Airport Airlines Strikes and Problems

[Strikes]

Flights missed in Ryanair chaos at Stanstead airport

THE host of the BBC’s Question Time, David Dimbleby, was among hundreds of holidaymakers who missed their flights from Stansted airport yesterday after Ryanair, the cut-price airline, failed to open enough check-in desks.

Only 11 such desks, or “bag drops”, were open on one of the busiest departure days of the summer to service the airline’s 255 flights. Queues backed up through the terminal as passengers watched their flights depart while they waited to check in or drop their bags.

Police officers patrolling the terminal were called upon to calm some passengers as tensions ran high. About 500 passengers, including families with young children, were faced with finding alternative flights or cancelling their holidays. Last night some were sleeping in the terminal.

Dimbleby, 70, with his wife and family, had been due to fly to Toulon, in the south of France, but were still holding their luggage when their plane departed at 6.35pm, 95 minutes after the check-in desk opened and almost two hours after he had arrived at the airport.

“It’s a nightmare,” he said. “Ryanair have abdicated responsibility. They have not spoken to any of these people, there have not been any public announcements and they have not said when the flights are called.

“They sell tickets for flights and don’t operate a check-in but are quite happy to take everyone’s money. The police are here with machineguns, supposed to be protecting us from terrorists, but they end up protecting Ryanair ticket sellers. It’s absurd.”

Fiona Wilson, 35, was told she was too late to board her flight for a two-week holiday in Grenada but some of her luggage had been put on the plane. “They are not sure when we can get it back,” she said.

The airline has adopted a policy to encourage passengers to check in online and discourages people from bringing suitcases by charging extra for luggage. It says it will stop airport check-in altogether from October.

Ryanair subcontracts its check-in desks to Swissport, but neither were available for comment last night. Stansted said: “There were only 11 [Ryanair] check-in desks open, which is fewer than we would have expected given the volume of flights they have.”

source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/news/article6736349.ece + comments
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[Strikes]

Ryanair apologises for Stansted check-in chaos

Monday, August 03, 2009

Martin Ferguson and Chris Gray

Ryanair has apologised to hundreds of customers who were delayed or missed flights at Stansted on Saturday after the airline failed to open enough check-in desks to deal with the high volume of passengers.

It blamed the problems on its ground handling agent Swissport, which it said opened an "inadequate" number of bag drop desks because of staff shortages.

Police were called to intervene as furious travellers vented their fury at the Irish airline. Many had still not checked-in when flights took off.

Up to 700 people, including families with young children, were forced to pay for alternative flights or cancel their holidays as a result of the chaotic situation, according to reports.

BBC broadcaster David Dimbleby was among the marooned passengers, and he told newspapers: “It’s a nightmare. Ryanair has abdicated responsibility. They have not spoken to any of these people, there have not been any public announcements and they have not said when the flights are called.

"They sell tickets for flights and don’t operate a check-in but are quite happy to take everyone’s money. The police are here with machineguns to protect us from terrorists, but they end up protecting Ryanair ticket sellers. It’s absurd.”

A spokesman from Stansted airport said: “There were only 11 check-in desks open, which is fewer than we would expect given the high volume of flights they have.”

Ryanair said in statement: "Ryanair operates an on-line check in service for all its passengers. No passengers are required to queue to check in at the airport.

"Only passengers with checked-in baggage are required to use the bag drop facility. Due to staff shortages at our ground handling partner, Swissport, an inadequate number of bag drop desks were operating at Stansted [on Saturday].

"Ryanair assures its passengers that it is working with Swissport to ensure this situation does not recur."

Ryanair also experienced problems on Saturday at Dublin airport, where customers were queing for 40 minutes to check-in before the airport authority allocated extra space for the airline to open more desks.

Ryanair has said it will stop airport check-in altogether from October this year.

source: http://www.ttglive.com/home
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