Ryanair are thieves in my opinion
 

Hi Everyone!

A bit of a rant and I'd really appreciate any constructive ideas if you have any!

Back at the start of June (more than three months ago), I had a return flight with Ryanair (on the same ticket) from Rome to Barcelona. The out-bound flight was normal and uneventful.

However, for the return flight from Barcelona to Rome....

- I paid for my seat, priority boarding and checked in online and obtained my boarding pass.

- At the airport, I went through security as normal, my boarding pass scanned valid and green at the check-point and all was uneventful.

- At the gate, priority boarding began, my boarding pass scanned red and I was told to stand aside, waiting until every other person has boarded the plane with no explanation.

- Then I was told that my boarding pass had been cancelled and that I could not board the plane, again, with no explanation.

- I was told that the gate agent could not help and I had to leave the secure area of the airport and go to the Ryanair Ticket Office outside.

- I have never been spoken to so rudely by a person as I was this gentleman (gentle?). He told me he couldn't help because he was only "representing" Ryanair and not working directly for them (even though he was sitting in the Ryanair Ticket Office). That he could do nothing for me and that I must contact Ryanair on their website. I asked for my rights for denied boarding under EU Regulation 261/2004 (meal vouchers, hotel, new flight, etc) and he said he couldn't help.

- As it was the last flight of the day (after 21:00), Ryanair online was closed. It was a weekend and online chat didn't re-open until after the weekend.

- So, I had to book a hotel online suddenly myself, take a taxi there, buy all my meals and book a flight myself the next day (with Alitalia, it was the cheapest I could find).

- Putting it nicely, I was almost in tears. It was an extremely distressing experience in a foreign-language country with no help from Ryanair and no rights given.

- I filed a claim immediately with Ryanair to re-imburse my costs. I have received a claim investigation number.

- It's now been almost four months and I haven't received any reply, nor any re-imbursement. When I contact Ryanair, they say they are still investigating! So, I put in an official complaint with AESA (the representative in Spain for EU Regulation 261/2004). I'm told this can take up to another three months with no binding outcome!

- I'm in complete shock and would appreciate any of your help greatly. I'm over €500 in debt from this and for me, that's a huge amount of much needed funds. I have no idea what to do. It's very distressing.

Thank you all so much sincerely for reading and I'd really appreciate any advice.

Please all have a wonderful day.

It was a big mistake of you to leave that area. That way the contract gate agents could get rid off you easily. You should have stayed. Then these contract agents would have had to find a solution for you.

If it did transpire as you describe then just take them to court to recoup your flight costs, expenses and denied boarding compensation.

Hi warakorn,

Initially, I did stay, but the gate agents just walked off and I certainly couldn't follow them! That would be harassment. Then at the ticket desk outside, I was told that if I don't leave, he would "call security and it wouldn't end well" :(

Hi ajeleonard,

Easier said than done. This was a Ryanair flight from Spain. I'm from Australia. I can't take them to court in Australia, it would have to be in Spain (or perhaps at least Europe). There is no chance financially or logistically that I could do that.

Hi Maestro1981,

Probably you we're not allowed to board due to a missing visa stamp (on the boardng pass), which usually can be obtained before going through airport security. Only low-cost airlines (Ryanair, Wizz Air, etc) have such check for flights within the Schengen area.

Wizz Air, another low-cost airline in Europe has similar regulations

Dear jcantb,

Thanks for your input, but unfortunately this was not the case. I had done the visa approval and even though I am from Australia, I also have residency in Europe (and European ID card). I was told that my boarding pass/ticket was cancelled on the system (somewhere between passing the security check point and boarding).

The security checkpoint doesn't actually check if your boarding pass has been cancelled or not. It just checks that it's valid for that day with no checking on the back end.

Hi Palal,

Thank you for your comment. Appreciated and good to know.

Thus, my ticket has been cancelled by Ryanair between check-in and boarding. Would appreciate if anyone has any ideas to help with this. I don't know what to do and I am definitely not in the wrong here. Surely it can't be a case of "the system can do whatever it wants". Otherwise, this is gravely worrying!

You don't have to take them to court yourself, you can use one of the claim agencies, just google "EU261 claim agency" and you should be able to find a few.
They usually take a commission which is part of the amount they get for you.

Bear in mind that it can take long time, if they actually have to take the airline to court, a year or two is not unheard of.

While I despise the entire concept of the contingent fee claims services, in your case, it is likely best. You won't pay anything unless they collect for you and they will take it from the judgment, generally 25%.

Given the passage of time, you might consider sending what amounts to a letter before action, noting that you will refer the matter to a claims agent if you do not receive the total amount due (denied boarding plus reimbursement of hotel, food, and local transport, plus refund of the original unused ticket segment) within 14 days.

Then on Day 15, refer the matter. If you don't want to embark on that, then move on.

Not a nice experience at all.

The chat service is open on Saturday and Sunday (though with more limited hours).

I am very surprised they could not give you a reason your boarding pass "scanned red".

Wow it sounds like the flight was overbooked and you were bumped (really badly)! Really poor customer service by the sounds of it.

This is almost worthy of media attention - have you contacted any in the UK or Ireland? Have you posted your experience on google reviews or their facebook page (if any).

Personally I avoid any airline that has (or thought of) charging for toilet privileges, thats a new LCC low.

Dear Ditto, Often1, teahan & davidj1,

Thank you kindly for your responses.

I hadn't thought of a claim agency, so thank you for this idea.

I spoke to Ryanair chat yesterday and they said they would send me a reply within 24 hours. We will see.

They say that an operator cancelled the ticket sometime between my check-in and boarding, saying that I must have requested the cancellation. I asked for the source and proof of my requesting cancellation in that short window of time and of course there is no proof because it didn't happen! Urghh. I personally think someone behind the scenes has made a technical error perhaps. But I shouldn't pay for that.

I've now opened up investigations with AESA and with Aviation ADR.

Unfortunately, I don't really wish to take this to the media, for privacy reasons.

In Australian Lingo - "Bloody Hell"