RyanAir Flight delay and poor response

[Johnwrights]

RyanAir Flight delay and poor response

 I missed my flight yesterday.

Original departure  time: 7.05PM
Delayed departure time: 7.56PM

I was waiting in the lounge at Stansted airport. I noticed that my flight still had “go to gate” in “big screen”. Google flight status and liveflightstat notified that flight is delayed by 56 minutes. All other flights had status changes such as “go to boarding” and “final call”. My flight had status as “just go to gate”.

my 1 year old kid and I went to the gate just 15 minutes after the original departure gate(6.35pm) around 6.50pm. 5 min walk from main screen. There was no one at the desk. I informed the security who was standing at the next gate. My wife arrived 10 minutes after me(in total, she spent 20 minutes extra in security check) as child food needed detailed security check. Security took me to the small helpdesk, where she informed that boarding is closed just 10 minutes back . I said there was no announcement and big screen just said “go to gate”, she did something in system and after which I went to check the main display and directly changed to “gate is closed”. In that area, there were atleast 5 gates.
Almost 20 passengers missed the flights due to “wrong gate numbers and boarding closed early” for delayed flights. Most are RyanAir and EasyJet.
Security asked us to speak to the flight help desk.

RyanAir ticket sales people were not really friendly except one guy.

I explained this to the Ryanair helpdesk. The first girl said this is not a RyanAir problem. I said, as a consumer I was affected and you should help me. What should I do?. I showed the google flight status. This girl directly said this flight is not delayed. If you think it is delayed, go and sue google.com and airport.

I went to the next guy. Same thing went on. He said the flight is not delayed. He persisted that google is wrong. Where it says flight is delayed!!!.This guy said boarding is closed by 6.56PM(original closing time is 6.35pm). I was there by 6.50PM. Then, he really doubted where I was inside the airport. He asked me the gate number . I asked him to check the camera if he doesn’t believe me.He went inside and came back. He seems to knew that everything I said was true. This time he said you probably arrived at the boarding gate on time and you might have missed the flight because you waited for your wife. He said nothing he can do. Pay 100GBP per passenger to reschedule the flight.

I noticed that two more Ryanair customer was unhappy with the responses and asked for complaint forms. Other customers had argument and help desk guy said I d9nt even work for Ryanair. Probably outsourced to contractors!!!. I also asked for the complaint form because I was not happy with the answer.

He said, my manager listens to us. I think nothing you can do now and my manager will also give the same answer.

I said to him that I will be back in 10 minutes if I need the ticket. I discussed with my wife and then brought my credit card to pay. This guy just said I closed for the day. Come back tomorrow morning by 4am. And then, I spoke to his colleague. He said I saw you are speaking with my colleague, I finish my work about 9.30pm, I need to watch football. I said I just went to collect my credit card. The first guy laughed and said “it is not about the credit card”
It’s unbelievable to hear such poor response from help desk that was saying “We are here to help” Oh,really?!?!Were you even considering us?

Is there any wrong in asking the complaint form?

The next day I came early about 7AM(2 hrs travel from my home). This time Ryanair guy said he doesn’t have any notes at all. All flights are fully booked. Then, he said only one ticket is free. I persisted and he gave me 3 tickets after paying 300GBP. Though he didn’t sell me at first and eventually he gave the tickets. Atleast he was helpful in one way.

Again for the rescheduled 12,O clock ticket. I got the notification for 30 minutes delay from google by 9AM. The main screen displayed the delay by 10AM and gate number was displayed by 11.25. Event though big screen showed as “go to gate”, screen on the way to Gate , small screens showed that “gate is open”. May be there is a delay or statuses are not updated for all flights.

I spent about 400GBP in taxi itself. More than money, My child spent more than 8 hours in taxi.

Now , questions are..

Do I have any chance to get the refund?.

Do I need to complaint about RyanAir or Stansted airport?.

Assume that I caught this flight on time, since the flight is delayed I might have missed the car hire at Oslo airport as they close early.

What should I do? There were 20 people like me, supposed to catch flights at the gates 8x, missed them.

I have photos and screenshots to support my case.

Basically when travelling by bloody ryanair you turn up in loads of time. Sitting hours in departure liunge followed by hours sat in line at gate. They can be as delayed as they like, change flight times and gates numerous times. It sucks but is the way the system works. It seems you thought that as the flight was delayed and there was no gate is closing notice that you had time to get through security. You didn't. You will get nowhere complaining and will send yourself nuts.

I feel for you but you won’t get anywhere with this and I think you know the error is yours.
The two key issues are:
-You relied on google.
-When you missed the flight instead of buying new ticket immediately you farted about which caused more stress.

That said, stansted is an aresole of an airport.

I travel a lot from London airports, stansted is my least favourite for a few reasons but the main thing everyone should know is

STANSTED SECURITY IS THE SLOWEST, RUDEST, MOST INDIFFERENT SECURITY ON THE PLANET

I regularly see people in utter hysterics trying to get through security as the workers move at a fucking glacial pace checking carry on. Passengers regularly cut it fine with Ryanair and easyJet flights because they know boarding usually closes 5mins before departure and hanging around a gate is boring.

For anyone using stansted this summer please take my advice...
At stansted, assuming you’ve already checked in, you need to arrive a full two hours as security is slow to assure you make your flight

I have arrived two hours early because I was held up in queues ans it was a remote gate and arrived at the gate 15 mins before departure

OP, if your flight was delayed until 10pm would you have expected boarding to stay open until 9:30pm?

It doesn't matter that the big screen said 'go to gate' and the smaller ones said 'gate open', if you had gone to the gate when told then you would have seen the gate was open.

Go to the gate when the sign says to go to the gate. Even if the flight is delayed, you go to the gate for the original boarding time. Once boarding is closed, that's it. Even if the aircraft is sat right there for another 30 minutes, boarding is closed and you are down as a no-show.

Getting a flight is not like catching a bus, you can't just run up 5 minutes before and expect to get on -unless it's BA

I am absolutely gobsmacked to find myself on anti Ryanair flight siding with Ryanair

Congratulations OP on being the only person ever to be at fault over Ryanair!

They’re awful, but you know that if your wife was still at security, you were there too late. Too late for the original time let alone a later time.

Go to gate means... well, it’s all upthread!

YABU

it’s your own fault for being late and ignoring the signs saying Go to Gate.

Of course RyanAir weren’t particularly helpful because it’s not their fault.

STANSTED SECURITY IS THE SLOWEST, RUDEST, MOST INDIFFERENT SECURITY ON THE PLANET.

😂😂😂 OK it’s not U.K. but have you ever been through security and passport control at O R Tambo airport in Johannesburg?

Oh and OP - totally your fault.

@trojanpony - Gatwick can sometimes beat Stansted for slowness.

Regardless the pilot on one of my more recent flights stated that they don't have enough ground crew at Stansted, which is why flights can sit on the tarmac full of passengers waiting to depart for up to an hour.

Oh and if you miss your outgoing flight thry may then cancel your incoming flight so I would check that too

Congratulations OP on being the only person ever to be at fault over Ryanair!

😂😂😂😂 ^^^^This

Best line ever!

Forget about Google. That's totally irrelevant. The only relevant part is that the board said 'go to gate' and you decided for some unfathomable reason to not do this.

YABU. You were advised to Go To Gate and you didn't. What other flights did with their passengers is actually of no concern to you.

You did not go to the gate when you were told. End of.

Also the times in your post are different, you've given two "original" departure times and two different "delayed" departure times.

And it sounds like your wife didn't even clear security until after your original departure time - you need to get yourself to the airport way earlier in future if you want to make your flights.

So you were late and left your wife in security to try and get them to wait?

That was never going to go well

Did you catch a flight ok in the end? Ryanair are abysmal for customer service.

Thank you for your responses.

It is not that I searched on google. Google reads all my email and google sends the reminders/notifications/updates to my mobile. It matched with the big screen. Ryanair staff also confirmed that delayed closing time was 6.56pm.. I was there before that time...if they don’t find anyone in the queue, can they close before the closing time?!?!?

OP you've made this as confusing as possible

are you saying that you followed the info on the airport screens and you were at the gate on time, all of you, according to the time shown in the airport?

if yes, you have a case. if no, then you don't.

Inspectorlknen
Yes O R Tambo I’ve done four or five times!
I guess I must have always got their during a slow period 🤷‍♀️
queues weren’t too bad and the staff (bar one woman) were always quite nice!

Would your wife have made it by 6.56pm?? If she would not have been there before that time then your own arrival time doesn’t matter. Unless you were going to leave her!

And why is your wife always trailing around 20 mins behind you with the DC?

Maybe if you helped her with them you would all arrive at a place together. Sounds like you are striding off to sort things out/cack things up and leaving her to do the heaving lifting with the kids.

I was there before that time...if they don’t find anyone in the queue, can they close before the closing time?!?!?

Well if you were there, why weren't you in the queue? They of course will close the gate if there is no one else left in the queue. The flight has to take off as close to it's original time as possible. It is up to you to be there, and to start travelling there when the screen says "go to gate".

Your posts make zero sense.

Your wife missed the closing time of 6.56pm anyway if she arrived just after 7. It's not a supermarket. You don't get to "hold" the plane just because one of you shows up and stands there.

You go to gate when it says go to gate. In fact everyone stampedes there so that they don't have to put some of their luggage in the hold or halfway down the plane in another locker. It's not like the rest of Stansted is a lovely utopia to spend time in!

Also... you can't assume that boarding will be delayed an hour because the flight is. Sometimes they get a slot, chuck you all on and go for it.

Did someone tell you beforehand that the departure gate closing time had changed or did you just assume it was because google said the flight was delayed?

trojanpony Lucky you! I suppose I shouldn't derail this thread although Security and Customs in Airports Around the World -- there's got to be a thread there right?

Is "go to gate" going to be the new "cancel the cheque"?
Unfortunately John you were in the wrong on this one so all you can do is suck it up and make sure you leave more time when you fly in future.