Recently, no frills airline Ryanair cut as many as 2,000 flights from its schedules. Ryanair has said this is due to its pilots and crew having to use up their annual holiday entitlement.
More than 400,000 passengers across Europe have been affected by the flight cancelations. Many passengers have been left stranded, broke and unable to get home. Ryanair has published a full list of affected flights that have been cancelled, which cover a six-week period.
The budget airline has offered full refunds for passengers affected by the cancelled flights. When the news first broke passengers received a text message, asking them to call a premium rate phone line, which left them more out of pocket.
Today, we are going to talk about the best and worst airports, and airlines, in the world. Try to think of your own experiences, when reading this article.
Most of us, at some point, will have had an opportunity to travel around the world, using different airlines and airports. Some terminals are old, others modern. Their facilities can vary from very good to dire. The same applies to airlines.
According to AirHelp, who conducted a survey, the best airport in the world to visit is Singapore Changi, followed by Munich in Germany, and then Hong Kong. Copenhagen was fourth, then Helsinki. The main metrics to rate the airports were their quality of services and claim processing records, as well as their on-time performances.
Today, we are going to talk about the extraordinary news story, of an airline passenger, who was dragged, yelling, off a United Airlines flight in America. Three other passengers, on flight 3411 from Chicago, were also ejected, so four-crew could take their seats, to connect them onto other flights.
Dr David Dao, 69, was forcibly ejected from the plane he was on, in Chicago. His crime? To book a seat with United Airlines, sit in it, and expect them to honour its side of the contract. When no one agreed to give up their seats, four passengers were randomly selected to be removed.
Today, let’s talk about the terrible Malaysian Airways disaster that happened on the 17th July 2014. The Malaysian Airways Flight MH17 was shot down in Ukraine near the Russian border as it travelled from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.
The Boeing 777-200 aircraft exploded into flames at 33,000ft as it was hit by a sophisticated surface-to-air-missile over territory near Donetsk held by pro-Russian rebels. Dutch authorities said 298 people were on board the flight; including 173 Dutch, 9 Britons, and 27 Australians. Up to 100 passengers on board were headed for an international AIDS conference in Melbourne.
Category: Malaysian Airways / MH17 / Ukraine
Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary hit the headlines again recently when he hit back at a female passenger who was forced to pay a penalty of €300 (£237) in order to fly home from her holiday because she forgot to print her boarding cards off in time. Mr O’Leary launched his extraordinary rant against Sue McLeod, 35, from Newbury, Berkshire, branding ‘those passengers who object to paying a penalty for failing to print their own boarding cards as ‘idiots’ who should b***** off’.
Mr O’Leary added that passengers who arrive for flights without a pass are ‘stupid’ and it is right they are charged €60 a time to have one printed at the check-in desk because it is their ‘**** up’. Mr O’Leary added, ‘Mother pays €300 for being an idiot and failing to comply with her agreement at the time of booking. We think Mrs McLeod should pay €60 (£47.40) for being so stupid.’
Category: Airlines / Ryanair / Boarding Passes
Ailing low cost Central European airline SkyEurope has finally gone bankrupt. After struggling for months it finally admitted defeat at the beginning of September. The airline that existed for 7 years has had ongoing financial problems. It is yet another casualty of the economic recession that has seen other low cost carriers recently slash routes and jobs.
The collapse left thousands of passengers stranded abroad. The airline that flew across Europe from its hub bases in Prague, Bratislava and Vienna ceased trading after airports banned SkyEurope planes over non-payment of debts at the beginning of September.
Having been banned from Vienna Airport in August the airline shifted its flights to nearby Bratislava in Slovakia. It faced a similar ban at Prague airport unless regular payments were made. A day later Slovakia revoked its operating licence as a result of the bankruptcy. Previously SkyEurope had had planes impounded in Paris and Bulgaria over non payment of airport fees...
