Now that the ash cloud is no longer looming over the UK and Europe, and aircraft are criss-crossing our skies again, it is time to look at some of what has happened.
Of course the airlines are complaining about all the unexpected expenses they have had to undergo and are beginning to hint that the governments (and Europe) should think about paying out some form of compensation. Sounds reasonable doesn’t it ? After all it was not the fault of the airlines that they could not fly and it certainly cost them lots of lost business.
Well hang on a minute. It was hardly the fault of any of the governments that a volcano in Iceland blew up and spewed ash across the skies of Europe. So why should we as taxpayers bail out the airlines?
There has been a hint that the relevant authorities were being a bit cautious closing the skies because of the ash cloud. Well perhaps, but they were only following established procedures. If the airlines think that the governments were being too cautious when it comes to the safety of passengers, perhaps they should have complained about it well before now.
And it seems a bit peculiar that the airlines are complaining about a risk to their business that is known well in advance. The single-man ice cream van that sets up shop on the seafront every day is not likely to get compensated by the government because the weather is bad one summer, so why should the airlines get compensated for something that is very similar ? If your business has a particular risk you have two options.
You can shoulder that risk and use whatever funds you have available to get through the rough time.
Or you can buy an insurance policy that keeps you going through a rough time.
There is another aspect to this that need considering too … airlines are supposed to pay for accommodating inconvenienced passengers on the second leg of their journey, and to arrange transport when it becomes available. From the EU website FAQ on the volcanic ash cloud situation (the “you” means “you the airline customer”) :-
- You have the right to either reimbursement or re-routing
- You have the right to information – there is an obligation for airlines to inform you about rights and flight schedules
- You have the right to care- that means food, drinks, accommodation as appropriate
It is hard to get concrete evidence on exactly what the airlines are doing in this situation; many airlines are paying through the nose to treat their customers fairly. But there are plenty of indications that other airlines are either ignoring their obligations entirely or trying to get away with the minimum possible.
Looking around the Internet you can find plenty of indications that various airlines are :-
- Refusing to pay for any accomodation
- Putting an arbitrary limit on the length of stay that they will pay a hotel for – 3 or 4 days.
- Not providing information. Even going so far as to close their desks to avoid passengers.
Some are worse than others – the worst offender seems to be Ryanair. Which is understandable given they first tried to insist that their responsibility began and ended with merely refunding the cost of the ticket. They rapidly backtracked from this, and tried to claim that their statement was misunderstood. Yeah right!
Of course because of their actions many of us are of the opinion that Ryanair are a bunch of money-grabbing vampires with nothing but contempt for the people who travel in their cattle-class shuttles. And there are a few other airlines that are not a whole lot better
Some of the other airlines are saying that the European Union should compensate their costs for taking care of the stranded travellers. Well that might be a reasonable request if the airlines had been fully compliant with EU regulations regarding the care of the stranded travellers.
Perhaps the EU should offer to compensate the airlines solely for the cost of customer care only for those airlines who took proper care of their customers. A difficult task but perhaps it could be accomplished by simply compensating those airlines who have received no complaints that have been found to be reasonable. As for Ryanair, “No fscking chance” 🙂