Ryanair changed my flight times and they don't suit me

You can book flights almost a year ahead of time but the actual airport slots are only confirmed 3 or 4 months before the flight, so they are in effect provisional until that point. There can be changes in aircraft type and other issues that affect the assignment of timeslots and routes, some of which can be unpredictable, so it's not always the airlines trying to make a quick buck.

Between us we fly over 60 flights a year, a mix of Aer Lingus, Ryanair, BA, and American Airlines. American is the worst for random flight changes, although usually just by a couple of hours. Happens maybe 1 in 5 trips.

BA is next, happens me about 1 in 10 trips. Recently they cancelled my flight 15 days beforehand and switch me to one 5 hours later - customer service said it was due to low numbers on the original flight so they repositioned that plane to another route. They can't afford to fly an A320 with only 30 people on board.

Aer Lingus are generally OK, changing maybe 1 in 20 or less often. I was recently stuck in an airport for 10 hours due to Aer Lingus constantly delaying and then eventually cancelling a flight, but when you start to look at the logistics of commercial airlines it's actually a miracle they are as reliable and efficient as they are.

There are many pros and cons to Ryanair (and they are not my 1st choice) but they are actually the least likely to change in my experience. Where they seem to have fallen down here is the lack of communication, but they are not the only ones.
 
So what is the practical advice for customers?

You cannot reliably book flights a long time in advance with any airline. The times might change. The flight might be cancelled.

I presume that the longer in advance you book, the more provisional the timing?

If you do book a long time in advance, always try to book accommodation which allows you to cancel free of charge. Or wait until nearer the time to book accommodation.

All airlines are the same. Avoiding any specific airline is unlikely to solve the problem.

You shouldn't book connecting flights with different airlines a long time in advance. I understand that if you book connecting flights with one airline, they will get you through to your destination.

Anything else to add to this list?


Brendan
 
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Booked a return trip to the Canaries next month from Shannon earlier in the Spring with Ryanair departing on a Wednesday only to receive a notification in the Summer that the flight had been cancelled and I could now avail of the next available flight on the Friday.
Luckily the hotel reservation and airport car parking were free cancellation and I was able to claim my refund and book a flight out of Cork with Aer Lingus.
 
Bronco Lane said:
I received no notification about these changes.

I contacted customer service today by phone and was told that as I had not received any official email about these changes then I can do nothing, as the flight times might change again!
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I have no idea when my flight times changed because I received no notification and only came upon the change by accident. This is despite Ryanair saying that they will notify people by email if a change takes place.

I have notified customer service on the phone and I was told to wait 24 hours "to see what happens". Maybe the customer service rep didn't want to deal with the issue and was hoping that someone else would deal with it after 24 hours.

Anyhow I have sent them an email about the disappeared flights and have been allocated a reference number. I hope that my request for a full refund will happen and not a half refund because the return flight portion booked change of time is less than 3 hours, whereas the outward flight change is more than 4 hours.

Ryanair have been made aware by me in two different ways. It will be interesting to see what they do next.

For me, I want a complete refund so I can start the process again, closer to my travel time. I need to let the hotel know the situation as well.




 
losttheplot said:
About 4 years ago I booked flights with Aer Lingus to Berlin about 8 months in advance. I must have received about 10 emails informing of changes to the flight time, so much I eventually ignored them. The changes were all minor. Anyway the actual flight time ended up as the original booking.
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At least you got the notifications. I have also received notifications both from Ryanair and Aer Lingus about minor 5 minute changes. I don't mind getting these.

I wonder why the OP never received any notification. I wonder is there some sort of glitch in Ryanair software where super provisional with knobs on bookings made when in the conceptual stage are missed by Ryanair when booked so far in advance......because they are only window dressing for their website?
 
In September 2022 I was in Carcassonne. The flight had been booked in March. Trying to book a taxi for my return flight the day before our return, I found there weren't any available. I asked my friend to look in her app, and she had a message from Ryanair saying our flight had been cancelled.
I never had a message, a notification in the app, a text or an email.
I like to check in about 4 hours before the flight, to get a better free seat awarded. Ryanair are the only airline servicing that airport and fly only twice a week to Cork, so the next flight had been fully booked by the time we found out ours was cancelled.

Any airline can change the flights, but they are not as ruthless and sneaky as Ryanair.

I booked a flight with KLM from Cork on 14th Jan, for November. My return connection would have been 1h45 mins, which is reasonable for Schiphol. In normal times!
On 19th Jan KLM emailed to tell me the connection had been changed, so I would have to spend 19 hours (overnight) in the airport. I could at that point have cancelled and been refunded, but I chose to keep the booking.
 
Gervan said:
Any airline can change the flights, but they are not as ruthless and sneaky as Ryanair.
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I have experience of a Christmas eve flight cancelled with people traveling home for Christmas sitting on the plane told to get off the plane, their baggage was removed and they had to go and wait for their baggage from the carousel and leave the airport as the flight was cancelled. The plane was reallocated at the last minute by Ryanair to another route or routes, presumably as it was cheaper to cancel that particular flight rather than multiple shorter flights. That's about as ruthless as it gets.
 
SoylentGreen said:
It would appear that you have to wait for the Ryanair email to tell you that the flight times have changed despite their website no longer showing the original flights.
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Do you mean when you do a search for flights?
Do they keep showing flights that have already sold out?
 
I have just noticed this thread. It prompted me to check my own flights booked for 2024, earlier this summer. They times have completely changed.

I bought and paid for specific flights. Received a confirmation of these flights after purchase. Now gone from the system.

I have received no email about the changes to times.

One of the flights has gone from a morning flight to an evening flight.
 
I've been following this thread and have just checked flights that I booked for next summer. I haven't received notification of time changes.
I have screenshots showing the options available at the time of booking, so I can see the flight numbers.
There were 2 outbound flights - a very early one or one that arrived very late. I booked the early one. They have now added a third flight. I'm still on the first one of the day - but it is almost 6 hours later! That suits me better. But the one that was originally a late flight has been moved almost 6 hours earlier. The extra flight is at almost the exact same time as the initial late flight.
There were 2 inbound flights. I booked the late one. They have moved it forward by over 10 hours so that it is the first of the day. (I have no idea whether I could make it in time for that one.) The one that was the early one, is now the late one - over 12 hours later. And the extra one is in between.
It is ridiculous - when you make a choice of flights at the time of booking and then they completely swap them around so a late flight becomes an early one and vice versa. Based on the current times and prices, I'd prefer to be on the middle flight which is also much cheaper.
It's so far away that there could well be more changes so probably no point in me trying to do about it yet.
 
One option to explore is to book your flight a long time in advance knowing that the time may well change. But as flights booked a long time in advance are cheap, if there is a more suitable time, closer to the flight date, then book another flight.

Be careful though if you book a return flight. With some airlines, if you don't use the outward leg, the return flight is cancelled. So book the two flights separately.
 
Update. O.K. I have contacted Ryanair and they ignored my correspondence so I contacted them again. This is their response.....

"Thank you for your email.

I wish to inform you that your flight time may be affected with a time change, however the change of the flight time has not been confirmed. Should the change be final passengers will receive official confirmation vie e-mail or SMS with details of the new flight.

The official confirmation will be sent in no less then 90 days prior to the flight or immediately once the change will be final. You will have upon receiving such e-mail options to either change the time of the flight to another available flight or to request a refund if the change will be above 5 hours.

We are sorry that we cannot be of further assistance with regards to this matter prior to you receiving official email confirmation."

So, they will not confirm to me by email that the flights that I booked and paid for and received an official confirmation for after booking have been changed, despite the fact that they no longer exist on their system. They are now selling flights at a completely different time.

More worrying is the following...You will have upon receiving such e-mail options to either change the time of the flight to another available flight or to request a refund if the change will be above 5 hours.
 
Where has the "above 5 hours" condition come from?

Anyone know?

This is all I can find.


9.2.2 If your flight is cancelled or delayed by two hours or more, we will give you information on your rights, including your rights to compensation and assistance.

and


FLIGHT DELAY. If we reasonably expect your flight to be delayed for two hours or more beyond its scheduled time of departure in the case of flights of 1500km or less (but three hours or more in the case of all intra-EU flights of more than 1,500km and of all other flights operated by us between 1,500km and 3,500km), you are entitled to the relevant rights set out in paragraphs 1 to 3 below
 
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Bronco Lane said:
The official confirmation will be sent in no less then 90 days prior to the flight or immediately once the change will be final.
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So you are flying in April next. That means that you will be notified by January at the latest.

So you will have three months to book another flight if that flight does not suit you.

Of course, if it's changed by "only" 4 hours, then you would lose your money.

I think you should bring it to the attention of a journalist.

5 hours does seem too much latitude. But I am not sure what it should be.

Do you get a refund if a flight is 3 hours late? It probably should be treated the same.



Brendan
 
Brendan Burgess said:
Of course, if it's changed by "only" 4 hours, then you would lose your money.
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I can only find a reference to a two hour delay under 1500 kms and a 3 hour delay over 1500 kms in the EU261 rules.

I don't know where the 5 hour rule is coming from unless it is being made up by Ryanair or the person who sent the OP the email.
 
The distance from Dublin to Palma flying is 1041 miles or 1675 kilometres.

So it's the 3 hour rule that is relevant here and not the new made up Ryanair rule of 5 hours.

Of course we all know what happens next.......Ryanair will completely ignore the original booking time and say that the final change is to be calculated from the 2nd change and not the first. Just wait and see.....
 
The 5 hour requirement seems huge, a ten hour window. Their current website has to be false advertising, based on their response, when you book a flight and pick a time slot it should be clearly marked with an asterisk or similar on the time and say the actual flight time may be +/- 5 hours.

If they have no other flights operating closer to the original departure and people are made aware of the actual 10 hour window when booking it might be defensible. But if they advertise at one time and move the flight, while having another flight closer to the original time that they are selling and people aren't moved to, then that has to be deliberate false advertising.
 
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