Several people have contacted the editorial staff of RTL info via the orange Alert us button to let us know of their dissatisfaction with their departure on vacation. The Ryanair Charleroi-Pescara flight, scheduled for Thursday evening at 9:35 p.m., did not take off as planned. He only left this Friday morning, around 9am. “We were announced a delay and a departure at 10:40 p.m.“, explains Martine. “We finally board and then we wait on the plane for a time slot to be able to take off, for an hour. And now we are finally told that the flight attendants have exceeded their quota of services, and can no longer take off. We are offered a replacement flight on Friday morning, so here we are back in the airport at 3:30 a.m.“, she continues.
Of course, it’s not easy to spend the night in an airport hall. Especially when you dream of a vacation. Especially when you are a mother with young children. This is the case of Aude, who also contacted us, furious. “Pregnant women, people with disabilities, children on the floor without any news from the company“, she explains to us. According to her, Ryanair did not answer the phone. “And the staff told us to follow the updates on the app… except that I don’t know how to install it on my phone, because I don’t have an account with them (I didn’t perform myself- even the reservation)“.
My children and I found a quiet corner between 2 distributors
Aude therefore finds herself in almost total destitution at the airport. “I have absolutely nothing with me, because my suitcases are already in Italy, with my husband who left by car during the day. No spares, no medicine, nothing to cool off…nothing. Ryanair did not offer to relocate us or take us back by taxi. Just waiting… My children and I have found a quiet corner between 2 vending machines to sleep and ‘eat’… My children being hungry and thirsty, my last coins save my life… Never once more will I want to hear regarding Ryanair“, she concludes.
Her husband booked new flights… for nothing
This Friday morning, it is Aude’s husband, Domenico, who is already in Italy, who gives us news. “She told me she was getting on the plane,” around 8 o’clock. All’s well that ends well, then? “Well, if she takes off, because she already boarded the plane last night“, he reminds us.
On Flightradar24, we see that flight FRF5016actually scheduled for 9:30 p.m. on Thursday, took off around 9:15 a.m. on Friday:
Alas, in the meantime, foreseeing, Domenico had already reserved other tickets for the next flight Charleroi – Pescara, scheduled for Sunday. “Thursday tickets had already cost us €700. I spent €500 this Friday for new tickets for Sunday”.
Tickets that will probably be useless, because Aude and the couple’s children are on the plane at the time of writing his lines. “I try to contact Ryanair to cancel the reservation, but they tell me that it is too late, that I was too fast”. The couple therefore lost a lot of time, and a lot of money…
“We do not abandon passengers”
Contacted, Charleroi airport explains to us that, as we imagine, it is the airline which, according to its internal procedures, decides to give vouchers for food or to accommodate passengers in a hotel in the event of ‘cancelation. It all depends on the conditions, the waiting time, the delay or cancellation, etc. “Of course, the airport does not give up passages, and if they ask for it, offers assistance”, in particular supplying water, added BSCA (Brussels South Charleroi Airport). For its part, the airline Ryanair did not respond to our calls.
What the law says ? There are indeed compensations planned for Domenico and Aude. On the official website of the FPS Mobilitywe learn that “if the air carrier reasonably foresees that a flight will be delayed by 2 hours or more for a flight of 1500 kilometers or less; 3 hours or more for an intra-Community flight of more than 1,500 kilometers and for all other flights between 1,500 and 3,500 kilometers; 4 hours or more for all other flights; then he must offer passengers: sufficient meals and refreshments taking into account the waiting time; two telephone calls (or telex, fax or electronic messages); and if necessary, hotel accommodation and transfer between the airport and the place of accommodation“.
Furthermore, “if the delay at departure is at least 5 hours, and only if the passenger cancels his trip (this is not the case for Aude and her children, who finally left), the passenger is entitled to have his plane ticket reimbursed, and possibly, to request payment for the return flight to his initial point of departure (case of a delayed flight departing from a connecting stopover)”.