To be suspicious of this Ryanair flight change?

[Roussillon849]

I received an email from Ryanair asking me to accept a change to a flight to Spain I booked last December. It took me a while to see what the change was, but I eventually saw that the return flight to the UK on 14 August has been brought forward by 5 minutes.

I am suspicious about this for a number of reasons (How can they know now that the schedule has changed? Is Ryanair actually flying anywhere currently? Are there any flights in or out of Spain? Why are they bothering to let us know for just a 5-minute change, when flights may very well still not run in August?).

I mistrust Ryanair with all I've got and I only use them cos I've got no other option.

My worry is that by accepting this seemingly harmless change I'll be somehow committing to losing rights to a refund when later on it is confirmed we cannot fly.

I know I'm being paranoid, but has anyone got any prior experience, knowledge or ideas on this? Thanks.

I’ve had flight times changed by 5-60 minutes in the past. I think it’s just where the airport schedules need to adjust to accommodate other flights

I’ve had flight changes by 5 or 10 minutes before now

They have to tell you, even when it’s a seemingly minor change, if you rocked up at what would have been the last minute for your original time, you’d have missed the cut off for check in because of the time change.

This is perfectly normal. I had at least a dozen 5-10 minute changes in the run up to our flights to/from Orlando last October and my current RyanAir flight to Mallorca in July has had two 5 minute changes over the past couple of weeks.

I am a frequent flyer. I have had lots of these slight changes over the years. Always notified by generic type email. I wouldn't be concerned in the slightest.

As others have said 5 minute changes not that unusual for all sorts of reasons.

Not a big deal in the scheme of things.

Thank you all, it's reassuring to hear this, especially WickedGoodDoge .

I've got a flight for July that got changed. They've brought the outward departure forward by an hour (so 6.30am, ugh). I probably won't end up going though.

I don’t blame you being mistrustful with Ryanair considering if they cancel your flight you can’t get your money back.