Supposed to fly to Malta on Sunday but gales are forecast. Will Ryanair let me change my flight?

[refreshingseahorse]

According to the weather report we will be landing in 65km winds, so chances are the flight will be affected. I'd rather cancel the trip and do it next year. I have my doubts that Ryanair will be sympathetic to this.

• Is the best way to deal with this for one of us to have an unfortunate bout of Covid? Are there credit note options I am not seeing online?
• If we do that and then book a last minute holiday somewhere else (where there is not a gale) will we get found out? ( I would avoid Ryanair!)
• Any suggestions for last minute holidays next week where there are no gale force winds or storms? 2 people 4 - 6 nights about 1.5k to spend.

Well to me, windy.com sounds like they want it to be windy so maybe it's a wishlist not a forecast.

But I agree that expecting a refund or reasonably priced rebooking before the flight is actually affected by bad weather that may or may not actually turn up is somewhat ambitious.

Plus 'pulling the covid card' is so tedious, surely you must know how ridiculous you look to be still using that old trope to get out of doing anything you don't want to do?

Travelling to the Med in September or October is always going to be down to luck weather wise as there's a fairly reliable storm that happens every year before settling down for a few more weeks of good weather. We've seen it a few times but it's only ever lasted a day or two at most so not enough to spoil a holiday and it's given us some interesting stormy seas to watch from a safe distance.

Basically, no. It doesn’t seem like the issue is your flight; that is still likely to go ahead. More that you don’t want to go to a place with a crap weather forecast.

This is absolutely nothing to do with a bit of a bumpy flight and everything to do with the weather forecast for your holiday.

What's the situation with your accommodation there? As people say there may be an option to pay to change flights but can you change the rest of it?

the gales wont be bad enough to cancel

I landed in the UK with RA on Wednesday in very strong winds - 45mph I think. Yes it was bumpy and a few gasps from the passengers but absolutely fine . Planes fly in all sorts of weather, with no issues - it won't be cancelled and RA won't reimburse you

I would just go tbh. RA are awful, they won’t help.

The question still remains in the context about supposed worries about gales in Malta on Sunday disrupting flights - what gales?

There's still nothing in the forecast for Malta, certainly for Sunday, that is anything close to what is needed for a wind to be deemed Gale Force.

The forecast is still for a freeze breeze blowing out of the north west, which will give a nice head wind for the main runway at Luqa. Of course forecasts change but this one is looking fairly solid.

Like @NashvilleQueen I think there's more to the OPs question than meets the eye TBH.

Wondering what you decided to do @refreshingseahorse ?

So I was freaking out a bit when I posted originally. The covid comment was a bit facetious ( I always forget that doesn't work well on here).
It was the combination of wind, and crap weather that was due to clear on the day we left. So I cancelled the accommodation (free) and paid the £££ to shift the ryanair flight to a random city break next year (city breaks are less weather dependent). Booked a last minute trip somewhere sunny and that's where I am now 😎

I learned from this that I should always pay the extra for free cancellation on flights. And that nice weather on holiday is something I care a lot about.

Glad it worked out for you - can I just ask if you booked the specific option with Ryanair that allows you to move your flights ? I noticed when we booked last time that this was a specific, more expensive option when booking. Hadn't seen it before .