Ryanair abandon 90 people in the cold in Krakow

Louche Lad

News story: https://www.rte.ie/news/world/2020/0119/1108458-ryanair-flight/

devnull

As a regular Ryanair passenger who has been on Polish routes a fair bit in the winter, it makes me wonder if this was the result of a language barrier and confusion over the way the buses tend to operate in these situations, coupled with poor and unclear communication from Ryanair's handling agent at Krakow Airport.

There's an established procedure in place for Krakow/Katowice flights which allows these flights to operate from each other by bussing arriving and departing passengers should either airport be impacted by fog. This allows the return leg to operate when otherwise the return leg would be cancelled.

Normally what happens when more than one flight is effected at a similar time, is that sometimes non flight specific buses are provided between the two airports to transport passengers, passengers are then directed to take these buses outside the terminal building.

It is very apparent from the accounts both in the Irish and other media outlets, that these passengers did see buses for Katowice Airport but did not board them after asking some people on board if they were for the Dublin flight and those people, possibly passengers for another flight, stated they were not passengers for Dublin.

What I have seen once before is a number of passengers stubbornly look/wait for a bus that is specific to their flight, rather than buses that are taking all effected Ryanair passengers over a number of flights which may be affected. When they speak to someone on the other bus who isn't going to their destination, they (wrongly) assume the bus is not for them.

I'm not saying it happened here, but it's a possibility.

TimeToShine

I know Ryanair can be pretty bad but for the price you pay you just have to accept this as part and parcel for the service. If you're getting return flights to Poland for 35 quid versus 200 elsewhere you have to accept a low likelihood of getting screwed at some stage. I happily fly Ryanair knowing that there is a probability something will go wrong and am willing to take that risk given the savings. If I know that delays are unacceptable then I book with a more expensive airline.

Honestly they have paved the way for low cost airlines and opened the skies to the working class, I am sometimes amazed that people have the nerve to complain about their service.

RocketRaccoon

The flight to Shannon on Friday was the same, I know for a fact that Ryanair instructed all passengers to make their OWN way to KTW as the flight would be operating from there instead.

CosmicFool

Is this a case of students not knowing how to communicate better? They were obviously informed that the buses were taking them to the other Airport yet they asked were the buses for the Dublin flight? Why didn't they ask if the bus was for the airport rather than the specific flight?

KaneToad

Confirmation of how many people made the flight would be interesting. Am curious as to how the stranded passenger in the article knew that 10 people made the flight.

devnull

TimeToShine wrote: »

I know Ryanair can be pretty bad but for the price you pay you just have to accept this as part and parcel for the service. If you're getting return flights to Poland for 35 quid versus 200 elsewhere you have to accept a low likelihood of getting screwed at some stage. I happily fly Ryanair knowing that there is a probability something will go wrong and am willing to take that risk given the savings. If I know that delays are unacceptable then I book with a more expensive airline.

Honestly they have paved the way for low cost airlines and opened the skies to the working class, I am sometimes amazed that people have the nerve to complain about their service.

Having took Ryanair flights to Poland a good few times, I've never had any problems and honestly whilst flying to/from a different airport is painful, most carriers will simply cancel the return leg if the outward leg has to be diverted. Ryanair are one of very few airlines who don't do this.

Price isn't always an indicator of who gives the best service though, my only four really bad experiences I've had on several hundred flights are on British Airways, Aer Lingus, Lufthansa and Wizz Air. Of course, different people have different experiences but sometimes more expensive doesn't always mean better.

Bob24

“she understood that 10 people travelled on the Katowice flight that left on Friday night, and she believed they had all made their own way to the airport”

Wether this statement is correct or not would have a huge influence on how I look at the situation. If it is correct, I don’t see how Ryanair can honestly say proper bus transfers was organised and proper information was provided.

Now of course this is the view of one of the passengers and I am not taking it at face value, but at the same time Ryanair is refusing to confirm the actual figure to the media meaning it is likely unfavourable to them (I am fairly certain that if it was just a couple of people they would have shared the information).


At the end of the day, it seems like no one is questioning the fact that at least a few dozen people were impacted. So at the very least there is a case of very badly managing the situation.

Yourmama

TimeToShine wrote:

I know Ryanair can be pretty bad but for the price you pay you just have to accept this as part and parcel for the service. If you're getting return flights to Poland for 35 quid versus 200 elsewhere you have to accept a low likelihood of getting screwed at some stage. I happily fly Ryanair knowing that there is a probability something will go wrong and am willing to take that risk given the savings. If I know that delays are unacceptable then I book with a more expensive airline.

The thing is Ryanair prices are no longer competitive, especially on popular holiday routes, Krakow included. 35 quid return is gone, unless its short national flight or to neighbouring country.

ted1

Louche Lad wrote: »

News story: https://www.rte.ie/news/world/2020/0119/1108458-ryanair-flight/

Flight cancelled because of fog. Not Ryanair’s fault.

Asking a driver if he’s going to Dublin? No the drivers going to a different Airport. That’s back on the students being complete snow flakes.

Borrowing money to pay for flights ? No problem. Ryanair or their travel insurance will pay them
Back.

Bob24

ted1 wrote: »

Asking a driver if he’s going to Dublin? No the drivers going to a different Airport. That’s back on the students being complete snow flakes.

Truth is we don’t have enough information to make a call.

But from what we have I don’t see anything about them asking the drivers if they were “going to Dublin”. What I see is they asked whether the bus was “ for the Dublin flight” - not quite the same.

We have no idea whether buses to the other airport were organised or not, nor do we know what information/instructions were given to passengers in English. So it is hard to make a call.

Atlantic Dawn

RTE all over it seeing as it's Ryanair.

Car99

Louche Lad wrote: »

News story: https://www.rte.ie/news/world/2020/0119/1108458-ryanair-flight/

Why is this on the news , some fully grown adults say they were let down by an airline and got a bit delayed. FFS the national broadcaster is carrying this.

Spanish Eyes

Terrible that Students have been subjected to this isn't it?

Any word from the non Student pax? Sh!t happens sometimes. Gotta be brave and go with the flow.

Car99

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

Terrible that Students have been subjected to this isn't it?

Any word from the non Student pax? Sh!t happens sometimes. Gotta be brave and go with the flow.

If they cant figure that out what's going to happen when they hit real world problems.

ted1

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

RTE all over it seeing as it's Ryanair.

Yep more than 2000 flights a day. People love to knock them, but dint realise with the scale of operations you are bound to get the odd hiccups

donkeykong5

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

RTE all over it seeing as it's Ryanair.

Ruinair!

elperello

It's not that hard to look after your customers.
They are in the airport just get them on the buses.

Car99

Rte travel correspondent is on a roll. Breaking news passengers trapped for 2 hours on fully catered, wifi equipped , toilets functioning and power charge points in all carriages train.

2 hours wow, I hope they're all ok

https://www.rte.ie/news/regional/2020/0119/1108480-trains/

Car99

elperello wrote: »

It's not that hard to look after your customers.
They are in the airport just get them on the buses.

Provide the bus let them get themselves on.

elperello

Car99 wrote: »

Provide the bus let them get themselves on.

Not much point in providing buses if 90 people are left behind.
Much better to go the extra mile and get them on the buses.

(by the way the bit about the train says "stuck" not trapped.)

redcup342

Their flight was diverted to Katowice ....

They went out knocking on bus drivers doors asking if it was the flight to Dublin

The bus driver more than likely did not speak english and thought they said " bla bla bla LUBLIN"

To which he said no.

Honestly it's 50/50 here, they were told their flight was diverted to Karowice, they should have just go on the bus to Katowice Airport that was provided outside.

Bad luck really but not really Ryanairs fault.

Car99 wrote: »

Provide the bus let them get themselves on.

To be fair I was diverted to Shannon and just told there was a bus outside to Cork, wasn't any handholding, probably would have been difficult to understand what was going on if I didn't speak English

beggars_bush

Car99 wrote: »

Why is this on the news , some fully grown adults say they were let down by an airline and got a bit delayed. FFS the national broadcaster is carrying this.

A few of them might be from South Dublin or something

Spanish Eyes

Chill folks.

Was on a RYR flight to Nice. Bad weather, had to land in Toulon. OK. Then took off after an hour or so to Nice. No go. Was lightning and high winds, so did a go around and eventually landed. Five hours later. In total.

So what? Safety is paramount.

Cienciano

Car99 wrote: »

Rte travel correspondent is on a roll. Breaking news passengers trapped for 2 hours on fully catered, wifi equipped , toilets functioning and power charge points in all carriages train.

2 hours wow, I hope they're all ok

https://www.rte.ie/news/regional/2020/0119/1108480-trains/

It's shít like this that makes me glad I don't pay a licence fee

Spanish Eyes

Just to say, if you go to Krakow in a Polish winter, you prep for it with warm clothing.

Get outta here.

Charles Babbage

People are using this to have a go at students. It isn't rocket science to provide clear instructions, it is only one sentence "please take any of the free buses provided to x airport'. Instructions are not designed for those who already know because they go this route often, they should be designed for people who have never been there before and never will again and who are not in the top 10% of IQ of the population. Airports and alirlines have infinite time to devise procedures and instuctions for this type of regular event.

sue97

We were diverted by Ryanair in Milan a few years ago. We were told to wait for a bus to transfer us to the correct airport. They said 30 minutes and it was 3 hours. When the bus arrived the driver explained they had to drive 90 minutes, they were never going to get to us in 30 minutes.

Everyone expects things to go wrong but good staff training, adequate staffing and clear communication to staff would have helped. Broke students won't jump on any bus in case they find out its the wrong one and the driver wants money. This sounds like it could have been prevented imo.

I love Ryanair but when they fail they do it epically.

billie1b

Charles Babbage wrote: »

People are using this to have a go at students. It isn't rocket science to provide clear instructions, it is only one sentence "please take any of the free buses provided to x airport'. Instructions are not designed for those who already know because they go this route often, they should be designed for people who have never been there before and never will again and who are not in the top 10% of IQ of the population. Airports and alirlines have infinite time to devise procedures and instuctions for this type of regular event.

How do you know that that is not what they were told? Or that they were told by text message that the flight was operating from KTW airport due to freezing fog at KRK and buses to KTW airport were outside the arrivals area of KRK, the students forgot to mention this to the media of course

beggars_bush

I presume the government jet is on its way over already?

Bit bizarre that the bus drivers didn't locate the passengers after a while. Surely this can't be a case of a bunch of people and empty buses right there..

elperello

They would have checked them all onto the plane.
Not rocket science to make sure they had clear instructions re. the bus.

redcup342

Deleted User wrote: »

Bit bizarre that the bus drivers didn't locate the passengers after a while. Surely this can't be a case of a bunch of people and empty buses right there..

All the bus driver is told is to wait outside for Passengers and bring them to Katowice Airport and leave at a certain time.

They wouldn't know anything about flights or whatever, he could be taking passengers for multiple Airlines.

It's pretty much the same exercise whenever your flight is diverted.

Any yes ryanair sends you a text message advising you what to do.

elperello wrote: »

They would have checked them all onto the plane.
Not rocket science to make sure they had clear instructions re. the bus.

Everyone does online checkin with Ryanair as you have to pay to check in at the desk

devnull

Charles Babbage wrote: »

People are using this to have a go at students. It isn't rocket science to provide clear instructions, it is only one sentence "please take any of the free buses provided to x airport'. Instructions are not designed for those who already know because they go this route often, they should be designed for people who have never been there before and never will again and who are not in the top 10% of IQ of the population. Airports and alirlines have infinite time to devise procedures and instuctions for this type of regular event.

In my experience a couple of years ago, that is exactly the kind of message that is given out in these situations, but in my situation where passengers didn't board the bus, they were specifically waiting for a bus specifically for their flight with instructions for their flight rather than boarding a bus that was announced as being for all flights that have been diverted to Katowice.

Unfortunately many passengers are not used to the process of getting their flight from a different airport than booked due to an unscheduled weather diversion, because most airlines simply don't bother with that hassle and just cancel the return working and passengers are even worse off as nobody gets home and all of them have to rebook on other flights that have little space.

However where there is room for improvement is that the messages should state specifically that any passengers for Dublin, Barcelona, London, Munich etc and their flight numbers should get on the bus and mention all the flight numbers affected. It's a bit cumbersome, but it would help avoid situations where passengers are stubbornly waiting for a bus for their specific flight.

The language barrier, probably was a factor as well.

elperello

redcup342 wrote: »

All the bus driver is told is to wait outside for Passengers and bring them to Katowice Airport and leave at a certain time.

They wouldn't know anything about flights or whatever, he could be taking passengers for multiple Airlines.

It's pretty much the same exercise whenever your flight is diverted.

Any yes ryanair sends you a text message advising you what to do.



Everyone does online checkin with Ryanair as you have to pay to check in at the desk

I was talking about boarding.

They should have taken more care of the people who are keeping them in business ie. the customers.

devnull

elperello wrote: »

They would have checked them all onto the plane.
Not rocket science to make sure they had clear instructions re. the bus.

Krakow is a busy airport, there were multiple flights involved on the night in question that were diverted so it would have been more than one flight load of passengers but they wouldn't necessarily be divided up into a few buses for each flight.

Instead they would just have a group of buses which everyone effected would be directed to and the moment the first one is full it will leave, then the next one will come and so on. In my experience some people don't understand this concept and continually look for a dedicated bus for their flight that never appears.

Only way to stop that is to have the handling agent specifically name each flight and flight number and say they should all take this bus. In reality, if there are a number of flights effected it's normally just announced as for all passengers waiting to travel to Katowice or had flights diverted to there, to board the buses at the front of the terminal.

Not sure who the handling agent is these days for Ryanair at Krakow Airport, used to be LS Airport Services, who were excellent but think it's probably gone over to Welcome Airport Services with the former now being closer to LOT than it was.

elperello

devnull wrote: »

Krakow is a busy airport, there were multiple flights involved on the night in question that were diverted so it would have been more than one flight load of passengers but they wouldn't necessarily be divided up into a few buses for each flight.

Instead they would just have a group of buses which everyone effected would be directed to and the moment the first one is full it will leave, then the next one will come and so on. In my experience some people don't understand this concept and continually look for a dedicated bus for their flight that never appears.

Only way to stop that is to have the handling agent specifically name each flight and flight number and say they should all take this bus. In reality, if there are a number of flights effected it's normally just announced as for all passengers waiting to travel to Katowice or had flights diverted to there, to board the buses at the front of the terminal.

Not sure who the handling agent is these days for Ryanair at Krakow Airport, used to be LS Airport Services, but think it's probably gone over to Welcome Airport Services with the former now being closer to LOT than it was.

Thanks for the explanation.

If you have noticed this then the airline and their agents should be aware of it as well and take the necessary steps to improve their care of passengers.

Del2005

TimeToShine wrote: »

I know Ryanair can be pretty bad but for the price you pay you just have to accept this as part and parcel for the service. If you're getting return flights to Poland for 35 quid versus 200 elsewhere you have to accept a low likelihood of getting screwed at some stage. I happily fly Ryanair knowing that there is a probability something will go wrong and am willing to take that risk given the savings. If I know that delays are unacceptable then I book with a more expensive airline.

Honestly they have paved the way for low cost airlines and opened the skies to the working class, I am sometimes amazed that people have the nerve to complain about their service.

We were told by Aer Lingus that we were no longer authorised to be air side after our flight was cancelled. When we got land side they closed their desk with a queue of about 100 people. Most people left the airport then without getting any information apart from my group and another Dutch group. I bumped into someone in an Aerlingus uniform and eventually we managed to get rebooked for the next day. The Dutch group were told that they had to sort themselves out for accommodation after getting rebooked for the next day, we were lucky that it was Dublin so we all went home.

Flying with a premium airline doesn't guarantee any better treatment when flights are cancelled.

Charles Babbage

devnull wrote: »

In my experience a couple of years ago, that is exactly the kind of message that is given out in these situations, but in my situation where passengers didn't board the bus, they were specifically waiting for a bus specifically for their flight with instructions for their flight rather than boarding a bus that was announced as being for all flights that have been diverted to Katowice.
.

It wouldn't be hard to put a poster stand at the bus stop with a list of flight codes and a smaller version of the same taped on to the the lower front window of the bus. Not least because there was surely at least one airline who had some other arrangement than flying from Katowice.

devnull

Charles Babbage wrote: »

It wouldn't be hard to put a poster stand at the bus stop with a list of flight codes and a smaller version of the same taped on to the the lower front window of the bus. Not least because there was surely at least one airline who had some other arrangement than flying from Katowice.

The majority of airlines would cancel the return working of outbound flights which did not arrive at their originally booked airport in my experience, since that would be the easiest thing to do most of the time.

In over 20 years of flying regular, I have never seen anyone put posters at the bus stop and taping names of flights over the bus, nobody does it, not the legacy carriers or the flag carriers, it just doesn't happen.

Also these things tend not to happen with a huge amount of notice, normally half an hour at the very best, normally far less and most of the ground handlng staff will be snowed under with work as they probably have to deal with a number of flights and arrangements.

I know Ryanair were hoping to self handle in Poland last year, to improve the experience at the airport but encountered barriers to this and when I was there last year they seemed to be still using agents.

chooseusername

About 50 third level students stranded without their mammies?
What could possibly go wrong?
Rather than pick up bags and get on with finding the way .
100 km away, an hour by taxi 2 by bus.
No ,go on social media and moan " our flight now leaves from Cato...? where
the fcuk is that?

Charles Babbage

devnull wrote: »

Also these things tend not to happen with a huge amount of notice, normally half an hour at the very best, normally far less and most of the ground handlng staff will be snowed under with work as they probably have to deal with a number of flights and arrangements.

But you have everyone busy answering questions because they had not provided clear information. Redirecting the flight, organising buses etc is a large amount of work, printing a page with a list of flights should be simple after that.

devnull

devnull wrote: »

Normally what happens when more than one flight is effected at a similar time, is that sometimes non flight specific buses are provided between the two airports to transport passengers, passengers are then directed to take these buses outside the terminal building.

It is very apparent from the accounts both in the Irish and other media outlets, that these passengers did see buses for Katowice Airport but did not board them after asking some people on board if they were for the Dublin flight and those people, possibly passengers for another flight, stated they were not passengers for Dublin.

What I have seen once before is a number of passengers stubbornly look/wait for a bus that is specific to their flight, rather than buses that are taking all effected Ryanair passengers over a number of flights which may be affected. When they speak to someone on the other bus who isn't going to their destination, they (wrongly) assume the bus is not for them.

Seen further accounts in the British press today when reading a paper which seem to back up that this is exactly what has happened in this case and that the passengers were fixated on getting a specific bus for their flight.

The same eyewitness that has been quoted in this thread is quoted as saying that they were told that there was no assigned bus for Dublin when they asked the staff at the airport, so didn't board.

They they go on to say that after they did not board this first bus, an announcement was made that they should go outside and board the waiting bus and again they would not board it, instead looking for a specific Dublin bus.

Then apparently they were told by staff that they missed their bus and the passengers continually stated that no bus had come whereas the reps seemingly stated that there was a bus and they had missed it.

imme

That RTE 'news story' is quite the funniest thing I've read in the past 7 days.

There is no story here yet they've made a story out of absolutely nothing, well nearly nothing.

One of the passengers was called "Cat Sawkins". That's worth the price of admission alone, if you get what I mean.

Another passenger says that their treatment in the airport was "inhumane nearly" and tries to drag @Leo Varadkar into the debacle, hilarious.

grimm2005

Yourmama wrote: »

The thing is Ryanair prices are no longer competitive, especially on popular holiday routes, Krakow included. 35 quid return is gone, unless its short national flight or to neighbouring country.

This isn't true, you can still get plenty of flights at very competitive prices via Ryanair if you're flexible with dates, particularly in the winter low season. €35 return is on the low end for sure but to suggest you can't get anything at that price beyond the UK is not true. I'm just back from Athens which was a 4 hour flight and paid €36 return. Did Hamburg this time last year for €20 return and a cursory glance of flight prices on Google flights suggests you can fly to any number of destinations around Europe from Dublin between €40 - 60. Saw flights to Kiev in December for €30 return last year as another example.

Krakow rarely hits this price, probably due to the fact there's no competition currently on the route but if you travel bare bones and are flexible on time of year these flights definitely still exist. Just don't be expecting cheap flights to sun destinations around summer and school holidays!

Wibbling wonder

Only a week later and picked up on this thread!

I was booked on this flight and I am relatively a seasoned traveller and worst experience I've ever come across.

Initially told by text from Ryanair to arrive early due to larger than normal queues at security - no issue, good customer service. Lots of freezing fog in Krakow but flights arriving and leaving during the day but equally some flights not getting in as afaik John Paul II only has CAT I and CAT III required so knew there was a risk I may not get out.

Get through security relatively easily and into an overcrowded terminal but again, understandable with flights being cancelled and diverted.

Approx 2.30pm local time get a text from Ryanair stating flight delayed till 6.15pm. Pain in the ass but what can you do but wait. Screens in the terminal catch up shortly afterwards.

Approx 3.50pm local time another text telling me the flights delayed till 10.25pm so begin to wonder will I get out and if there'll be anywhere to eat. Not happy but again, freezing fog - not Ryanair's fault.

Approx 5.50pm called to Gate 17 as our flight was due to board soon, good news and unexpected so barrel down to the end of the terminal and wait in a queue. Checked out Flight tracker where the flight from Dublin was close by so guessed if that got in we would get out on that aircraft as landing seemed to be the main issue as opposed to taking off. Watched the flight overfly Krakow and keep on going to Rzeszow instead of trying to land in Krakow presumably for safety reasons.

About 7pm a notice goes up that the flight was diverted to Katowice and we would be bussed there to fly back to Dublin. Some other flights were being announced variously as either cancelled or diverted and having seen flights get in and out of Katowice on Flight tracker reckoned that an hour or so by bus was a fair trade to get home eventually.

About 7.30pm-ish a gate change announcement was made for us to collect our bags and board busses which would be waiting outside the terminal. Again go through a packed terminal, queue again and then head down into the arrivals area where the Ryanair ground staff had no clue which belt the bags would come out. Bags appear around 8-ish so we grab them and head out into a scene of utter chaos.

Along the stretch of the terminal road, at a guess there were about 15 coaches with hundreds of people outside trying to work out which coach was supposed to be for which flight. I followed a Polish gent as figured he could speak to the ground people and find our designated bus as they were being boarded by flight as opposed to a free for all for Katowice. Bear it mind it was freezing cold and packed so not exactly obvious where we should be going and I only saw about two Ryanair staff neither of which could direct us to the Dublin flight bus.

We walked up and down aimlessly until by a process of osmosis the people for the Dublin flight found each other and we began to wait together while people on point ran to various buses asking if they were the right ones. We were told the buses were on the way by one ground handler and then told to go back into the terminal and wait. About 10.30 another announcement to go back out on the road as our buses were waiting but guess what, no buses and nobody with a clue what was happening. Around 11.30 it became apparent there was no buses and shortly after midnight the Ryanair ground people disappeared.

Personally I was travelling on business so was fortunate that our travel team organised a hotel for me that night and alternative flights. Ryanair kindly offered an alternative flight from Krakow on either Tuesday or Wednesday. I took the refund so if I was travelling personally or with my family we would likely have to had to wait in the terminal and hope for the best.

While I accept they couldn't do anything about the weather their customer service was worse than appalling, they didn't appear to have any clue what was going on and when things unraveled had no idea what to do. I heard that at about 2am they brought out food vouchers, a mere 10.5 hours after the flight was due to take off - great work Ryanair.

Where I have a choice I'll never go near them again, while you expect to get what you pay for in terms of lower fares I'm not sure I could lower my expectations sufficiently low to anticipate how bad they were.

Rant over

elperello

Thanks for the first hand report.
Looks like you earned the right to your rant.
They should have looked after the passengers.

billie1b

Wibbling wonder wrote: »

Only a week later and picked up on this thread!

I was booked on this flight and I am relatively a seasoned traveller and worst experience I've ever come across.

Initially told by text from Ryanair to arrive early due to larger than normal queues at security - no issue, good customer service. Lots of freezing fog in Krakow but flights arriving and leaving during the day but equally some flights not getting in as afaik John Paul II only has CAT I and CAT III required so knew there was a risk I may not get out.

Get through security relatively easily and into an overcrowded terminal but again, understandable with flights being cancelled and diverted.

Approx 2.30pm local time get a text from Ryanair stating flight delayed till 6.15pm. Pain in the ass but what can you do but wait. Screens in the terminal catch up shortly afterwards.

Approx 3.50pm local time another text telling me the flights delayed till 10.25pm so begin to wonder will I get out and if there'll be anywhere to eat. Not happy but again, freezing fog - not Ryanair's fault.

Approx 5.50pm called to Gate 17 as our flight was due to board soon, good news and unexpected so barrel down to the end of the terminal and wait in a queue. Checked out Flight tracker where the flight from Dublin was close by so guessed if that got in we would get out on that aircraft as landing seemed to be the main issue as opposed to taking off. Watched the flight overfly Krakow and keep on going to Rzeszow instead of trying to land in Krakow presumably for safety reasons.

About 7pm a notice goes up that the flight was diverted to Katowice and we would be bussed there to fly back to Dublin. Some other flights were being announced variously as either cancelled or diverted and having seen flights get in and out of Katowice on Flight tracker reckoned that an hour or so by bus was a fair trade to get home eventually.

About 7.30pm-ish a gate change announcement was made for us to collect our bags and board busses which would be waiting outside the terminal. Again go through a packed terminal, queue again and then head down into the arrivals area where the Ryanair ground staff had no clue which belt the bags would come out. Bags appear around 8-ish so we grab them and head out into a scene of utter chaos.

Along the stretch of the terminal road, at a guess there were about 15 coaches with hundreds of people outside trying to work out which coach was supposed to be for which flight. I followed a Polish gent as figured he could speak to the ground people and find our designated bus as they were being boarded by flight as opposed to a free for all for Katowice. Bear it mind it was freezing cold and packed so not exactly obvious where we should be going and I only saw about two Ryanair staff neither of which could direct us to the Dublin flight bus.

We walked up and down aimlessly until by a process of osmosis the people for the Dublin flight found each other and we began to wait together while people on point ran to various buses asking if they were the right ones. We were told the buses were on the way by one ground handler and then told to go back into the terminal and wait. About 10.30 another announcement to go back out on the road as our buses were waiting but guess what, no buses and nobody with a clue what was happening. Around 11.30 it became apparent there was no buses and shortly after midnight the Ryanair ground people disappeared.

Personally I was travelling on business so was fortunate that our travel team organised a hotel for me that night and alternative flights. Ryanair kindly offered an alternative flight from Krakow on either Tuesday or Wednesday. I took the refund so if I was travelling personally or with my family we would likely have to had to wait in the terminal and hope for the best.

While I accept they couldn't do anything about the weather their customer service was worse than appalling, they didn't appear to have any clue what was going on and when things unraveled had no idea what to do. I heard that at about 2am they brought out food vouchers, a mere 10.5 hours after the flight was due to take off - great work Ryanair.

Where I have a choice I'll never go near them again, while you expect to get what you pay for in terms of lower fares I'm not sure I could lower my expectations sufficiently low to anticipate how bad they were.

Rant over

Your flight wasn’t due to land in Krakow, it was a Krakow based Ryanair Sun flight you were on that was originating from Krakow, when Ryanair realised there was no hope of it leaving they called a Dublin crew in off standby to operate the flight on a reverse rotation, all pax in Dublin were told they were flying to Katowice and not Krakow due to the freezing fog in Krakow, they were told by announcements and gate agents in Dublin and were all happy just to be getting to Poland, thats the difference with actual Ryanair employed staff in Dublin Airport and a handling agent in other airports, they don’t care about anything or what happens and always use the excuse that Ryanair didn’t tell them.
It’s an absolute joke that they get away with it and get paid for it, if we were to do that in Dublin we’d be in for meetings faster than you could click your fingers.

devnull

Ryanair were trying to get their own handling done in Polish agents because of issues with both of the handling agents present in Poland, one which is now in the same group as the state carrier and the other which is also now majority owned by the Polish government. I believe last year or year before a complaint was made to the EU about it.

I'd be curious if they have done that yet, or they are still using LS Airport Services or Welcome, both of which there is no love lost between them and Ryanair.

endofrainbow

unfortunate and inconvenient yes - but inhumane?????

elperello

endofrainbow wrote: »

unfortunate and inconvenient yes - but inhumane?????

It was more than unfortunate and inconvenient.
It was unacceptable treatment of paying customers by Ryanair.

One passenger said it was "nearly inhumane".
After what he and his girlfriend had to put up with I'd cut him some slack.