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Ryanair fumbles check-in, hundreds delayed

by Katie Hammel (RSS feed) on Aug 4th 2009 at 4:00PM

Hundreds of Ryanair passengers were left behind on Sunday, when a shortage of check-in desks caused them to miss their flights out of London's Stansted Airport. The airline, which encourages passengers to check in online, only opened 11 check-in desks on one of the UK's busiest travel weekends of the year, when 255 flights were scheduled to depart. 23 desks were open the previous weekend.

Over 500 passengers missed their flights. Ryanair issued an apology saying that their baggage handler, Swissport, (who also issued an apology statement) was short-staffed.

As of October, the point will be moot though, as Ryanair will no longer offer airport check-in. The airline has also announced that plans are in the works to eliminate baggage-handling as well. Passengers would need to carry their own bags up to the airplane doors.

Paying for the toilets, loading your own luggage, standing on flights. . .what's next Ryanair? I'm guessing the planes won't even bother to land, and we'll just need to parachute out at our destination.

[via Breaking Travel News]

Filed under: Europe, United Kingdom, Airlines, News

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Jim Aug 4th 2009 5:23PM

"...we'll just need to parachute out at our destination."

Once you've paid the parachute rental fee.

masanddjs Aug 5th 2009 2:26AM

When will people realize that there are other low cost carriers within Europe and that you don't need to fly Ryanair??? Either choose other airlines or quit complaining. You DO have a choice

Melvin Aug 5th 2009 7:10AM

I've never flown with Ryan Air, never ever recommended it to someone and I'll never fly Ryan Air in future and also won't recommend it in future!
I'm a travel agent and all the things you hear from them aren't the best... :(
I've heard that the pilots gets pressure not to loose time & if they does (even if it's a safety round in air), that they shouldn't do this kind of stuff again or they might loose their job...
Great Ryan Air! That's how it works! But not with me! :)
Greetings
Melvin
__
For Travelers, By Travelers!
http://www.traveldudes.org

kevin Aug 5th 2009 9:35AM

I've flown with RyanAir plenty of times. Yes, the seating is cramped, you have to pay extra for everything else but your seat and it feels a bit cattle-like when you're herded into the plain. But I'm not complaining: i couldn't fly any other airline all across Europe for the rates they're offering (from the Netherlands, or make that Weeze, Germany). Even other budget carriers like Transavia, Vueling or AirBerlin seldom offer the same rates.

I can understand that as a travel agent you don't want to send your customers on such a flight. But i really don't think the 'travel agent traveller' (as in the traveller expecting a certain level of service) is the demographic of these budget airlines. For people who are a bit more adventurous, or at least not expecting much at all, I think it's a great way to travel.

As far as safety is concerned: This is ofcourse an important issue, but i've never heard of any official reports of lacking safety on board of RyanAir. I don't think i've ever heard any safety incidents involving RyanAir in the news, come to think of it.