To wonder how the hell Ryanair get away with such shoddy "customer service"??

[Topseyt]

Tonight my daughter and her friends were supposed to by flying home following a short holiday in another European country. Flight cancelled. No clear reason given.

They have just been herded into a room at the airport (a fairly major European one), told that they cannot be put onto another flight until sometime tomorrow, if then, and left for the night. There are several children on the flight too, including the one year old DD of my daughter's friend. They have no access to water, much less to food. There are no Ryanair staff at the airport (all gone home for the night).

Now I know that Ryanair are a no-frills airline with cheap flights. I am also aware of their reputation for a cavalier attitude to their customers. Can they really leave them without easy access to water though?

Of course, I can find no 24 hour helpline which I can use to try and apply pressure to help them. Anything I can find is either unobtainable or closed.

It's Debenhams

We have never needed to claim for anything so don't know how they are on that side, but I am somewhat comforted by the 'big name' rather than 'someone off the internet that I have never heard off' but I can't say whether this is sensible or not.

DP takes medication for migraines and high cholesterol and has a couple of allergies (I know these things can be serious) but I just mean't it wasn't cancer or similar).

I think we had the middle level of cover as the cancellation cover on the lowest level was very low - but the main reason we have travel insurance is to avoid the 'losing our house due to medical bills and repatriation costs' scenario. We don't have expensive jewellry etc and never carry wads of cash around so aren't worried about claiming for lost stuff.

Bloody get insurance. Sat with my friend when her husband was killed on a holiday to Europe. She spent her first day Searching for his insurance to get his body back. He didn't have any so the family spent their first few days of mourning trying to find the money to ship him back for the funeral.

It's not just about the person on holiday.

Wasted 'few' quid? MY insurance is usually MORE than my holiday itself

My ds 19 got a weeks holiday insurance for £15 (he also got 2 for 1 at the cinema for a year for that). Thankfully he got it because a few days before they were supposed to go his gf was taken seriously ill and they couldnt go.

Terrible. I hope they've get back ok.

I had an overnight following a cancelled flight with Easyjet a few years back and they were brilliant. Hotel room and food provided. I don't think you can compare them with Ryanair.

Personally I don't find travel insurance necessary for myself (I was responding to the idea it needed to be compulsory)

I travel between Britain and Ireland regularly. I've family and friends either side who I stay with, and I don't check in luggage. I've been delayed for a long time. We just put up with it (got a food voucher each though)

Without a doubt travel insurance is a sensible option for a holiday or long haul travel.

I'm sure travel insurance is not relevant here, as surely providing accommodation, meal vouchers etc is Ryan Air's responsibility? If travel insurance were to pay out in such circumstances there would be no need for the airlines to ever do so (though I am not advocating travelling with no insurance).

As students the OP's daughter might not have had the money to easily pay for an hotel, and claiming back from Ryan Air would probably not be hassle free, especially as I imagine they are based in Ireland, so would have to go through the Irish legal system. Their attitude does stink, and I'm surprised more experienced passengers didn't kick up a major fuss.

Well, thanks for the mostly helpful comments.

They are back. They will be claiming compensation (no doubt it will be a rocky road too).

To all those criticising them for travelling without insurance, they are 20 and not long out of parental clutches. Were you never young and inexperienced? You live and learn. It isn't entirely true as we do have some travel insurance as a family via our bank, but it was of no good last night as it was very late, and also what would they have done with the other members of their group who had to sleep at the airport? Abandoned them?

Students are not wealthy. They cannot just produce credit cards to pay hotel bills and guarantee that they can pay them off a month or so later. They have to pare back a fair bit and sometimes rough it. That was just roughing it a bit too much even for them though, and because of the length of the delay they do seem to have grounds for a claim.

Apparently the delay was caused by stormy weather, though other airlines were still flying in and out.

They can claim compensation, I used a solicitor no win no fee in the end, but they could try on their own first, see here: www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/flight-delays#solicitor

The airline has a duty of care (ie hotel, food) even if it's circumstances outside their control

Not sure they'll get anywhere will compensation. Weather disruption is an exceptional circumstance.

www.ryanair.com/doc/faqs/eu261-ie.pdf

But they should try

Thanks for the links. They will be pushing for compensation.

Apparently they were not at the main airport (Tegel, I remember that from years ago), but at Schonefeld, as that is where Ryanair flies to. It is much smaller, and apparently it does appear to have no vending machines, or none obvious.

I flew out of Schoenefeld (which is actually probably similarly busy to Tegel these days with lots of budget flights, though both are supposed to be superseded by the new Brandenburg one if it ever gets finished) with Easyjet last week, there were definitely vending machines in the areas we went through, but obviously this may not be the same wherever your DD was. Sounds pretty shoddy of Ryanair tbh, and is one of the reasons we never fly with them. When our Easyjet flight a few years ago got cancelled due to snow they put us up in the Hilton and paid for taxis there and back plus food for the additional day we had to stay.

Glad she got back ok op.

While I agree everyone should have travel insurance, I'm not sure how all the people lecturing telling the op that think it would've helped in this situation since a. Most policies require you to pay out and claim later. And b. There's always an excess that's more than one night in a cheap hotel anyway