Ryanair has come under fire the last number of days after revealing they will cancel between 40 to 50 flights a day for the next six weeks.
During a press conference yesterday evening, Michael O'Leary, Ryanair CEO, announced that passengers will be given an email to guide them through a transfer time or date that will "hopefully (be) on the same or, at worse, the next day". EU law states that passengers given less than 14 days notice of a flight cancellation are entitled to claim compensation of up to €250 unless the issue was beyond the airline's control.
The full list of cancelled flights is here: https://t.co/g9YyVNtWoZ. We apologise to all affected customers & are working hard to fix this
— Ryanair (@Ryanair) September 18, 2017
The company is holding their hands up regarding the mistake and will be allowing the customer to make the decision:
If they're not satisfied with the alternative flights offered, they can have a full refund and they will all be entitled to their EU261 compensation entitlements. We will not be trying to claim exceptional circumstances. This is our mess-up. When we make a mess in Ryanair, we come out with our hands up...
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Explaining the reason behind the cancellations, Mr O'Leary insists that the airline is not short of pilots and that the company has "messed up" on holiday allocation for September and October after a busy summer period. EU law means that staff holidays must be taken within the calendar year. Although customers have been revealing their disappointment and anger with the company online, Mr O' Leary insists he will not be stepping down anytime soon: "No, I don't think my head should roll, I need to stay here and fix this."
Flights to places such as Madrid, Brussels, Marseille, Rome, and Edinburgh will be impacted as they are looking to drop flights from routes that have multiple flights per day so as alternative flights may be more easily allocated. The cost of the company error and compensation payouts is estimated to cost Ryanair €25 million.
To find the full list of Ryanair flights impacted by the cancellations click here.
