Ryanair “abandons” passengers on wrong Canary Island

by Charlie Leocha on February 19, 2010


I know that this is an alarmist headline, but after reading the story, it raises plenty of questions about an airline’s responsibility to its passengers. Ryanair’s debacle was similar to situations I have faced here in the U.S.A. when my airline deposited me at JFK and gave me a bus ticket to Boston.

It’s happened to me more than once and I know it has happened to friends of mine. We paid for a ticket from one destination, but were deposited at another. The airlines in each case provided a van or a bus to get me to my final destination, but the hardships were extreme and the travel difficult.

In this Ryanair situation reported this week, the plane scheduled to land at Lanzarote had to land at neighboring Fuerteventura because of extreme weather.

‘Unfortunately ferries were also affected by these high winds so passengers were provided with EU261 information which outlines their entitlement to provide receipted hotel expenses to Ryanair, for refund.

‘Ryanair arranged that the ferry company would carry affected Ryanair passengers to Lanzarote free of charge when ferries recommenced the following morning.

‘Ryanair apologises to passengers for any inconvenience caused by this weather related diversion but can never put passenger convenience before passenger safety.”

The guidelines state that if flight disruption is outside the control of the airline, no monetary compensation is due.

Somewhere between the passengers’ shrill outrage at being landed on the wrong island and Ryanair’s decision about how to deal with the inclement weather there may be a happy solution. But, this kind of weather diversion is a difficult subject for both passengers and airlines.

I think this kind of situation is best handled by travel insurance. The biggest complaint from passengers according to the news reports, was that they were forced to purchase an overnight hotel room because even ferries couldn’t ply the waters between the two islands. The normal ferry journey takes between 25-40 minutes — I’ve taken the trip.

What is the responsibility of the airline in situations like this? Do you think that Ryanair should have done more than provide free ferry transport from Fuerteventura to Lanzarote? Should Delta provided me more than a van to Boston when my plane was stuck at JFK?

I guess, I think the airlines fulfilled their obligation to get me from Point A to Point B. Some problems are just beyond the abilities of airlines to control.

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Tagged as: bad-weather diversions, customer service, ryanair

  • SirWired

    I’m not sure how anybody can fault the airline for not landing the plane in an unsafe location. Yes, they had to purchase a hotel room where they would have preferred not to; sometimes $hit happens. I’m not sure how anybody can call this abandonment. When $hit happens because of weather, the airline doesn’t pay, and it is unreasonable to assume they would. (Although that doesn’t stop people from complaining, as seen in this episode, or the scrum that happened when U.S. Airways couldn’t fly through a Hurricane to pick up pax from the Dominican Republic.)

    I would also consider a bus from JFK to BOS not an ideal solution, but if the airline can’t rustle up a plane that would get you there sooner, chartering a bus sounds like a fine solution, and shows more common sense than what you usually get out of an airline.

  • Steve R

    I think Ryanair did OK here (not great, just OK). They did provide tranport to the destination (and I might add, it will take the pax much more than 40 minutes if they were to fly between islands, including security). Unlike ground destinations, you can’t take a bus.

    They are also correct in that they owe the pax nothing more, if indeed weather was the culprit. This happens in the US, too–flights get cancelled due to weather, and folks have to pony up for the hotel room or sleep in the airport, with no extra compensation due.

  • David Z

    What is the responsibility of the airline in situations like this?

    Generally speaking, one’s responsibility is defined by either: a) any applicable law, or b) whatever enforceable agreement (like a contract) exists. Beyond those, you’ll get all sorts of opinions on whose responsibility is to do what.

    I agree with the other posters that RyanAir did what they could under the circumstances that time. It’s easy to point out how or what others could’ve or should’ve done…until they find themselves on that side of the fence, perhaps.

    Why some people expect others to do more than what they’re really capable of doing is anyone’s guess.

  • Lawrence T Newman

    If Ryanair was required by EU261 to reimburse for receipted hotel rooms, they should have gone the extra mile and given hotel vouchers. After all, some of the passengers may not have had the cash or credit cards to pay for a hotel. And it would have been a great goodwill gesture.

  • http://mounaz.4mydeals.com janet

    I tend to agree that I would rather be safe and on a ferry when safe than dead in the water or crashed landing with no survivors. I am getting to feel that we expect too much and that sueing is the only thing that we comprehend or think that we should do to get a free holiday. I cite the incitement where you helped a couple salvage their honeymoon when the misconnected their flights.. But they should have not planned to get a connection in JFK (1 hour…or was it 1 hr 30 min??) arrive in Euope the same day as the shiop sails… if someome does that.. you should have le tthem know that they do not deserve compensation, but it is a lesson learned the hard way.. airlines and ships have schedules but sometimes get delayed and scheduling should be taken into consideration. sorry but those are my thoughts and I travel a lot but do not try to run the gates as before!!
    thanks for listening-Janet

  • Lila Davis

    Ryan Air appears to have tried their best. My airline was no help when my JFK flight inbound was “diverted” to LGA “due to overcrowding at JFK”. With an outbound flight from JFK in 90 minutes, there was no way to claim my luggage, taxi to JFK, recheck bags and make the flight. “Sorry, that’s just the way it is” was the response from the airline – no reimbursement even for the taxi. At least they did not charge for rescheduling me on another flight which I was able to find from LGA to my destination DFW.

  • Jose L. Rodriguez-Rivero

    You can’t expect anything else than rubish service from Ryanair. Ryanair is not interested in passengers. They have a ridiculous low luggage allowance, they fly to secondary airports, right in the middle of nowhere, 40/50/60 miles from city centres, they mislead passenger advertising Girona airport as Barcelona (Girona is 60 miles from Barcelona) and they charge you an extra fee for everything. Name one item and sure enough you will be charged extra, whether it is paying with a credit card (can you pay in a different way if booking in the internet?) or checking luggage at the airport. When in Europe, avoid Ryanair in as much as possible and go for other low cost options, such as Vueling in Spain or Brussels Airlines in Belgium or try high speed trains.

  • Brian Paterson

    I am astounded that Ryanair did anything at all to help passengers in this situation. They certainly haven’t done in the past. It is a mystery to me just how much misery people are prepared to put up with in pursuit of a “cheap” flight with Ryanair. This offensive airline offers little more than the most basic customer service at the best of times and rarely even that when things go wrong. Sadly this won’t change until people stop flying with the airline. After too many dreadful experiences, I will never travel with Ryanair again.

  • keith bigg

    Is it not the case that the Ryanair plane was able fly, a couple of hours after landing in Fuertaventura, to Lanzarote to pick up its return passengers. If this was the case then they should have taken the stranded passengers with them surely.

  • dorsettraveller

    I was waiting at Lanzarote airport to get this flight back to Bournemouth. All the previous flights due to depart were cancelled because of the extreme weather conditions. After a three hour wait the empty Ryanair plane landed and we were told to go the the gate urgently as there was a gap in the thunderstorms and they were going to try to get us out. When on the plane we discovered rows of seats blocked where the previous passengers had been ill due to the turbulence when the pilot had tried to land in the awful weather and then diverted. It was the worst flight for turbulence I have ever experienced as we left. In the circumstances I think Ryanair were absolutely correct in their actions, passengers safety had to come first.

  • Phil K

    As one of those actually stranded in Fuerteventura rather than in Lanzarote on the 17th February,let me tell you the actual facts.

    On being diverted to Fuerteventura, we were simply told we had to find our own way to our required destination(in Lanzarote)

    There were no representatives of Ryanair available. At one stage we thought we would have been able to reboard the aircraft when the weather cleared but we were eventually told to claim our luggage and make our way to the ferry linking Fuerteventura to Lanzarote.

    As a frequent visitor to both Islands I knew that by the time we collected our luggage the last ferry would have gone.

    We were told a list of all passengers had been passed to a ferry company and they would provide a free passage.

    We found a taxi and shared it and went to Corraljo but the hotel, I knew there was full but we were referred to another. By the time we arrived the restaurant was closed so nothing to eat and so to bed.

    Next morning we were told that the ferries were not running due to adverse weather but we did manage a ferry at 1.30. The Ferry Companies knew nothing about any request to offer free passage.

    We had to pay for Taxis,Hotel Accomodation and a ferry crossing.

    A claim has been made to Ryanair with hotel and ferry receipts but it remains to be seen if any compensation will be paid.

    It was annoying to know that the plane took off from Fuerteventura soon after we had landed and went to Lanzarote to return passengers to Bournemouth. Why could we have not stayed on the plane?

    Did Ryanair not have enough fuel to take us and baggage? Why could the plane not have been refuelled at Fuenteventura airport?

    Ryanir do not have any agents in Fuerteventura until April! Was that the problem?

    We eventually arrive at our Hotel in Lanzarote at 4.30pm rather than 9pm the previous day

    Incidently a Ryanair flight from Bristol to Lanzarote was also diverted. I beleive their problems were similar as we met some people from that flight next day on the ferry.

    All in all not a good PR result for Ryanair

    Phil K

  • http://informazione isabel paz mariano

    buon giorno , io ho comprato un vuolo online e anche ho fatto il ckeck online per londra pero mi hanno inviato un messagio dicendo che dovrei avere il visto, ma io non ho il visto, e non ho ne anche il tempo per farlo, a questo punto vorrei sapere si posso cambiare destinazione . qualcuno mi puo agiutare grazie aspetto una risposta il piu presto

  • http://www.tripso.com/author/leocha Charlie Leocha

    Chiama un’ agencia di viaggo. Siamo solo giornalisti.

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