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Original poster

Does Ryanair mess around…

24 replies

BarqsHasBite · 06/04/2024 21:55

….with its flight times?

We normally fly EasyJet but I managed to get a great deal with Ryanair for Feb half term to the Canaries, and I’m looking at booking a holiday later next year on a route only Ryanair does.

Am just wondering how likely it is that the flight times will change by me booking a long way in advance? Canaries I was prepared to take a chance on because it was such a stupendous price but I don’t want to book the other trip for them only to move the flight times to eg 6am or 00:15 which would totally ruin the trip for us.

Has anyone found this happens with Ryanair or do the times seem fairly fixed?

Thanks in advance!

OP posts:
countrygirl99 · 06/04/2024 21:59

I've had it happen with Ryanair and Easyjet. Last year Easyjet moved our flight home from Thursday to Saturday. At least my Ryanair flight this month has just changed from morning to afternoon.

Favouritefruits · 07/04/2024 09:57

Well the last four years we’ve travelled with Ryanair and never had a problem! The only slightly delay was when a passed died onboard and there was no toilet roll left, but that’s kind of understandable!

Favouritefruits · 07/04/2024 09:57

Passenger*

dreamingofsun · 07/04/2024 11:19

I've had them move the times on a few flights. Had the same happen with TUI. I think is mainly down to the airport and scheduling not been confirmed so far in advance and not the airline.

FloatyBoaty · 07/04/2024 11:26

We’ve just had an outbound flight cancellation from Ryanair 6 weeks before we were due to fly “for commercial reasons”. As far as I can tell from the booking options and online flight timetables, they’ve completely removed a day on which they flew the route, from the schedule going forward. Now have to travel from and to and different airport, at a totally different time.

It’ll be fine. And actually we’ve gained almost a whole day. But if you’re someone who likes certainty, I’m not sure Ryanair (or any budget airline) can guarantee that for you these days- and I’m not sure that booking further in advance or more last minute will make a difference really.

samarrange · 07/04/2024 16:13

Favouritefruits · 07/04/2024 09:57

Well the last four years we’ve travelled with Ryanair and never had a problem! The only slightly delay was when a passed died onboard and there was no toilet roll left, but that’s kind of understandable!

Were those two incidents on the same flight? Did they need to use all the loo roll to try and save the passenger? Inquiring minds want to know! 🍿

samarrange · 07/04/2024 16:30

The most likely change is that if they run more than one flight a day on that route, and sales are sluggish a few weeks out, they will cancel one and combine the two. In that case it's 50-50 whether it's your flight or the other one that is cancelled. So if you look at their times for that day, and they are all at decent times, you will probably be OK.

I have taken more than 100 flights with Ryanair and the cancellation/change thing has happened to me once (that I know of; maybe I was on the other side of the 50-50 one or more times). Other than that I don't think they have ever changed the departure time. If they do, even by 5 minutes, they have to offer you a full cash refund, and they don't like doing that because they know that a lot of people's plans have changed a bit since they booked but they don't want to pay rebooking fees.

ghislaine · 07/04/2024 16:35

Favouritefruits · 07/04/2024 09:57

Well the last four years we’ve travelled with Ryanair and never had a problem! The only slightly delay was when a passed died onboard and there was no toilet roll left, but that’s kind of understandable!

Can I ask if these two events were related?

<imagines the deceased being wrapped up in loo roll like a mummy>.

NameChangedAgainn · 07/04/2024 16:37

We've never had an issue with Ryan Air. Had a few issues with BA flights being cancelled or times changed last minute, but not with any other airlines.

ALunchbox · 07/04/2024 16:43

It had never happened to us until after COVID where it happened a few times. We are talking a flight moved another day to an inconvenient time (e.g. 10pm). Not sure if we were unlucky or not.
Also happened that they changed their plane and couldn't honour seat choices we had made and paid for... Without telling us. We only realised at the time of checking in, which we did quite late safe in the knowledge It'd just be a formality...

Favouritefruits · 07/04/2024 16:56

@ghislaine yes they were related, it was the same flight not sure if they were connected though, they did say you could ask for some napkins if you needed the toilet.

Puravida23 · 07/04/2024 20:16

Just had our flight to Estonia moved from 3pm to 6am with Ryanair . They do give you the option to cancel though which is what we have done and are now going with a different carrier at a much more civilised time but really inconvenient I guess if they are the only carrier on a route you are doing

Original poster
BarqsHasBite · 07/04/2024 22:31

Thanks all - how far off is your flight @Puravida23? That sounds better than EasyJet- they used to have a decent policy whereby if they changed a flight time you could either accept it, pick a different flight or get your money back, and it was easy to select on the app. But last time they changed us (to a different day!) it was a real battle to get them to do anything.

I’m sure changes are sometimes the fault of the airport rather than the airline.

I think there are 3 flights a day on the route we want so hopefully we can change the day if they do try to bump us to a flight at stupid o’clock.

OP posts:
OutOfTheHouse · 07/04/2024 22:36

Favouritefruits · 07/04/2024 09:57

Well the last four years we’ve travelled with Ryanair and never had a problem! The only slightly delay was when a passed died onboard and there was no toilet roll left, but that’s kind of understandable!

Were the two events related?

Deadringer · 07/04/2024 22:39

We have been flying with ryanair for years and only had our flight time changed once.

OutOfTheHouse · 07/04/2024 22:39

We had our flight time changed last year. Only by a couple of hours though.

Hibye23289 · 07/04/2024 22:47

I was cabin crew for Ryanair and they usually stick to the times. They are also one of the most punctual airlines, oh and safest I recently read, not that that's relevant to your question.

Wherehas2023gone · 07/04/2024 22:51

We booked our Gran Canaria flights with Ryanair from a regional airport last May for this July. We got ridiculously cheap flights leaving on the Wednesday before schools broke up. They subsequently changed the flights to Mondays and Fridays only so we switched to the Friday (so only one day of school missed!) luckily we had flexible hotel bookings.

samarrange · 07/04/2024 23:00

Hibye23289 · 07/04/2024 22:47

I was cabin crew for Ryanair and they usually stick to the times. They are also one of the most punctual airlines, oh and safest I recently read, not that that's relevant to your question.

They are the safest because they have flown something like 3 billion pax with zero fatalities. EasyJet are second, only because they have flown slightly fewer pax but still with zero fatalities.

Modern aircraft and flight safety protocols are amazing (incidents with the 737MAX notwithstanding). I remember in the 1980s there was a plane crash on the news every month somewhere in Europe or the US, and there were far fewer flights then.

Puravida23 · 07/04/2024 23:42

@BarqsHasBite flight is in June they changed it a couple of weeks ago. It was annoying but easy enough to get a refund . They also did the same last year to us with flights to Genoa which we also cancelled.
I don’t think Ryan air want us to fly with them!

Original poster
BarqsHasBite · 08/04/2024 08:33

Hibye23289 · 07/04/2024 22:47

I was cabin crew for Ryanair and they usually stick to the times. They are also one of the most punctual airlines, oh and safest I recently read, not that that's relevant to your question.

Our experience far more limited than yours but agreed re Ryanair being good on punctuality. We wondered if the crew bonuses are partly dependent on it, especially after a couple of rather steep landings to just make it down on time…! 🫣🤣

OP posts:
ChilliPB · 08/04/2024 08:51

It can happen with any airline - it’s not just budget airlines. We’ve had flight times with Air Canada and BA changed before.

It’s just a risk you take but I wouldn’t worry about it/not book on that basis.

Georgyporky · 08/04/2024 10:42

Hibye23289 · 07/04/2024 22:47

I was cabin crew for Ryanair and they usually stick to the times. They are also one of the most punctual airlines, oh and safest I recently read, not that that's relevant to your question.

I once sat next to a Ryanair pilot - travelling as a passenger but in full uniform.
He told me the real reason why they are punctual is they deliberately overestimate the journey times.

countrygirl99 · 08/04/2024 11:42

Which is a sensible thing to do when so many causes of delay are outside your control.

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