Readers will no doubt recall last month’s global computer meltdown that crashed the systems of countless companies and left the plans of millions of people in disarray? Derek Doherty was one of those people.
On the morning of July 19th he was due to fly with Ryanair from Bordeaux to Cork but there were significant delays and “eventually ground staff started to check us on manually,” he says.
“We got through the security and then were told that the flight was cancelled. We made our way to departures and were told to wait for further updates. We since found out that the flight left with passengers that had carry-on luggage only and that only passengers with hold luggage were prevented from flying,” he says.
“That left around 100 passengers stuck in Bordeaux airport with no communication from Ryanair,” he continues. “Ground staff tried emailing and telephoning Ryanair but they were not replying.
“Passengers that did manage to get through to Ryanair were told to contact ground staff.”
Eventually, after several hours, he and his travelling companions were told that the flight was cancelled and that they should leave the airport, he says.
He repeats that the flight was not cancelled and left without him – and all those others.
“We were left to find accommodation for ourselves and to rebook alternative flights home.
“I have been in contact with Ryanair via phone and email in order to start the compensation and refund process,” he writes. “They are directing me to links on their website that won’t open and even though I have a complaint reference number and have asked for help they have just told me that they consider my query closed even though it clearly isn’t.”
Well we contacted Ryanair and the airline was having none of it.
“This flight from Bordeaux to Cork was delayed due to the global Microsoft IT outage that day. This flight departed from Bordeaux to Cork with an (ATC) delay of 55 mins. There were over 100 passengers on board. This passenger received No cancellation messages from Ryanair,” a spokeswoman said.
“This passenger failed to arrive at the boarding gate before it closed and therefore missed his flight. The passenger should have been at the boarding gate before it closed, especially given the 55 min delay, then he would have travelled on this flight alongside all the other 100 plus passengers who did arrive on time. Since this passenger missed his scheduled flight, he is not entitled to any compensation.”
We also heard from a reader called Brian who was having difficulties with the same airline. In the middle of July he flew with his family from Dublin to Venice with Ryanair and checked in himself, his wife and two of his three children online without difficulty. There was a problem checking in his daughter “as she was listed as a child instead of a teen on the booking.”
His daughter is 12.
Before flying Brian got on to the airline’s online chat and the customer agent changed his daughter from the child category to the teen category.
But that was not the end of the problems.
When Brian tried to check her in online, the computer said no on the basis that she was a child and could not check in without an adult. So Brian checked himself in again. That meant he had checked in twice and had boarding passes for all his family and two for himself.
“The online customer agent did not tell me that I would have to rebook the rest of my family in again (which I was later told at Venice airport on return I should have done). When we arrived at Dublin Airport my double booking meant we could not check in. The matter was resolved with the help of Ryanair staff and their manager with no charge. We were informed that the issue was now resolved and would not arise again on our return flights. However, on July 24th on our return from Venice to Dublin the same issue arose.”
He says that there were no Ryanair agent in Venice airport to assist and the staff member at the check-in desk “would not allow us to board the flight without paying for boarding passes for my wife and two other children, which cost me €165. We were informed that Ryanair would reimburse us this cost.”
That has not happened and he says he has been told “they will not reimburse me the €165. I feel that this is inappropriate as: the original online customer agent did not inform me that I would have to rebook in the rest of my family members when booking my 12-year-old daughter in.”
He also notes that while the problem was resolved in Dublin for free “and we were told the matter would not arise again, we were still charged at Venice airport for boarding passes despite the fact that I had electronic boarding passes on my phone for all family members”.
We received a response from the airline that was as robust as the first one.
“This passenger incorrectly booked a child ticket (age 11 or under) for one of their travelling companions, on this flight from Dublin to Venice. When this passenger contacted Ryanair at 9.30am on July 11th, the booking was correctly changed from a child to a teen (age 12 to 15) and he was advised (copy attached) that he must check in again following this booking change – however, he failed to do so,” the Ryanair spokeswoman said.
The spokeswoman concluded by saying that Brian ‘was not advised that Ryanair would refund his airport check-in fee. This passenger is not entitled to a refund of the airport check-in fee because they failed to check in, prior to arriving at the departure airport, despite receiving an email reminder from Ryanair to do so.’
“Prior to his flight on July 17th, one of our agents at the airport helped him to check in online on the Ryanair app as it was more than two hours prior to his scheduled departure. He was not advised he had checked in for his return flight and it remained his responsibility to do so,” she continued.
“When returning from Venice on July 24th, this passenger again failed to check in online for their flight before arriving at the departure airport, despite receiving an email recommending him to do so, at 10.32am on the July 16th. This passenger and his two companions were therefore correctly charged the airport check-in fee for all three passengers on this booking.”
The spokeswoman concluded by saying that Brian “was not advised that Ryanair would refund his airport check-in fee. This passenger is not entitled to a refund of the airport check-in fee because they failed to check in, prior to arriving at the departure airport, despite receiving an email reminder from Ryanair to do so.”
Right so.
Now, staying with air travel but moving from one Irish-based airline to another.
A reader called Jean and her husband planned to travel to Malaga next month to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary and booked their trip with Aer Lingus.
Both are in their 80s and they were looking forward to their trip but since they made their booking, Jean’s husband’s health “has deteriorated”, Jean says.
She contacted us to see if we think she and her husband would be able to get a refund on the flights if they have a doctor’s cert. They did not take out travel insurance when they made their booking.
We have written about the importance of travel insurance on this page over many years. It can make life a whole lot easier if, for whatever reason, you are forced to cancel a holiday before you travel or need to cut a trip short and it can save you tens of thousands of euro and endless heartache if – heaven forbid – something terrible happens to you while you are overseas.
While it is true up to a point that if you fall ill while in the European Union you will be treated in that country’s health system just like you would be if you were a citizen of that country, you have absolutely no protection if you have to cancel your trip before you leave because of an illness to you or a loved one or if you have to curtail it for the same reason.
While taking out travel insurance is a fairly simple and pretty cheap process for most people it can be quite a different story for people as they get older and ageism continues to be rife in the travel insurance sector.
While the European Court of Justice ruled that it was discriminatory and illegal to price car insurance based on gender a few years back, no such restrictions apply in the travel insurance sector when it comes to a person’s age.
If a trip has to be cancelled because one of the travelling party breaks a limb or needs to have minor surgery, a travel operator will almost certainly refuse to entertain any request for a refund or rebooking
A person who wants travel insurance at 66 can often be expected to pay twice as much as someone aged 65, even though there is no difference in the level of risk the two people pose to companies. Someone who hits 70 or 75 will be told they can’t get any insurance at all with many companies. Companies can just refuse to offer a quote for someone once they hit a certain age, and there is no comeback
Age Action does have a list of companies that offer travel insurance to older people and the list outlines the terms and conditions that they impose. No matter what the hassle we would always encourage people to take out a policy as airlines are under no obligation to offer a refund in circumstances such as the ones briefly outlined by our reader.
We frequently hear from people who have suffered some misfortune and are upset with airlines or tour operators because they have been refused refunds or at the very least the opportunity to reschedule trips.
While the upset on the part of those who contact us is entirely understandable, so too is the position adopted by the companies.
If a trip has to be cancelled because one of the travelling party breaks a limb or needs to have minor surgery, a travel operator will almost certainly refuse to entertain any request for a refund or rebooking. They will point out that that is exactly what travel insurance is for and they can’t be expected to pick up the tab for every illness and misfortune that befalls their customers.
It is also worth pointing out that in our experience if trips have to be cancelled for much more serious reasons – such as bereavements or very grave illnesses, travel companies tend to be more sympathetic and in our experience Aer Lingus – and Ryanair – tend to show a degree of flexibility in this regard and we can point to multiple examples of both airlines processing refunds for our readers when members of their travelling parties have fallen seriously ill or worse.
We have been in touch with Aer Lingus and it is in the process of liaising directly with our reader to see what can be done to help her out.
