Ryanair cancelling loads of EDI flights - EEC compensation anyone?
 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/...st/7607633.stm

So Ryanair are cancelling a bunch of flights with less than 4 weeks notice. They are blaming the Boeing strike!

I would say this is ripe for EEC compensation given the alternatives available to Ryanair - plenty of aircraft sat in the desert they could use - plenty of other airlines lease additional aircraft when required.

This is EXACTLY the sort of scenario the EEC scheme was setup for. Protecting passengers from the additional costs incurred when an airline simply decides to cancel flights.

I take it a quick analysis of the FR business model is beyond him!

Yeah but no.

261/2004 applies but, since they've given 14 days notice (announcement came on 9/9, first cancellation 23/9), there is no compensation.

All that pax are entitled to is refund or rerouting. And everybody knows that they won't get rerouted...

But passengers have the right to rerouting. However, if anything, FR will probably argue that a rerouting via STN with an overnight layover is good enough.

Ryanair's contempt for their customers never ceases to amaze me.

You'd think they were running a freight carrier with customers as an afterthought. ;)

Indeed. The most annoying thing about Ryanair however is not their contempt but having to listen to their passengers bleat on about it when things go wrong. They surely know what to expect if this is the case.

If I chose to go for a burger bar I know what to expect, not much and it may (or may not) be cheap. I don't then complain that it would have been better had I gone to a pizza joint. The pizza may have been better value despite the extra cost but I made my choice and have to accept the consequences. If only the many loyal followers of Ryanair would do the same.

More to the point, what's someone (who presumably has reasonably level of intelligence given his profession) doing booking an Air MightTurnUpMightNot flight, to somewhere he needs to be, without having a back-up plan in place? :confused:

I fail to understand how people always blame the FR customer for expecting that their ticket will be honored.

FR is a LCC but at this stage most of the US domestic carriers are only one step above them (charging for (most of the following) seat allocation, food, drink, baggage, changes). If AA, CO, or DL, etc. canceled a load of flights people would be upset and would expect to be re-routed.

There would be loads of threads here asking what the appropriate number of miles compensation would be!

Ryanair are "low cost" but still charge quite a lot for some of their seats and some of their routes cost quite a lot all the time once their competitors pull-back.

I've bought tickets with them before on the understanding that service is basic, however I still expect to arrive at my destination safely and on-time.

They advertise themselves as the most punctual airline on some routes so part of their "no frills" message is not that they'll "maybe get you to your destination", it's that they'll get you there cheaply and without the traditional extras.

The last time one of their aircraft was grounded at EDI after a herd of haggises had been accidentally steered onto the runway by the huntsman thus breaking on of the wheels - they were able to claim act of God because it is well known that haggises can only run down hill and in circular motions - so the collision was evolutionarily inevitable.

If you want to fly direct from the regions - there is no back up plan available. ;)

Of course when he is using his own money, a good business analyst always uses the cheapest method. Could always run to get there I suppose.

Because I think (and please correct me if I am wrong) that FR is the only airline to fly direct to Berlin from EDI and if he is like me he will do more or less anything to avoid a connection in Europe.

Oh and never assume that a business analyst has a reasonable level of intelligence- some individuals I have worked with are best described as pond life!:D

There is always a back-up. And when travelling on a LCC, you should always have one. It's naive not to even consider having one, whether it's hiring a car, taking a train, booking a full fare flexible booking on BA.



Well he's not very good an analysing risk then.

I would drive from EDI to Berlin, or go from EDI to Berlin via New Zealand if I had to to avoid Ryanscare.

He could drive to GLA for the direct Easy flight to Berlin? Unless as an Edinburgher he's analysed the risk of venturing into the wild west. :rolleyes:

Even if you fully analyzed the risk you would probably find that it made sense to fly FR.

One choice (FR vs other), 4 outcomes.

1. Fly FR and everything works OK
2. Fly FR but it's canceled or something else goes wrong
3. Fly with other operator, pay more and all works OK
4. Fly with other operator, pay more and it goes wrong

Probability of things going wrong are low, assign cost to this and multiply by probability of occurrence. Add fudge factor to cost if you hate FR.

Compare the above cost to the extra cost of the other operator's flights, also factoring in any costs/benefits of the other's schedule and routing. Add value for points, etc.

I'd say allot of the time FR wins. With FR or other operators it's still worth not taking the last possible flight, just in case things go wrong.