NEVER BOOK WITH RYAN AIR! Please, please don't ever book a flight with them…read more
Here is why:
*The flight from Barcelona to Palma, Mallorca was fine and I have no complaints there. Nothing extraordinary and nothing terrible either.
How Ryan Air handled our flight cancelation from Palma, Mallorca to Madrid was absolutely horrid.
There was a storm the day of our flight with lightening and rain. I expected delays and even a reschedule because the storm was bad for around 2 hours and then it settled. We arrived early to the airport and saw our flight was delayed by 3 hours...then 5 hours...then 8 hours. So, our 4pm flight was moved to 12am. No worries, I'd rather wait for a later flight to be safe.
When it was an hour before our flight, they pop up a gate number and all of us rush over to the gate. We're waiting in line for about 30 minutes and then, they change the gate number. All of us on the flight rush over to the new gate, we wait about 30 minutes and then they show this gate is not going to Madrid but a totally different region of the world with a completely different airline. The gate number disappears and then says our flight is delayed another hour. Another gate number appears, so we all move to that gate and they say our flight is delayed another hour. We wait, it looks like they're getting ready to board but...there's no plane at the gate. Then, they say we've been delayed another hour and remove the gate number. Some of the other people on the same flight are becoming restless and understandably angry. There's yelling, waving of hands and even a woman starts throwing things on the ground and tries to open the door to the gate entry. Finally, they tell us they found a plane for us and move us to another gate. We wait....another hour and then they come out with guards and tell us our flight has been cancelled at 4am!
They tell us to go to check in to book a new flight and get a refund. We exit the boarding area and go to the ryan air check in area and they have staff prepared with stacks of paper telling us that the cancelation of our flight is not their fault and it was due to the storm. If we want to get a refund, we could file a complaint on there website and pretty much, good luck. They couldn't get us on a plane until 3 days out and they wouldn't get us a hotel because all of the hotels were booked.
They had no remorse, no care in the world for us who had to sleep in the airport and a ferry to get off the island. Still trying to get a refund but we have no luck and the airline does not care in the slightest.
Personally, this felt like the slimmest example of a business just out for the money. To set the scene on what their actions caused: kids were sleeping in their luggage, families were crying, people were walking around aimlessly trying to find somewhere to sit, lay down, charge their phones, find something to eat. Faces were filled with defeat, stress, exhaustion and tears. I've never seen an airline discard their guests like that.
I genuinely hope that no one experiences this and advise to the fullest to just pay the little extra to use another airline other than Ryan air.