Ryanair flies passengers to the wrong country, no refund

[MK7 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close MK7]

On 23 June 2011 Ryanair flight from Stansted, London to Faro, Portugal landed in Malaga, Spain. The pilot made an announcement a few minutes before the landing that we wouldn't be able to land in Faro and he didn't know what the reason for it was. The weather was perfect, by the way. No hotel was offered or offer to complete the journey on the next flight. People were dumped in the middle of the night in the wrong country. This airline makes its profits from not flying all the way and dumping people where it's cheaper for them to do so. They also don't want to pay penalties at airports when they are late. We were over an hour late taking off, so presumably it was too late to land in the small Faro airport . We had to continue our journey on a 6.5 hour journey by coach in the heat at night in the upright seat across Spain. We were on the coash all night and got to Faro in the morning the next day. A day of holiday was wasted, a hotel bill wasted, and over 8 hours of hell endured - late take off, looking for a coach, coach journey, missed shuttle). Ryanair refuse to refund or credit that flight. Flying someone to the wrong country isn't a good enough reason it seems. If you intend to fly with Ryanair, beware that you may end up where it's more profitable for them to be and not where you booked. Was anyone on that flight and tried to get a refund from Ryanair for disrupted journey?

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

How awful. I wonder what Carolinian will say about Ryan Air. I believe that he likes them.

Was the rest of your vacation OK?

[Carolinian Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Carolinian]

I have heard of this happening before, but I don't think it is common. As I recall, last year, they had one of the best records among European carriers for on time performance. However, as you learned, RyanAir is probably the last carrier you want to be on if there is a glitch. You are likely right about the problem being the operating hours at Faro.

When I fly Ryan, I always leave some wiggle room in my schedule, but so far I have never needed it.

As to LCC's, I always prefer EasyJet or Germanwings over Ryan, also Wizz.

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

Wow.

If you're gonna get dumped somewhere Malaga is a pretty good spot.
At least you can pick up a last call cheap with all the TS's they have there.