Ryanair’s high risk policy of cancelling flights, the initial limp excuse being ‘to increase the airline’s punctuality rate,’ continues to cause widespread confusion, anger and resentment among its customers as the Irish airline’s management announced this morning that an additional 164 flights, scheduled to depart over the next three days, will affect up to 30,000 passengers.
The airline is to shelve 50 flights a day for the next six weeks in a move that has caused uproar in the cost-sensitive and notoriously fickle short-haul market.
The Stansted-based airline cancelled around 160 flights over the weekend, claiming that ‘an administrative foul up in planning annual leave for flight crew,’ as the latest reason.
The policy of flight cancellations is affecting internal UK flights as well as those to Europe from Stansted, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol and Gatwick, including many key Faro flights.
On Tuesday Sept 19th, the number of Stansted cancellations falls to 18, but some relatively long flights have been scrapped to and from Latvia, plus services to Rome.
Faro is served by Ryanair from at 16 UK locations and initially has lost flights from Luton and Manchester in an ever-changing scenario.
The airline’s marketing director, Kenny Jacobs, announced that, “Notices for flights cancelled up to and including Wednesday 20 September, have been sent to affected customers and posted on the Ryanair.com website.
"We apologise to all affected customers for these cancellations. We have messed up in the planning of pilot holidays and we're working hard to fix that," added Jones.
“We will continue to send regular updates and post flight information on our website, with the next set of cancellations to be issued on Monday. We apologise sincerely to all affected customers for these cancellations.”
Jacobs added "Flights are operating as scheduled unless an e-mail confirming a cancellation has been received. We advise customers to check the e-mail address used to make their booking. Cancellation notices for flights cancelled up to and including Wednesday September 20th have been sent to affected customers and we will continue to send regular updates and post flight information on our website.
"We apologise to all affected customers for these cancellations. We have messed up in the planning of pilot holidays and we're working hard to fix that."
The varying excuses used by the airline are weak and, as ever, Ryanair's modus operandi is to 'lie first and lie later.'
The sudden inability of its computer system to process refunds for many customers, adds salt to the wound.
The airline's unstated policy is to cancel flights to squeeze those passengers onto the flights remaining on the departures board.
O’Leary said that travellers vowing never to fly with Ryanair again will almost certainly return because its prices are lower, “Our booking engine is full of passengers who have sworn they will never fly with us again,” said the Ryanair boss, adding that the airline will not book passengers on to rival airlines to get them to their destination on time.
“We will not pay for flights on other airlines,” he said. “We cannot afford to pay the high costs of our competitors.”
Comments
And it has nothing to do with pilot holidays and everything to do with a report in today's Irish Independent that Norwegian Air have taken on 140 Ryanair pilots by offering better pay and conditions.
Ryanair are fast tracking it to administration. Or perhaps Norwegian Air or EasyJet will take them over first and turn them into a decent operation.
I took them once, on a Paris-Barcelona return ticket. "Paris" was actually Beauvais, a field of mud about an hour north of Paris and "Barcelona" was actually Girona, a small city about an hour north of Barcelona. Customer service was atrocious, cabin staff inhospitable, and seating downright uncomfortable. Never again.
Perhaps some level of customer dissatisfaction will result from this most recent scheduling event but if history is any indication of the future, many/most Brits will look only at price when they make travel arrangements.