Ryanair - Dispatches.. Monday 13/2 9pm Ch4 (UK)

DOCUMENTARY: Dispatches
Channel: Channel 4 04
Date: Monday 13th February 2006
Time: 20:00 to 21:00

Ryanair: Caught Napping.
A major undercover investigation into the way in which Ryanair, one of the largest and most successful low-cost airlines, operates. Two Dispatches reporters spent five months secretly filming the airline's training programme and onboard flights as members of the cabin crew.

Originally posted by McCoy
DOCUMENTARY: Dispatches
Channel: Channel 4 04
Date: Monday 13th February 2006
Time: 20:00 to 21:00

Ryanair: Caught Napping.
A major undercover investigation into the way in which Ryanair, one of the largest and most successful low-cost airlines, operates. Two Dispatches reporters spent five months secretly filming the airline's training programme and onboard flights as members of the cabin crew.

oooohhhh I saw the trailer for that the other night OMG ! can't wait to see it.

Milliemoo

I just know it'll scare the pants off me [:0]

Never flown Ryanair but have EJ several times ...

BTW folks, there's a link to the communication between Dispatches & RyanAir responses in Alan's post here. Interesting reading!

Cheers

Michael

[preiffer]

I have to say, having read through all of the correspondence between Ryanair and Dispatches (and much though it pains me to say it), Ryanair appear to be in the right in the bulk of this case.

I would encourage everyone to read through the documentation in the link that Alan provided. There are some cracking examples of a production company simply getting it wrong in there.

As for the last two letters (fith letter/response) - I find Steve Boulton productions nothing short of ignorant.


Personally, I can't stand Ryanair. I hate their practices, I hate their management philosophy, and I hate the way they manipulate the media. Unfortunately in this case, from what I've read, it's the production company who are doing the misleading - not the airline. [n][V]

[Scrooge]

While it is possible for a company to hide behind it's training manuals and say this is the way it is supposed to be,they are also right in saying that it is very hard to find any employee at any company that will say that they work to little.

However without seeing the film from the aircraft and the fact that alot of the allegations seem to be second hand I would have to say that Ryanair are in the right here.

All comes down to perceptions of whats happened.
Dispatches seem to be quoting manuals & laws word for word, chapter & verse - which whilst technically what the airline should operate under, Id be very surprised if anyone knew the exact wording but instead knew the general rules.

Having read through it all I do tend to side with Ryanair, however their refusal to answer a direct question is worrying (although not surprising) as is the deliberate answering of a question with what they think the question should have been, not what it actually was.

The reference to cameras affecting the flight was amusing - cleary the UndercoverReporters mangaged to slip outside broadcasting equipment & satellite dish onto the plane!
If cameras affect a plane like this, many v-flyers face being banged up, as do a dozen+ pax on every flight ive ever taken!
Ive no doubt some of the points raised by the programme are over the top / stretching literal wordings etc... nevertheless they seem valid.
Will make some interesting viewing Monday night.

Oh - and to cap it all off.... "Ryanair are now the worlds favourite airline" .... based on the fact the now have more pax than BA :D
Based on the comments on "AirlineEquality" they dont appear to be anyones favourite airline;)

Well bit of a damp squib really ... all the same allegations we've heard about in the correspondence though none really strong enough to convince me anything. There is always another side to the coin as Paul has pointed us to in the correspondence between Ryanair and the programme, and I doubt the aviation authorities are losing too much sleep. With the editing and spin possible to a tv programme you could make a lot from very little, and no doubt make any airline prone to some of these things some of the time - even our own beloved Virgin.

That's not to say that I will ever fly Ryanair, I despise their customer service attitude, their treatment of their staff and their approach to travel. But apart from a few sharp practices I didn't despise them any more as a result of this programme.

The programme was what I would expect... after all would anyone expect Ryanair to compromise CAA procedures and security/safety checks to meet a 25 minute turnaround time? Would anyone expect a full clean of a plane with a 25 min turnaround? Why would anyone expect good customer service from an airline with very low fares?

But until people vote with their feet, Ryanair will continue to have high loads and will continue to be successful.

BC

[RichardMannion]

Well put BC - the old adage goes, 'you get what you pay for' - and people will continue to use the LCC's as they don't really care TBH and just want cheap cheap.

Thanks,
Richard

[honey lamb]

That's not to say that I will ever fly Ryanair, I despise their customer service attitude, their treatment of their staff and their approach to travel. But apart from a few sharp practices I didn't despise them any more as a result of this programme.

Needs must when the devil drives!

I also said I would never fly Ryanair but there have been times when I have had absolutely no choice either because of location or cost (factoring in the cost of travel into London from STN when necessary). Each time Ryanair has done exactly what it says on the tin - got me from A to B at the stated times. In fact it has done that more times than Aer Lingus [:0] However each time is beset with anxiety as to what will happen if anything goes wrong - and that is the perception that most people have of Ryanair - their lack of customer service.

The only time I ever encountered any problem with Ryanair was indirectly. A few years ago we set up a series of workshops which were facilitated by a delightful lady from Glasgow. At our first workshop we agreed a series of dates from January to April and the travel arrangements were made then and there for those dates from our side. She was given the booking references and all was well - until the last one. Flying in from ORK I was always the first to arrive except for this lady as the flight from Prestwick arrived shortly before mine. When I arrived she was nowhere to be seen and as the others were much later in arriving I began to panic. Gradually people began to drift in and we waited and wondered. Eventually some two hours later she turned up. [:0]

What had happened was that Ryanair had changed their ID policy in March and the ID she had used was no longer acceptable and when she queried it she was given the robotic answer "It is on the website" In vain did she argue that she had not seen the website (I'm sure others on this forum have made bookings for third parties with airlines) only to be given the robotic response. She offered to have her husband fax her passport to be told this was not acceptable. She rang Customer Services and got no reply and had no alternative but to go home, collect the passport and try for a later flight (This was all at the unearthly hour of 6:30am) On the train back to Glasgow she saw an Aer Lingus flight coming in to land, got off at Paisley and approached the Aer Lingus desk with the immortal words "Ryanair have really messed me about" With beaming smiles Aer Lingus booked her on the flight to DUB at a nominal fee [y] (this was before they went low-cost) no doubt delighted to get one over on Ryanair

Originally posted by honey lamb
Needs must when the devil drives!

Never a truer word spoken.

Its hardly surprising as BC mentions that the rules are bent with a 25 turn aroound time- after all when you consider it takes 10mins to get everyone off, 10 minsto get everyone on that leaves 5 mins for everything else.

I owuld be interested to know if despatches sent reporters undercover at any other LCC's....

With FR you get what you pay for and thta is in effect a seat on a bus. Always remember boarding FR at Forli (thats Bologna south to you and I)- "number one" is doing safety demo and our beloved italians are chatting away- in the middle of the demo "oi, shut up or I will kick you off this plane". Obviusly the Italians couldnt understand english and so carried on.

One of the claims was that there isn't enough time to check that each seat has a life jacket under it.

Straight afterwards was Aircrash Investigations, where a terrorist left a bomb in the lifejacket pocket, got off the plane at the next stop, leaving the bomb to carry on to it's final destination, blowing up the plane mid flight.

This would suggest that other airlines don't do this check either, as he planned to do the same thing on some American planes, and kill 4000 passengers within a 6 hour period.

I do think some of the claims were shocking, and I have read Ryanairs counter claims and think some of them are still justified. Passengers are being encouraged to have more cabin baggage as well now, which will just increase the time taken to get everyone seated as they try and squeeze more into the overhead bins, so more cuts will be taken to make the 25 min turnaround time.

That said, it'll probably just increase sales, these sorts of things always seem to do that! A company I worked for was featured on Watchdog. We had a busy morning the next day as we sold more holidays!

[RichardMannion]

Maybe RyanAir could use all the money it earns through the non-return of duties and taxes for missed flights to provide better customer service....
[|)]
Oh, I've just awoken from my dream now.

Thanks,
Richard

Loctus-

FR's lifejackets on the 738 are actually now stored next to the oxygen masks so on an emergency landing are deployed from the over head panel- they do not sit under the seat. So they cannot be checked on a turn around only in routine maint. As FR pointed out correctly to Despatches in their corespondance.

The Air crash investiagation programme was cerca 1994 when in the United States if seeing a relative off at an airport you could take them to their seat on the plane without showing a passport- even VS allowed this practise at MCO in 1998!!! Post 9/11 I think nearly all western carriers whose jackets are under the seat carry out this check.

Customer services Richard? Ryanair do not DO customer service do they ...?(or have I just been unfortunate in my experiences with them?).
Some of the programme did concern me though (and I use them fairly regularly to visit aged Pa in ROI as they operate from my local airport).Regardless of any safety/security issues, sitting in a (damp)seat someone has just thrown up in is not nice is it (even when doused with samples of aftershave to allevite/smother the no doubt vile smell)?

Wow, I sympathise with you Julie...[:$]

I think that the philosophy behind LCCs is fine (if that's what you want) but in reality it is just a shambles, bar Song and JetBlue. If they made the planes clean etc. and had even more minimal frills, say no food on sectors shorter than and hour and a half, the journey would be a lot more pleasant and the turnaround times would be the same. The metro in LA is a good example of how the budget airlines should operate IMO.

Cheers,
VS045

[honey lamb]

Originally posted by DragonLady
Customer services Richard? Ryanair do not DO customer service do they ...?(or have I just been unfortunate in my experiences with them?).

Apparently they do now! When I got home from work this evening I had two of the following emails in my Inbox (hope this doesn't break the forum rules)

Dear Ryanair Customer

We are committed to Customer Service and value your feedback, we want to hear your views on your recent Ryanair flight. The link below takes you to our online Customer Satisfaction Survey, which is quick and simple to complete.

The details of the flight that you are being asked to survey will automatically display, when you click on the link below. You may receive 2 or more survey emails depending on how many flights you have recently completed. One completed survey per one way flight flown will be entered into our Monthly Draw for a free Ryanair flight*

*free flights subject to terms & conditions and upon payment of taxes, fees & charges.

Please click the link below to complete the Ryanair Customer Satisfaction Survey for your recent flight.

(link removed)

Thank you

Ryanair Customer Service

I recently had a return flight from ORK to DUB. There's not an awful lot you can say about a flight of just over 40 minutes, especially when you haven't been in work for a couple of months and the first people you meet in DUB on the return flight are from work and the flight is spent in catching up on the local gossip [^]

I think the question that annoyed me most was the one on food. They gave the choices of buying food as "Yes" or various combinations of "No" which ranged from buying food in the airport to not liking the choice or not being offered food, but there was nothing to indicate if you did not want food because you simply were not hungry! The rest of the questions really were tailored in such a way that it was impossible to answer "Poor" unless there was any very obvious fault in the flight. I was in a position where I had to answer "Good" to most of the questions. It doesn't mean that I like them though