Horrible Ryanair Policies

[PurpleNotebook]

Having to cancel Christmas flights due to a ds with positive Omicron test. So stupidly had bought Ryanair. The 'free change fee' is a load of caveated baloney, only flights bought before Oct, only for travel before Dec 31st 2021.

It will cost us £90 per person (six of us) to change our flights to a later date in 2022, even though the flights will cost considerably less than the original flights. We've spent £650 already, and are not flowing in money, this was a big outlay for us, and we trusted them - so stupid to accept the 'No Change Fee' banner they fly all across the site without getting it'd be caveated into uselessness for anyone changing a Christmas period flight.

I will never, ever, ever, ever, ever buy Ryanair again.

It's giving away your money in these unsettled times. BA etc might be more expensive but you are not signing the money away for good should things change, so it has to be worth the difference - the BA flights were 20% more which seemed a lot but now seems a bargain compared to this lot. So upset by this, and so foolish too for buying them.

Will not make the mistake of ever ever buying Ryanair again.

Can’t believe anyone would book flights or a holiday without travel insurance.

This situation is exactly what it is for

What away to kick OP when she is down. She is having a rant because she believed that by paying extra, she was purchasing a flexible fare that could be changed to alternative dates if needed. So of course she didn't think to buy insurance at the same time, it shouldn't have been needed as she should be able to change dates.

OP I do sympathise, it is bloody crap! I am another who refuses to book RA due to stupid unreasonable crap they have tried to bring in. I really like Easy Jet.

Definitely check if it will be cheaper now just to book the new flights from scratch and buy insurance at the same time. You really need to look carefully at policies as I assume most will still have a clause that they don't cover if related to the 'pandemic'. Ours had this clause away at the start of all this, we had booked the holiday long before covid was a thing. They had a clause that they didn't cover anything cancelled due to a pandemic, however my flights and hotel costs were reimbursed by the companies themselves thankfully. I contacted the insurance company and said the policy was of no use to me so they refunded the cost of the policy, which I thought was pretty decent to be fair!

Anyway sorry for all the waffle op, I guess my point is you do need to always read the small print because they will always look for a way out!

@PurpleNotebook

Ok, this is promising - talk me through the insurance situation. If I get it now pre-flight it'll work?

er no.

@PurpleNotebook

Ok, this is promising - talk me through the insurance situation. If I get it now pre-flight it'll work?

No. You can't take out insurance for a claim situation you are already in

We have begun to dream of holidays next year and have discovered that some websites can filter out flights provided by Ryanair. Seeing their treatment of customers (including their CEO on Radio 4 accusing a listener of lying about not receiving a refund) we’ll be doing our best to not take another Ryanair flight. I know we’re tiny. Insignificant. But I hope that others out there are doing the same.

I took out an annual travel insurance policy in Sept which will cover me for any flights I need to cancel due to testing positive (and also will cover my hotel costs if I test positive abroad so am unable to travel back).

Its too late for you now - insurance will never cover an event that has already happened, but you should consider taking out something similar before you book your next flight so as to be covered.

I don't think that it's only Ryanair that charge you to re-book a flight? Surely it depends on what type of ticket you booked?
BA do sell flexible tickets that you can re-book free of charge, but so do Ryanair - the catch being that these are considerably more expensive than the 'basic' fare that most of us buy, most of the time.

I do agree that changing your flights with Ryanair is almost never worthwhile. I've found that when you go to do the flight change, the fare they show when calculating the fare difference is nearly always more than the same flight would cost if you to book it as a 'new' flight. It's best to be either insured against needing to cancel or accepting that if you cancel you'll just lose the money. Or buy a flexible ticket.

I'm not a frequent flyer but even I know that you have to be extreemly careful with Ryanair Ts and Cs and everyone knows you get your travel insurance as soon as you book.

It's annoying and costly but I don't think it's ryanairs fault in this case

Surely nobody thinks you can buy insurance after things have gone wrong? 😂

Could you insure your car after you've had a crash?
Could you insure your house contents after you've had a fire?
Could you insure your travel plans after you've had a positive covid test?
All the same principle - you can't insure against a past event 🙄

@PrivateHall where did she say she thought she was paying extra for a flexible fare?

She saw an advertising banner, and didn’t read the T&C.

If she posted saying, “argh, I was silly” she’d have lots of sympathy. But she’s pinning it on Ryanair, and much as they’re awful, it’s not at all unusual for an offer with any company to have T&Cs.

Most travel insurance policies don't cover covid I thought?
My regional airport has mainly Ryanair flights. It is one of the reasons we haven't flown at all since the pandemic started.

Yabu.

Ryanair is cheap for a reason. You have to read the details. There's always idiots complaining about paying for baggage at the gates. That's why it's cheaper than BA etc.

If you are smart it's fine.

Also yabu to be flying in a pandemic with 6 people and no insurance.

@julieca ours has started to cover covid again since October. We held off booking anything until it was no longer excluded.

Ok, this is promising - talk me through the insurance situation. If I get it now pre-flight it'll work?

Ha!

@humdingle interesting thanks. I assume with the new variant taht will have changed for new policies as things seem to be changing so fast once again.

If you don't have travel insurance, you are out of luck, I am afraid.
Ryan air is known to be shit, but not buying travel insurance when planning to fly during a pandemic is not very wise either.

In before a sad face daily mail article and a crowdfunding page.

What away to kick OP when she is down. She is having a rant because she believed that by paying extra, she was purchasing a flexible fare that could be changed to alternative dates if needed. So of course she didn't think to buy insurance at the same time, it shouldn't have been needed as she should be able to change dates*

Insurance isn't just for changing dates though. It's for health, repatriation, cancelations etc.

You can’t apply insurance retrospectively in the way you’re suggesting. Always buy it when you buy tickets or it’s better value if you have an annual policy. Sometimes bank accounts have it attached but I notice Nationwide is stopping their policy.

@PrivateHall

What away to kick OP when she is down. She is having a rant because she believed that by paying extra, she was purchasing a flexible fare that could be changed to alternative dates if needed. So of course she didn't think to buy insurance at the same time, it shouldn't have been needed as she should be able to change dates.

OP I do sympathise, it is bloody crap! I am another who refuses to book RA due to stupid unreasonable crap they have tried to bring in. I really like Easy Jet.

Definitely check if it will be cheaper now just to book the new flights from scratch and buy insurance at the same time. You really need to look carefully at policies as I assume most will still have a clause that they don't cover if related to the 'pandemic'. Ours had this clause away at the start of all this, we had booked the holiday long before covid was a thing. They had a clause that they didn't cover anything cancelled due to a pandemic, however my flights and hotel costs were reimbursed by the companies themselves thankfully. I contacted the insurance company and said the policy was of no use to me so they refunded the cost of the policy, which I thought was pretty decent to be fair!

Anyway sorry for all the waffle op, I guess my point is you do need to always read the small print because they will always look for a way out!

She didn't buy insurance. Or check Ts & Cs.

End of sympathy.

People need to wise up. Especially in a pandemic.

Ryanair along with some other companies has headlines that make consumers believe one thing, but the terms and conditions say something else.

PrivateHall

What away to kick OP when she is down.

There is literally NO REASON OR EXCUSE to not buy insurance when your book your travel!!

Ryanair are utterly awful and I learnt that the hard way too. The sooner no one fly's with them the better.

I will never fly with them again either. They're absolute bloodsuckers. I'd rather not go abroad than go with them.

just chalk it up to a bad experience you cant get insurance now and claim off it