Making up for previous mistakes

AlanSparrowhawk

I travelled to Estonia a few days ago via Gatwick and was due to return via Stansted. I booked a few weeks in advance and got a 20 euro flight (taxes, airport check in, 1 piece of luggage) with ryanair to gatwick and estonian air to Tallinn. There were a couple of hours between my ryanair arrival and Estonian air departure. I aimed to play it safe.

Question 1 - Was there anyway to avoid checking in the second time and getting my luggage transferred from flight to flight?

On my return, due to my complete own incompetence I arrived in the airport in Tallinn at 12pm rather than 10am and missed my flight back to Stansted with easyjet. I bought another ticket to gatwick for the 4pm flight with cash. On arriving in gatwick I was told by ryanair that last minute airport ticket price was 184 (about 200 pounds including luggage). I obviously missed my 5pm flight from Stansted (only arrived into gatwick at 5pm).

Question 2 - Should I have contacted Eazyjet and made an attempt to be put on another flight? possibly stand by? Even with travel insurance is there any coverage for just making a mistake? Even if I committed a small act of fraud and said there were legitimate reasons out of my control for missing the flight?

Question 3 - Am I entitled to any money back from any of the flights I missed for tax?

Question 4 - Is it actually typical for ryanair to charge 200 pounds for a "last minute" flight? Aerlingus quoted me 305 pound.

olaola

AlanSparrowhawk wrote: »

Question 1 - Was there anyway to avoid checking in the second time and getting my luggage transferred from flight to flight?

Definitely not. Not even between two Ryanair flights could you do it, let alone two seperate airlines.

AlanSparrowhawk wrote: »

Question 2 - Should I have contacted Eazyjet and made an attempt to be put on another flight? possibly stand by? Even with travel insurance is there any coverage for just making a mistake? Even if I committed a small act of fraud and said there were legitimate reasons out of my control for missing the flight?

Easyjet will let you on the next flight for a fee:
http://www.easyjet.com/EN/Planning/index.html

"No worries if you miss your flight. We understand how frustrating it is to miss a flight. That’s why you can catch the next available flight for a flat charge of just £35 if you turn up at the airport within two hours of your original flight’s scheduled departure time."

AlanSparrowhawk wrote: »

Question 3 - Am I entitled to any money back from any of the flights I missed for tax?

You can get your tax back from Ryanair - but they charge a 'processing fee' that is usually more than the amount you'll get in return.

AlanSparrowhawk wrote: »

Question 4 - Is it actually typical for ryanair to charge 200 pounds for a "last minute" flight? Aerlingus quoted me 305 pound.

I'm surprised it was so cheap!

mikedragon32

Q1: No is the simple answer. Ryanair operate point to point and so you can't check through to another connecting flight (even if it's with Ryanair).

Q2: No. Insurance is for reasons beyond your control, not of your making. Asking about getting away with fraud is verboeten on this forum too. Read the charter.

Q4: For a last minute Ryanair flight, that's cheap!

HarryD

Q1: If you kept it to hand luggage only you could have checked in online for both flights, if available.
Q2: Some insurance companies offer coverage against missed connections. But you need to be able to prove that you were late due to a delay in any public transport that was out of your control.
Q4: Yep. I got stung like you, having missed a flight due to <snip> festival traffic :mad:

AlanSparrowhawk

thanks a million guys.

I was raging at the airport for being so silly now I feel much worse that I never considered trying to get eazyjet to sort me out .