Stansted to Gran Canaria
We got to our destination.
Our bags arrived at our destination.
1. Despite a delay of over 3 hours, RyanAir provided neither reimbursement nor meal vouchers, despite both being required by EU law.
2. Our boarding passes said, "if your flight is cancelled or delayed for at least two hours, ask at the ticket counter or boarding gate for the text stating your rights, particularly with regard to compensation and assistance." When we learned the flight would be delayed 2+ hours, we followed these directions; the gate agents told us, quite dismissively, that it applied only in case of a 3-hour delay. After wrestling with NAP's snail-pace wifi, I found the relevant text on the RyanAir website and showed it to a gate agent. She said her supervisor had told her that it had to be a delay of 3 hours but that she would check with her. I never heard from her again. It became a moot point when the flight was delayed more than 3 hours. Even then, the gate agents did none of the things the text said they were supposed to do.
3. The gate agents were not RyanAir employees, and it seemed RyanAir did not communicate with them in a helpful way. Independent of this, though, they were also just not competent. Here are some other things that happened:
- About 2 hours after the scheduled departure, despite there being no plane at the gate, one of the gate agents started the boarding process. He let about 30-40 people into the holding pen; then a passenger pointed out that the delay had increased another hour. The passengers in the holding pen had to stay in there (one asked to leave to use the restroom and the gate agent told him he would have to surrender his passport while he was gone).
- Once the 3-hour delay was posted, they started handing out gate check tags like candy. It was unclear why; perhaps they thought it would soothe the passengers' anger. We did not request one then. When we boarded, my wife asked for one. The gate agent did not even acknowledge her request (despite still having a good number left).
- When the plane did arrive, the passengers in the holding pen rushed the door of the jetway. About 15 made it into the jetway (and, I guess, onto the plane) before a gate agent shouted at everyone to stop, ran over, and closed the jetway doors.
4. In other news... passengers were loud and rude. When the delay was first posted, they formed an angry mob around the gate agents and yelled questions that could have been answered by reading the monitor. Half of them had their seat belts off and were standing as soon as the plane landed. The whole row behind me was so loud I couldn't hear the music coming form my earbuds. The guy behind me pushed me as we were getting off the plane because he thought I wasn't going fast enough.
