A Scots dad is fuming after Ryanair gave him a £3.30 voucher for a 24 hours delay due to weather.
Gary Lindsay was in Krakow for a few days with his two daughters and heading home back to Edinburgh on a flight that was due to take off at 11.25am on November 27, though was pushed back due to weather conditions.
Despite getting on the plane, they were shuffled back off and told the flight would now be taking off at 7am on November 28. Gary and his children got another night at a hotel, and had to feed themselves and get transport back and forward to the airport.
The dad is still waiting on compensation for the extra night of expenses and has only a £3.30 airport meal voucher each – which the family didn’t even use. After they were approached for comment, Ryanair apologised to all passengers on the flight and confirmed Gary had submitted his request for compensation.
Speaking to Edinburgh Live, Gary said: “The flight back was supposed to be on Wednesday at 11.25am. Me and the girls got to the airport and it was incredibly busy. A little bit later a few announcements came on about other flights being delayed or cancelled, and we started to realise ours probably was going to be affected too.
“It was all due to weather at the airport, and to be fair it was very foggy. Other airlines had announced issues, but Ryanair was saying nothing. We found a table, but it was getting even more busy so the place was packed. At 11am, we got an email to say it was going to be delayed until 1pm.”
By 11.30am, Gary had received another email to say the flight would be taking off at 1.45pm. He then received an email with meal vouchers for the value of £3.30 for each passenger.
He continued: “It was £4.50 for a coffee, so that wasn’t much use. It got to the stage that it was so busy in the airport that people were just lying on the floor. By 4.30pm, we got another email saying we couldn’t claim due to the exceptional weather circumstances.
“I’m not holding Ryanair responsible for the weather, it’s not their fault, but the lack of information and the £3.30 meal vouchers is what got me.”
By the late afternoon, there was a break in the fog. Gary and his children got on the plane, and were told they would be taking off soon. He explained: “We were on the plane and it came to a stop, they came on and said the engine had died. We sat for another hour on the plane. They said we couldn’t leave, they needed a minimum of 350 metres visibility to take off and it was sitting at 325.
“I checked my emails and saw I had one from Ryanair saying the flight was now rescheduled for 7am the next day, which was odd because we were sitting on the plane with the pilot telling us he was waiting on a window of opportunity.”
The passengers on the plane were then taken off, and Gary decided to book a hotel for his family. He also booked in advance a taxi to get back to the airport in the morning. He added: “We got an Uber back to the hotel, we all got some food.
“It was around 6.30pm, and I’d had an email with a link to put expenses to Ryanair – so I thought I’d be able to claim that night at the hotel and the food. We got back to the airport, it was relatively quiet and nothing on the screens saying any flights had been cancelled or anything. We got there about 6.15am, and our plane was boarding.
“We joined the queue, but then an announcement came over. They were saying the 7am flight was delayed because there was no crew to take us over.
“Eventually, we boarded about 8.30am. Almost 24 hours later. We got home and I submitted the expenses, which totalled about £141. I think that’s not bad for one night at the hotel, dinner and breakfast as well as travel to and from the airport.
“I gave them all the receipts and everything, and I’ve had nothing back. There’s a level of treatment that you should be afforded as a customer.
“It’s really poor. I’ve never experienced such bad customer service.” By December 2, five days after the flight was meant to take off, Gary is yet to hear back on the expenses for the extra night.
A spokesperson for Ryanair told Edinburgh Live: “This flight from Krakow to Edinburgh (27 Nov) was delayed overnight due to adverse weather conditions.
“Affected passengers were notified and advised of their options to either move flight free of charge or request a refund. Passengers booked on this flight were notified via email, SMS and PUSH, and received subsequent updates via the Ryanair app.
“Passengers were notified of the delay, advised of their options, and were issued with refreshment vouchers. Despite Ryanair’s efforts to arrange accommodation for passengers, availability was limited, and passengers were advised that they could also arrange individual accommodation that they could claim back receipted expenses on Ryanair.com, which this passenger submitted late last week.
“We sincerely apologise to affected passengers for any inconvenience caused as a result of this weather-related delay, which impacted all airlines operating to/from Krakow that day.”
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