Stranded at Poitiers Airport

[Ron Avery]

It may have had nothing to with landing at Carcassonne airport, the plane for this flight may have been diverted anywhere in the world due to "adverse weather" on its previous journey and could have been sitting on the tarmac somewhere in Poland perhaps. Wasn't there particularly bad weather in Northern England and Scotland on Wednesday, with storm force winds and driving rain?

Unless there are spare aircraft and crew available then the flight to Carcassonne may well have had to be cancelled due to bad weather but not necessarily in France or on the outbound flight.

[The Riff-Raff Element]

[quote]"Half the passengers had no money left" No doubt this is Ryanairs's fault as well. No-one is compelled to travel by the cheapo airlines - if you want tea and sympathy go back to BA, AirFrance etc. a...[/quote]

'"Half the passengers had no money left"

No doubt this is Ryanairs's fault as well.'

Making an observation - not apportioning blame. I hardly think that anyone can blame Ryanair for the profligacy or ill-preparedness of their clients, though given the strict limits on hold baggage weight, many may find equipping themselves (tent, bedding, iron rations, water sterilising kit, that sort of thing) against a lengthy incarceration at a small, poorly appointed, regional airport something of a challenge. Mind you, renting out such things could provide a business opportunity (do I hear "Easycamp"?) for someone.

Whilst I cannot concur with a young man at La Rochelle who opined that, in the event of an accident, Ryanair would probably claim salvage rights over any re-usable body parts and flog them off for transplant surgery, it does sometimes come across (unintentionally, I am sure) that perhaps the wellbeing of their customers in an non-airbourne situation is not always uppermost in their corporate philosophy.

I suppose I wonder at what point having to shell out generously to cover the odd cockup wipes out any benefit from cheap fares in the first place. For those with a sporting nature, perhaps this sort of thing provides an interesting diversion, but for a "budget" traveller it could be less than amusing. Perhaps Ryanair need more competition. Why DON'T Easyjet fly more routes to France?

[opas]

Have none of you ever had a very expensive ferry cancelled?  We have ,after dashing 250 odd miles to just make the check in time to be told that we , along with a ferryfull of passengers were not leaving for another 4 hours.....about 1 am in the morning 2 days before christmas, cancellations are not just for the budget traveler.

I would still book with Ryanair anyday of the week, £60.00 for 2 children and 1 adult at 1/2 term (return) is not to be sniffed at.

Mrs O

[Freedom]

Latest update re the Poitiers cancellation... upon trying the telephone number Ryanair supplied to sort out refund  ... constant 'dead line' tone!!  Oh hum!

 

[le bouffon]

Just a precaution due to whinging livingfrance members without travel insurance

[le bouffon]

regardez l`heure.

[Pangur]

O'Leary plans to launch in-flight gambling AND the ability to use mobile phones (for which Ryanair will get part of the roaming charge). Won't that make the flights more pleasurable?

http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,3604,1607224,00.html

[Owens88]

Cancellations happen, whether you pay cheap or expensive, travel by bus train ship or plane.

Insurance can mitigate the losses, at least some of them. People who travel without insurance have laid their own bets.

HOWEVER

I think that there are examples in this thread that show that some companies (or even operating units within companies) will do more to help their customers at the time than others. 

I suspect that Ryanair are amonst those who help least and are amongst those operators most likely to inflict a cancellation rather than incur increased operating costs - knowing that they are passing the consequences onto insurance companies. That might be fair game, they are only flying busses after all, but it is an 'unspoken'  differentiating feature.

John

[Cat]

[quote]Just a precaution due to whinging livingfrance members without travel insurance[/quote]

Outcast Le bouffon,

Of course travel insurance would cover the financial cost, but what we were actually talking about here was the actual logistics and emotional trauma of being stranded.

You might as well say that whatever happens doesn't matter a jot if you are covered by insurance!

There are other factors aside from the purely financial.

[le bouffon]

Try and sue for trauma and see how far your fluffy thoughts will get you.One buys a ticket knowing full well what it entails.