[Anonymous]

[TheSnail]

Recently booked and travelled on a couple of “Ryanair” flights. The first STN-BTS was operated by Air Explore – the plane must have come from a musuem – old style seat belts, 70s velor seats. The second was STN-MAD and was operated by SmartLynx – passenger complained of broken seat belt with a repsonse of “I Know” by the steward. My seat (19a) kept reclining on its own, but was told there was no other seat as flight was full so “don’t lean back”!!!!
Can Ryanair sell flights as Ryanair knowing they will not be operared by Ryanair without telling passengers first?

[rferguson]

Hey TheSnail – what type of aircraft was the ‘Air Explore’ operated by? I’ve never heard of them tbh but had a look at their website and see they use 787-800’s and 400’s. The 800’s are quite new although the -400’s would likely be pretty old!

I know that when an airline sells a ticket knowing at that time it will be operated by another airline it has to advise the passenger. If it’s an ‘ad hoc’ substitution later i’m not sure of the requirement. BA has frequently used charter aircraft in the past to operate BA sectors (ie Titan) and these decisions are usually taken close to the time of the flight.

[Poshgirl58]

Monarch used Air Explore a couple of years ago. Apparently, if you had booked a flight with Monarch and received an e-mail a few days before, then you would be on the Air Explore plane. Many problems experienced because of aircraft age/condition, including seats reclining of their own accord. Passenger complaints were dismissed at the time until the aircraft skidded off the runway at BHX. Contract terminated soon after.

[AMcWhirter]

TheSnail –

Ryanair is short of aircraft at the present time. According to the local press, it’s had to cancel seven summer routes from Bournemouth.

http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/11877956.Ryanair_cut_summer_routes_from_Bournemouth_Airport_over_aircraft_shortage/

Aircraft substitution can be made close to departure so sometimes it may not be possible to advise passengers at the time of booking.

While Ryanair awaits the delivery of new planes from Boeing it is having to lease a number of aircraft to support its devellpment at Dublin.

http://www.routesonline.com/news/29/breaking-news/240596/ryanair-set-to-lease-737-400s-to-support-dublin-growth/

[SimonS1]

It happens throughout the industry.

There was a thread on here recently about BA substituting aircraft from WDL, Cello and a 30 year old 146 from Jota for their LCY services.

[AMcWhirter]

Besides use of other carriers’ planes there’s also the situation where an airline may have to substitute a different plane type.

Fans of the A380 have complained to me in the past when one of the Gulfies substituted an older, smaller aircraft.

And it’s happening again this week. Etihad’s A380 will not be coming to LHR as scheduled today because it’s carrying out crew training in Al Ain.

[Author]

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