Wikimedia CommonsBad news for anyone hoping for a bit of winter sun. Ryanair are cancelling yet more flights between the months of November and March.
18,000 flights have been cancelled in a disappointing move which has affected the travelling plans of 400,000 passengers.
All those impacted have been alerted through email, and have been given the choice between a refund and an alternative flight.
Ryanair posted a link to details of the cancellations on their Facebook page.
PAHowever, many customers are losing faith in the budget airline, with one person tweeting ‘what a mess’.
ryanair just hosted an apology sale for cancelling thousands of flights and then cancelled the apology sale flights what a mess
— Kitty Wenham (@KittyWenham) September 27, 2017
Why would you bother booking with ryanair now if so many flights are to be cancelled? I'm asking for a friend.
— Mark O'Halloran (@markohalloran) September 27, 2017
I wonder how many brexitears have had their RyanAir flights cancelled & are now grateful for the refund guaranteed by EU law? Just a thought
— Dave Latham (@DaveL1953) September 22, 2017
Head of Ryanair Michael O’Leary has made the following statement:
We sincerely apologise to those customers who have been affected by last week’s flight cancellations, or these sensible schedule changes announced today.
While over 99 per cent of our 129 million customers will not have been affected by any cancellations or disruptions, we deeply regret any doubt we caused existing customers last week about Ryanair’s reliability, or the risk of further cancellations.
From today, there will be no more rostering related flight cancellations this winter or in summer 2018.
Mr O’Leary added:
Slower growth this winter, will create lots of spare aircraft and crews which will allow us to manage the exceptional volumes of annual leave we committed to delivering in the 9 months to Dec 2017.
We will start a new 12 month leave period on the 1st of Jan 2018 in full compliance with EU regulations and the IAA’s requirements.
All of the passengers who have been affected by these disruptions have now been offered re-accommodation or full refunds and their applicable EU261 entitlements.
In addition today, they are receiving a travel voucher (€40 one way/€80 return) which they may use to book any Ryanair flight of their choice during October for travel between October and March 2018.
The news comes less than two weeks after the airline announced it would be cancelling flights to deal with a back log of employee leave.
I have a flight from Manchester to Berlin in November? How will I know if this has been cancelled or not? Shambolic
— Liam (@_liamlane) September 27, 2017
#Ryanair have just cancelled my Christmas flights. Thought this disruption was only for 6 weeks. Not amused. Cost me £200 more with easyjet
— Trish (@Trish22328311) September 27, 2017
Great, flights cancelled, refund given, no compo as more than 14 days notice, doesn't help with money paid for accommodation though does it?
— Tom Howarth (@Sirbobbyliveson) September 27, 2017
Hopefully this will be the end of the mayhem experienced by Ryanair customers, however for those who have already booked non-refundable accommodation during this trip, this news will be extremely frustrating.
Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.