* Ryanair * Ryanair * Ryanair *

Lemlin

I sent a written complaint to Ryanair on the 8th of September regarding two issues:

1. We were given an infant's seat belt on a recent flight to Lanzarote which had chewing gum on it. We didn't notice this until after the staff member had placed the seat belt on my daughter and she had chewing gum on her clothes and skin.
2. We paid to reserve our seats. €90. This was so we wouldn't have to push and shove with people and could just relax until we boarded the flight with our young kids. However, we were told in Dublin that if we wanted our hand luggage on the flight with us and near our seats, pretty important when you need baby bottles, we'd need to cue to ensure our bags were near us. So reserving the seats served no purpose as we had to cue anyway. Plus the staff kept two rows of seats at the back of the plane for "families who were split up". While I admire this as good customer service, I don't see why I should pay €90 to ensure our family sit together when other families get the same service for free.

I haven't received a response to the written complaint. I have also emailed Ryanair on three occasions trying to log the issue. I included a copy of the complaint on three of the emails but they keep ignoring it.

The last emailed response said they hadn't received my written complaint and asked me to send it again, despite the fact I'd pointed out that I was attaching a copy to the email.

I'm just wondering where do I go from here?

I'm not willing to phone them either and sit on a €1 a minute phone line to speak to someone who will be of no assistance anyway.

dudara

Merged into Ryanair megathread

dudara

yabadabado

Lemlin wrote: »

I sent a written complaint to Ryanair on the 8th of September regarding two issues:

1. We were given an infant's seat belt on a recent flight to Lanzarote which had chewing gum on it. We didn't notice this until after the staff member had placed the seat belt on my daughter and she had chewing gum on her clothes and skin.
2. We paid to reserve our seats. €90. This was so we wouldn't have to push and shove with people and could just relax until we boarded the flight with our young kids. However, we were told in Dublin that if we wanted our hand luggage on the flight with us and near our seats, pretty important when you need baby bottles, we'd need to cue to ensure our bags were near us. So reserving the seats served no purpose as we had to cue anyway. Plus the staff kept two rows of seats at the back of the plane for "families who were split up". While I admire this as good customer service, I don't see why I should pay €90 to ensure our family sit together when other families get the same service for free.

I haven't received a response to the written complaint. I have also emailed Ryanair on three occasions trying to log the issue. I included a copy of the complaint on three of the emails but they keep ignoring it.

The last emailed response said they hadn't received my written complaint and asked me to send it again, despite the fact I'd pointed out that I was attaching a copy to the email.

I'm just wondering where do I go from here?

I'm not willing to phone them either and sit on a €1 a minute phone line to speak to someone who will be of no assistance anyway.

send the letter by registered mail.At least then you have proof they received.

joeysoap

Good luck Lemlin, those priority charges are a joke at the best of times. I think they keep the front seats (and on my recent flight rear seats) empty until the last minute to board the last passengers quickly. They used to have a little note in their flight magazine that stated that for 'safety' reasons on aircraft that were not fully booked that to balance the aircraft correctly these seats were sometimes blocked off. However after they started 'selling' the front seats -whether the aircraft was full or not - they dropped this from the magazine. There was some valididty to it though, the 737 is basically an old aircraft design and just stretched over the years to accomodate more passengers. ( if you can find old pictures of the aer lingus 737's you will see they are very short compared to the 737 800 series.

Just back from Faro with Ryanair and my observations: On outward journey aircraft was almost full but still a lot of couples tried to sit in both the window seat and aisle seat. some were sucessful and others not. allocating seat numbers would stop this nonsense.
My boarding pass stated that all items had to fit into cabin bag, this was a blatant lie, as lots of passengers in Faro had duty free as well as their cabin bag. I haven't flown with them since last October so didn't know the rules in Faro and these passengers clearly did. Fair enough. In Faro at around 4pm on Wednesday there are two RY departures within minuts of each other, one to cork and one to dublin. This joint queue was made stand at boarding gates 55 and 56 in one long line for ages before they opened the gates and let them down to the actual boarding gates. Passengers disembarking from a flight from Manchester had to sqeeze through the end of this queue and frequently had to ask people to move to let them through. Not a nice experience. Then at the bottom of the steps there was a Poruguese guy who realised what had happened and tried to direct passengers to their correct boarding gate. Most were ok but a few got caught out. Flights were pleasant, staff were pleasant. Pilot did throw it down in Dublin a little bit hard but other than that it was a good experience. Overall not as pleasant with all the standing around and queueing that you get with Ryanair and not with AL or EJ but overall the price far outweighed the inconvenience.

And yes, did notice that flights to Brussels departed from seperate gates - so no passport control to Shengen area.

livemusic4life

Got flight from liverpool on sunday. First time in 10 flights with RA out of pool that hand luggage wasn't checked and on the flight the staff were revoltingly nice! I'm not joking, i was asked 6 times if i was okay and whether i needed anything! Unsettling to say the least!

Nonoperational

joeysoap wrote: »

Good luck Lemlin, those priority charges are a joke at the best of times. I think they keep the front seats (and on my recent flight rear seats) empty until the last minute to board the last passengers quickly. They used to have a little note in their flight magazine that stated that for 'safety' reasons on aircraft that were not fully booked that to balance the aircraft correctly these seats were sometimes blocked off. However after they started 'selling' the front seats -whether the aircraft was full or not - they dropped this from the magazine. There was some valididty to it though, the 737 is basically an old aircraft design and just stretched over the years to accomodate more passengers. ( if you can find old pictures of the aer lingus 737's you will see they are very short compared to the 737 800 series.

Just back from Faro with Ryanair and my observations: On outward journey aircraft was almost full but still a lot of couples tried to sit in both the window seat and aisle seat. some were sucessful and others not. allocating seat numbers would stop this nonsense.
My boarding pass stated that all items had to fit into cabin bag, this was a blatant lie, as lots of passengers in Faro had duty free as well as their cabin bag. I haven't flown with them since last October so didn't know the rules in Faro and these passengers clearly did. Fair enough. In Faro at around 4pm on Wednesday there are two RY departures within minuts of each other, one to cork and one to dublin. This joint queue was made stand at boarding gates 55 and 56 in one long line for ages before they opened the gates and let them down to the actual boarding gates. Passengers disembarking from a flight from Manchester had to sqeeze through the end of this queue and frequently had to ask people to move to let them through. Not a nice experience. Then at the bottom of the steps there was a Poruguese guy who realised what had happened and tried to direct passengers to their correct boarding gate. Most were ok but a few got caught out. Flights were pleasant, staff were pleasant. Pilot did throw it down in Dublin a little bit hard but other than that it was a good experience. Overall not as pleasant with all the standing around and queueing that you get with Ryanair and not with AL or EJ but overall the price far outweighed the inconvenience.

And yes, did notice that flights to Brussels departed from seperate gates - so no passport control to Shengen area.

In fairness the particular landing has nothing to do with Ryanair...

P. Breathnach

Nonoperational wrote: »

In fairness the particular landing has nothing to do with Ryanair...

Their plane; their pilot. I'd think it has something to do with Ryanair.

opa01_2000

Beefy78 wrote: »

Charging seventy quid for failing to bring a piece of paper to the airport which no other airline would do, probably.

Just my guess.

Looks like this charge is now reduced to €15, if you have checked in online, so FR must see that it wasn't right or that it was losing customers as a result. Either way good news!!!

Oryx

opa01_2000 wrote: »

Looks like this charge is now reduced to €15, if you have checked in online, so FR must see that it wasn't right or that it was losing customers as a result. Either way good news!!!

Its still listed at €70 in their table of fees.

Michael D Not Higgins

Oryx wrote: »

Its still listed at €70 in their table of fees.

The changes come into effect on 1st December

Nonoperational

P. Breathnach wrote: »

Their plane; their pilot. I'd think it has something to do with Ryanair.

I worded that badly.

A perceived "hard landing" by a passenger is 99% of the time a perfectly within limits normal landing. Ryanair pilots don't thrown the plane on the runway any different to any other operator.

jonnny68

Maybe just maybe FR are on the right track, I notice from February 2014 there will be allocated seats which is a very welcome addition and one that should have been added years ago.

Hopefully no more scrambling and pushing to get onto the plane and family and friends can actually get to sit together.

They just need to stop checking the size of bags now and stop that cringeworthy "on time" jingle they play when the plan lands irrespective if they are on time or not and most often they are not!!!

A Dub in Glasgo

I don't think I have seen 'scrambling and pushing' to get on Ryanair aircraft. Are you sure you are not just embellishing your post for dramatic effect?

jonnny68

Nonoperational wrote: »

I worded that badly.

A perceived "hard landing" by a passenger is 99% of the time a perfectly within limits normal landing. Ryanair pilots don't thrown the plane on the runway any different to any other operator.

Jaysus sometimes you'd often wonder, on the last few EI flights I was on the landing was fine but at least 3 FR flights I've been on in the last few months the plane hit the runway with an almighty bang!!

jonnny68

A Dub in Glasgo wrote: »

I don't think I have seen 'scrambling and pushing' to get on Ryanair aircraft. Are you sure you are not just embellishing your post for dramatic effect?

I fly with FR every other week mate, I see it quite often not all the time but it can happen. ;-)

joeysoap

just stop and look around at the airport. A Queue forms for ryanair even when there is no aircraft there. Passengers who are sitting apparently at ease with the situation usually have someone in the queue for them, then you get the cute hoors who tail on to the end of the priority Q and try, usually succeeding, to get through sooner than the most. As I posted earlier, just back from Faro. The departure lounge at Faro has seating but 85% of people form a queue straight from passing through ticket check. EasyJet use the same gates as Ry at Faro (Aer Lingus don't, they use gates D) but the difference is nearly everybody takes a seat. Reason is simple, allocated seating so no need to queue, run, push past other people etc etc. Have been passed on the way to the plane by people who could make the olympic 100 meters. So big welcome from me for allocated seating, provided that the cost is reasonable.

As for noisy and hard landings, only with Ryanair. But that could be down to the type of aircraft , Boeing compared with Airbus.

chasm

The last number of times i have flown with ryanair they only put steps to the front of the plane for disembark, not the rear. This has been at stansted, is this happening on other flights or is it just a stansted thing?

keithclancy

jonnny68 wrote: »

Maybe just maybe FR are on the right track, I notice from February 2014 there will be allocated seats which is a very welcome addition and one that should have been added years ago.

Hopefully no more scrambling and pushing to get onto the plane and family and friends can actually get to sit together.

They just need to stop checking the size of bags now and stop that cringeworthy "on time" jingle they play when the plan lands irrespective if they are on time or not and most often they are not!!!

Jees .. just sit anywhere ... how long is the flight like.

Oryx

chasm wrote: »

The last number of times i have flown with ryanair they only put steps to the front of the plane for disembark, not the rear. This has been at stansted, is this happening on other flights or is it just a stansted thing?

Gatwick and Dublin are usually front and rear steps.

jjbrien

joeysoap wrote: »

As for noisy and hard landings, only with Ryanair. But that could be down to the type of aircraft , Boeing compared with Airbus.

Actually that isnt true its the way the Ryanair pilots land the plane to save time and get a shorter turn around time. I have been on some Ryanair flights where the landing was so smooth I didnt even notice we were down until the dreadful welcome music came on. But the hard landings are to save time and money. Flew with SAS who uses B373-800 and it was nice and smooth.

syklops

jjbrien wrote: »

Actually that isnt true its the way the Ryanair pilots land the plane to save time and get a shorter turn around time. I have been on some Ryanair flights where the landing was so smooth I didnt even notice we were down until the dreadful welcome music came on. But the hard landings are to save time and money. Flew with SAS who uses B373-800 and it was nice and smooth.

I'll need a source for this before I believe it.

keithclancy

jjbrien wrote: »

Actually that isnt true its the way the Ryanair pilots land the plane to save time and get a shorter turn around time. I have been on some Ryanair flights where the landing was so smooth I didnt even notice we were down until the dreadful welcome music came on. But the hard landings are to save time and money. Flew with SAS who uses B373-800 and it was nice and smooth.

That's rubbish.
The landing is dictated by the weather conditions.

A smooth landing does not mean a good landing

From Boeings own manual:
Section 8.12
http://www.flightdeck737.be/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/B738W-FCTM.pdf

jonnny68

keithclancy wrote: »

Jees .. just sit anywhere ... how long is the flight like.

Depends on where your flying to, usually I fly by myself but if I'm with people it would be nice to be able to sit beside them as opposed to random stranger.

A Dub in Glasgo

Unless you are one of the last 20 or so on the plane, you will always find 2 seats together

Chris_5339762

Also Ryanair lands at generally small airports which don't have runways that are as flat as the big ones. (Cork airport for instance isn't flat... the runway follows the line of the hill). Now I have had a few bumpy landings at Dublin with Ryanair, but the last landing with them at Gatwick was the smoothest I've ever had.

keithclancy

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

Also Ryanair lands at generally small airports which don't have runways that are as flat as the big ones. (Cork airport for instance isn't flat... the runway follows the line of the hill). Now I have had a few bumpy landings at Dublin with Ryanair, but the last landing with them at Gatwick was the smoothest I've ever had.

Aer Lingus fly out of Cork also ...

I don't get your point.

IngazZagni

I'm sorry. I have said this before and I will say it again. It is absolutely crazy to suggest that a smooth landing is a good or a safe landing when in fact the opposite could be the case. Only people with no knowledge of flying would suggest otherwise.

Also if this is one of the big issues in the consumer issues section......well then you be the judge.

livemusic4life

A pilot once told me that hard landings are the safest as the pilot has the most control over a plane. Soft landings may be nice for the passenger but aren't as safe. I'll trust a pilot on that one. And i feel much better since.

Rock Steady Edy

I'm certainly very pleased to hear that hard landings are safer.

I suppose the reason as a passenger (without a pilot's knowledge and extensive training) you might think that a hard landing is dangerous is simply because you think that there must be a force at which the landing gear cannot withstand the pressures exerted on it if the landing is very hard. Or that consistent hard landings over time must exert more wear and tear on the plane.

livemusic4life

Something to do with power in crosswinds or wet/damp runway. It cuts down on the chance of the planes aquaplaning or skidding on touchdown. I'm sure its far more technical than that, but thats how i picked it up.