Tag Archives for ryanair.
Ryanair spent months refusing to pay a delayed passenger money she was legally owed, until an Austrian court bailiff walked onto one of its Boeing 737s and put the aircraft under seizure. The debt was just $1,182, but the scene at Linz Airport turned a routine turnaround into a warning about what can happen when airlines ignore passenger compensation orders.
Ryanair’s CEO says Starlink inflight WiFi would add a 2% fuel penalty from added weight and drag, making it too costly for the airline’s short flights. Elon Musk jumped in to say the CEO is “being misinformed,” arguing the incremental drag is effectively negligible—setting up a public spat over what Starlink connectivity really costs airlines to install and operate.
Ryanair is killing its new $91-a-year “Prime” loyalty program after just eight months, blaming the shutdown on being “too generous” to 55,000 subscribers. The numbers tell a different story: weak demand, bad unit economics, and a bundle that undercut the ancillaries Ryanair depends on for profit.
A flight from Milan to London was unexpectedly diverted to Paris after two passengers damaged their passports in bizarre ways during the journey.
Chaos erupted aboard a Ryanair flight preparing to depart Palma de Mallorca Airport for Manchester early Saturday morning on July 5, after passengers panicked due to a false fire warning. At least 18 people were injured during the evacuation, with some passengers jumping onto the aircraft’s wing.
Ryanair passenger Ann-Marie Murray found herself escorted off of a flight by police after trying to purchase Pringles onboard using her Barclays credit card.
The airline’s payment system failed on a flight from Tenerife, Spain to Bristol, U.K. on March 28. She’d already eaten the snacks, also including water and a soda. She couldn’t cover the £7 (US$9) bill, and the airline repeatedly couldn’t get her card to go through. So they called the police.
A Ryanair flight from East Midlands, UK, to Tenerife was forced to make an expedited landing on November 4 when an unruly passenger behavior urinated in the cabin aisle. Flight FR3152’s 4.5 hour journey went off the rails as several passengers became disruptive – and one became messy.
A passenger claims she was charged for her carry-on bag while boarding a Ryanair flight – while another woman with the exact same bag wasn’t. That other woman? She was “gorgeous.”
It is very simple to model this. Ryanair sells alcoholic beverages. Airports are competition. Limiting airport sales will boost onboard sales. And Ryanair, more than most carriers, relies on ancillary rather rather than just ticket price.
A Ryanair passenger at Palma de Mallorca Airport was caught on video ripping the wheels off his carry-on bag to make it fit in the airline’s sizer and avoid fees, while fellow travelers applauded his sticking it to the man.
As the man named Daniel prepared to board his flight to Malaga, Spain he was told that his red suitcase exceeded the airline’s carry-on size limits. To bring it onboard, he would have to pay an additional US$76. He thought that was unreasonable – so he took matters into his own hands.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
