Ryanair cancels 250 flights

Ryanair has cancelled 250 flights tomorrow while British Airways has warned passengers of delays and disruptions due to an air traffic control strike in France.

Half of flights to and from Paris Orly airport and one in three at Charles de Gaulle will be cancelled because of strikes by airport workers.

Eurostar services will not be affected but the Paris Metro and French rail services will be hit.

Eurostar passengers connecting within France who may have difficulty getting to or from the Eurostar station are being given the option to postpone their journey for up to 90 days.

Most of Ryanair's cancelled flights are from UK regional airports to France and Spain, though the airline's services from other bases on the Continent have also been badly hit.

The strike, which is the fourth in a month by French workers, has prompted Ryanair to renew its call for the EU Commission to remove the 'right to strike' from essential services, including air traffic controllers.

It is also urging EC ministers to reform passenger rights legislation to remove the financial burden of strike action from airlines. It wants reforms to relieve airlines of 'right to care' obligations in circumstances beyond their control.

So far in 2010, Ryanair says it has been forced to cancel 1,650 flights and delay over 12,000 other flights, disrupting over 2.5m passengers, as a direct result of Belgian, French and Spanish ATC strikes and work to rules.

With permission from Travelmole

For a list of those flights cancelled so far ... please click here.

Passengers travelling tomorrow should continue to check that page for any further updates.

David

hi lynwestie......shoes go in a plastic bag and slips under the tights used to tie the bundle together....they dont fall down the sides then....I never use the shoulder straps on bags ....

I went to the bother of getting the right size bags as I worry .....packed them so they kept the right shape of the bag....weighed them to make sure they were under 10kgs.....even went to the bag drop to test them in the cages and weigh them before going through security as advised .....I had an 2 emails from ryanair stated as being a warning....giving details of size and weight limit and stating if bags over the size or wieght limit they would be charged for and put in hold or be refused carriage......this to me showed they were getting very strict about luggage and meant business...

When I went to gates for boarding I was amazed at the number of people with bags too long, or to wide, or both....some well oversized....and some looked very heavy....." they wont get them through " thinks me......but they did.....they didn't seem to be bothering to check...." dont know why I bothered " thinks me...." had loads of bags I could have used "...

Coming home same thing.....one lad had a huge ghetto blaster sticking out the top of his bag on top of his clothes....and the bag was well over size before he put the ghetto blaster on top...but he got through OK....." well blow me " I thought..

Then just after we went through they began pulling people to check thier bags....and they were dragging clothes out and putting them on.....dont know the outcome ....but they checked the last so many in the queu.....

We got our bags up in the overhead lockers OK...but in the end the hostesses were going along pushing them all together and finding spaces for others to get them up....but quite a few had to have them put in the hold...

We were delayed half an hour going out as some passengers had been refused boarding for security reasons and had cases on and they were looking for them....but we were only about 10mins late landing.....really nice approachable cabin crew.....and besides the contant sales pater over the intercom was a pleasant flight out.....and back.....tweetie

ps....no probs with boarding passes they scaned OK as far as I know...we didnt have to swipe them ourselves in LPL airport...staff there to do it......

ryanair have cancelled many flights on the 19th oct

Details here:
http://www.ryanair.com/en/notices/gops/101015-FRENCH-ATC_19OCT-UK-GB

David

what happens when we booked for the 1st november and we get to our destanation then the strike happens on our pending return how do we get home, it does say on website we can cancel our outgoing flight and get our money back.

not having booked with Ryanair for 10 years I'm not up to date with what their paperwork looks like, so first question. Does the booking have just one confirmation with both legs of the journey having the same reference code number? If so, your contract is for return travel and if they cancel the outward flight then the whole contract can be cancelled - but you'll probably have to do it on their expensive phone number. But if you've got seperate confirmations, with different reference codes for each leg then they may claim each leg is a seperate contract.

we go on the 1st and come back on the 5th i know we wouldnt go if the strike was on the 5th because we could get their but wouldnt be able to get back.

if you have a return confirmation (one booking code) it doesn't matter which leg is cancelled before you start out.

If they tell you before you leave that you can't get back and you decide not to go, you should ask for a full refund including the outward leg (even though that isn't cancelled).

If they tell you before you go that you can't get back and you do go, you can still have a refund of the cancelled part but may be on dodgy ground if you try to claim extra under the assistance part of EC261/2004.

If they don't tell you before you go and then cancel the homeward journey while you are away then you need to refer to EC261/2004. You are entitled to a refund or new flight ASAP (subject to empty seats and timetable, so may not be first day after the strike). Theoretically, even for a strike, you are entitled to assistance when stuck at the airport but with Ryanair you may have to fight hard to get it. You are not entitled to compensation on top of refund of costs in the case of a strike.

My son's return leg from Palma to East Midlands was cancelled due to French ATC. They were put on a flight to Edinburgh about 12 hours late and bussed from Edinburgh to East Midlands.

Flying them to an alternative airport and bussing them back to where they should be would fit the requirements of EC261/2004. I don't suppose he got offered refreshments during the 12 hour wait??

thanks for your help steve just we had a bad time in dalaman when our flight compony went bust and we had to pay out ourselves a lot of money with different flight compony luckly our cc compony paid us back, but all the information you have give me is brill thanks very much.

Hi , anyone know where flight FR9862 LIverpool to Malaga has been on its previous trip on Friday 22 October ?

Thanks.

Hi Steve

I don't think so. You know what a gang of lads are like. They didn't really think about it. Their biggest concern was getting home as one of his mates had his uni graduation the following day. If it hadn't have been for that they would have been only too happy to stay for a couple more days lol. As it was they made it back just in time.

Fed up waiting for Aprils flights from Birmingham, any ideas when they will be on sale? Looking at either Girona or Reus

Hi Just wondered if anyone has had any problems with boarding passes. I printed the boarding passes for the outward journey but unfortunately omitted to print the return passes as I didn't realize this you had to do also I did not see anything on their webpage reminding you to do so, so because of my genuine mistake it cost us 80 euros which was absolutely scandalous. I wrote to customer services but they did not even have the courtesy to reply. This was our first time with Ryanair and will most certainly be our last.

It gives all the information on your email confirmation.

This is part of it -
IN ORDER TO TRAVEL YOU ARE REQUIRED TO CHECK-IN ONLINE AND PRESENT AT THE AIRPORT YOUR ONLINE BOARDING PASS AND VALID ACCEPTED TRAVEL DOCUMENT, PASSENGERS WHO DO NOT PRESENT A BOARDING PASS AT THE AIRPORT WILL BE CHARGED A RE-ISSUE PENALTY OF EUR40/GBP40(each boarding pass must be printed and presented on an individual A4 page).
You can check-in online from 15 days up to 4 hours prior to your scheduled flight departure.

Interesting rate of exchange!! If you had €40 left coming home would they give you £40 for it?

I suspect the catch here is that if you incur the charge in the UK you would pay in £ and in any other country in €. Ryanair have their own convenient rate of exchange that bears little similarity to anything offered by any bank worthy of the name. Of course if we are talking buying refreshments on a flight, it might be worth paying in € if the £/€ rate is the same!!!