North Atlantic Skyline - - Photographs from the west of Ireland (Galway, Mayo, Clare, Limerick, Roscommon and even Leitrim)

Long Day's journey into night

When is a connecting flight not a connecting flight? When it's a Ryanair connecting flight. Four of us had booked a villa for a week in the Languedoc/Provence region of France, about 25 kilometres west of Avignon. We booked flights from Shannon to Stansted (London), and from Stansted to St. Etienne in France. We were due to fly out last Tuesday, and return yesterday. Alas, a strike in France last week and this week coincided with our departure and return schedule.

Now, when you book a flight with Ryanair, it is always a point-to-point flight, with no linkage between the 'legs' of a flight. You must check in for each leg, and collect your bags after each leg. So if you are late getting into Stansted, too bad- they won't hold the flight for you. So, as I mentioned last week, Herself rang Ryanair last Monday to ask about the strike. Yes, confirmed the pleasant voice on the other end of the phone, there will be no flights from Stansted to any airport in France, but we could be re-booked on a flight for Wednesday for no extra charge. Fair enough, except that since Ireland and the UK were not on strike, so the offer did not cover our Shannon to Stansted flight for Tuesday morning. We had a choice, buy new flights for Wednesday morning, or take the Tuesday flight as booked and stay over in London for a night. We choose London.

The nice lady from Ryanair, who really was very helpful, had a little surprise in store for us. It seems that back in March, after we had made our booking, Ryanair changed their timetable for their flights to France. Ryanair noticed that it would mean that we would not make our 'connection' at Stansted (i.e. we would arrive from Shannon too late to catch the flight to St. Etienne). So they helpfully changed our Shannon to Stansted booking. And charged us 120 euro for the privilege. "Don't you have to inform us before you do that?", asked Herself, a tad incredulously. "Oh, you were sent an Email back in March", replied the lady from Ryanair. Damn the internet and it's infernal machinations! For no Email had been received…

We finally arrived in St. Quentin la Poterie, near the town of Uzès, for our holiday on midnight Wednesday and the holiday itself was great. The weather was fabulous, the scenery was breathtaking and the people were friendly, open and courteous (naturally, I'm not counting their driving habits). Alas, they were also planning to strike. On Friday, we phoned Ryanair about the return. At this stage, the strike was not confirmed but looked likely. Again, we could change our St. Etienne to Stansted booking to either Monday or Wednesday without any extra charge. The Stansted to Shannon flight would cost around 200euro (i.e. 4 X 45euro) to change. "I'll put a note in your booking, and we will call you on Sunday to confirm if the strike goes ahead". On Sunday morning, we rang Ryanair ourselves to confirm the booking. "No problem", said the voice on the phone," that'll be 485 euro to change the Stansted to Shannon leg". "WHAT ?" What happened to the 200 euro quote?". "Ah yes, I see that note in your booking" agreed the voice from Ryanair, a little too cheerfully, I thought. "That was the price then - 485 euro is the price now". Needless to say, if I had known then that the price quoted would not apply now, I would have booked then and not now.

After a quick phone around to every other airline, we returned to Ryanair and booked four seats from Stansted to Dublin for 330 euro. And yes, I had a car parked in Shannon airport. In every relationship, there is the screwed, and the screwer. I felt very screwed.

The original cost of the flights was 584 euro (for four seats). The outward flight change cost 120 euro, and the overnight stay in London around 280 euro. Add in the 330 euro that we spent returning home (it wasn't an option to stay longer) and the extra costs were almost the same as the cost of renting the villa and a mid-sized car for the week. Since we didn't use our Stansted to Shannon flights, presumably Ryanair were able to sell them again for full fare (probably another 500 euro). Actually, I resent the lost holidays as much as the extra cost. The holiday was cut short by two days, and we spent two half days ringing around to re-arrange things.

Last week, Ryanair announced record profits and a plan to become the largest airline in Europe. They have achieved this in part by focussing relentlessly on cost, such as hedging fuel costs, providing a no-frills service on board and using airports that allows them to get the maximum number of journeys from every plane. On each flight over the holiday, the plane arrived ahead of schedule. You can't do that in Heathrow - a plane arriving early will just orbit aimlessly over southern England until it's 'landing slot' becomes available. By controlling their environment (i.e. the airports), they reduce the risk of planes sitting in a queue on a runway, costing them money rather than earning it.

The other part of Ryanair's success is that it has transferred a large part of the overhead of travelling to its customers, by insisting on a point-to-point strategy. All of the major airlines allow you to book all the way through to your final destination - you can usually check in your luggage and not have to lug it about until you have arrived at your final destination. If there is a delay, the airline undertakes to book you on another flight, or even delay the connecting flight. Not so Ryanair - if you miss your flight, you can always buy another one (usually at a higher cost), and Ryanair will be able to sell on the flight that you missed. A win-win for them - a double bogey for you.

Would I book another flight with Ryanair ? Only if the price is right, and the French promise not to go on strike!!

PS. In keeping with the professionalism and care that I have come to expect from Air Rianta, the baggage handlers in Dublin airport managed to break one of the carefully wrapped bottle of wine in our suitcase, imbuing Herself's newly acquired French wardrobe with a truly Provençal colour and scent.

PPS. When we finally went to collect the car in Shannon today, it had a puncture. And it was raining.

PPPS.Michael O'Leary, who runs Ryanair, sold 4 million shares in the airline yesterday, and made about 24 million euro. I'm so happy for him.

Posted by Monasette at June 11, 2003 12:27 PM