Ryanair forgot my parents!

A few weeks back, I’d booked my parents with Ryanair for a Malaga-Liverpool flight. They’re both in their eighties and my Dad, as well as having a pace-maker fitted, is registered blind. Because of this, I’d arranged special assistance at both ends, through Ryanair.

Come the morning of their flight, I helped them check-in and we went over to the Special Assistance desk, where the lady on duty took over and assured me they’d be well taken care of. Lovely, I thought, and off I went to collect my car and tootle around for the day until my flight in the evening. After that, it would appear things went somewhat awry! They were escorted to the gate for the flight and left to await boarding. A while later, Mum asked at the desk and was advised that someone would come over to them when the flight was ready. A while later still, she enquired again, only to be told that the flight had been switched to another gate, they were now too late to board and their baggage had been offloaded. So, Ryanair had changed the gate, forgotten to advise two of their passengers, both of whom had pre-booked (and paid for!) seat numbers in the second row of the aircraft and one of whom was on their manifest as requiring assistance. This, as you can imagine, was a rather distressing situation for my parents. Initially (and bearing in mind this was all happening on a Sunday), Ryanair said the best they could do was a flight to Bristol on Tuesday. That’s ‘only’ two days later and around 200-miles from where they needed to be, so no bliddy use at all!

As I understand it (and to their credit), the Malaga Airport Special Assistance people then stepped in and were very helpful in being able to get them on an alternative Ryanair flight to Manchester, about 3½ hours after they should have departed on the flight to Liverpool. Now, as all of this hassle would appear to have been caused by Ryanair’s incompetence, you might have expected them to have provided assistance on arrival at Manchester and onward transport to their home, right? Well, actually, no, they did not. Silly me! Why on earth would I expect Ryanair not to compound an already difficult situation? On arrival at Manchester, they were left to their own devices, making their way to the baggage reclaim and clearing passport control before having to pay £80 for a taxi home. Due to their age and health, this was not a good way to finish what may well have been their last ever trip abroad.

I contacted the Special Assistance office at Malaga Airport and (again to their credit) they agreed to reimburse the cost of the taxi home which, given the circumstances, was an extremely nice gesture.

Based on the outcome of this week’s easyjet court-case, what’s the consensus on whether or not my folks have a valid claim against Ryanair for, amongst other things, denied boarding compensation?

Carajillo2Sugar – 23/10/2015 13:36 BST

What an appalling tale – totally unacceptable.

I’m unsure of what responsibility the airline would have, here, as the service is provided by a 3rd party – it seems at least they got them back the same day (and I hope it was at no extra cost – I wonder if the airport paid the for the changed flights?)

If the airport changed the gate, the special assistance people should have known and moved your parents.

It does seem an incredible amount of hassle to subject senior citizens to.

carajillo2sugar, your right, BA and the airport sorted it to everybody’s satisfaction, I doubt she knew what had happened really, and it was the last time she ever flew. God bless her.

I think your problem with Ryanair is going to be to get someone to talk to you. I think in your case your better off going through the airport route, because they are likely to actually engage with you, and ultimately it is probably they who were at fault given they had responsibility to get your mom & pop on the plane.

Most upset to learn that your aged parents were effectively abandoned by O’Leary’s mob – in my opinion, it was at first, an oversight but resulted in appaling behaviour from the airline.
I shudder to think how my equally aged mother might have fared (or not) in such dreadful circumstances.
Ryanair’s reps should hang their heads in shame.

@FDOS_UK – 24/10/2015 07:45 BST

At the point of booking with the airline, a special assistance service was contracted to ensure that the pax got to the correct gate for boarding. Who was the contract with? Who is responsible (and who was paid to provide) for the special assistance?

It may be that FR sub-contracted (as is their way) the special assistance service to the airport but it was, never-the-less, FR’s responsibility to ensure that the elderly passengers were at the right gate. Their contract, their failure, their responsibility.

Carajillo2Sugar

Have you considered contacting Ryanair directly? Their Chief Marketing Officer, Kenny Jacobs seems to be driving a more customer service focused agenda than heretofore.

If you decide to try this and is meets with no success, it would surely strengthen your hand if you have to take action later

FDOS_UK – 24/10/2015 18:10 GMT

“Therefore, your second sentence is nonsense.”

In a forum where people are invited to share their views and interpretations, calling an individual contribution nonsense is …. well, nonsense.

As for the actual question, just because it is the airport who provides the special needs service this doesn’t mean the airline has nothing to do with it. One could argue the airline (or the ground service subcontractors who work as the airline’s agents) has a duty to make sure no passenger with special needs is left behind, especially when a gate change is involved.

Edit: typos rectified.