the message at the time, but also why I had not received any confirmation email. Academically destitute Vacant informed me that I hadn’t received an email because “I see the computer systems were down when you made the booking – I’ll send it on now.” I realised at this stage that I was unlikely to get any resolution to my situation. I phoned Ryanair head office and was left waiting 40 minutes. I then had to go and perform surgery which took me 92 minutes after which I returned to my office to find the same loop playing with “we are very busy, please continue to hold and a Death-eater member of staff will attempt to fight with you as soon as possible if you are still alive.” So it’s off to the courts for me vs Ryanair. I’m actually looking forward to it and will chronicle my odyssey. Wish me luck!

  24. Nice to know I’m not alone. I,ve attempted to submit an EU261 claim via the ryanair website, but apparently my IBAN and BIC numbers are incorrect (my bank begs to differ). I’ve been on hold on twitter (thats novel) for 4 hours after attempting to use their fabulous DM ‘helpline’.

  25. I love some of these very witty comments and have been reading them whilst waiting on Ryanair’s chat line. The bot told me she was new and couldn’t understand me – why am I not surprised? I asked to speak to a human – a big mistake as she apologised for the wait I was about 100 in line but this seemed to drop quickly so I waited and waited and when I was down to the last few the wait got longer and longer and longer and seems to be taking 30 mins or more for the call to be answered what a conundrum and I’m only 2 away and waiting it feels like for GODOT to say I’m upset is an under statement

  26. Ryanair? Avoid like the plague. Ground crew is really 0% helpful. We were unable to check in online due to a network failure at the airport. We expected some compassion from the Ryanair-staff. That was quite naive.. We soon found that out!! After a rather unpleasant conversation, with a rather unpleasant person, we had to pay £100 for our boarding passes. But they ONLY accepted credit cards! Which we didn’t have. So we couldn’t fly. Staff were ice-cold. That’s how they are trained. Finally, a friend paid for us over the wire. But we had already missed our flight because of this. Now we had to rebook our tickets.Of course, again we received the emotionless treatment of the staff and an extra 200 pounds lighter, we were finally able to leave the pigsty that is London Stansted Airport.Ryanair takes advantage of the fact people don’t own a credit card, and they do this on purpose. It’s just a low strategy to make a bit of extra money.

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