Ryanair Walkouts Summer 2022

[Huntergreed]

Particularly concerned to have read tonight that Ryanair crews are planning walkouts over the next few weeks - particularly as I am due to be flying to Spain on the 30th!

RYANAIR staff are planning strike action this summer with cabin crew walkouts scheduled across Europe. Which countries are affected?​

British holidaymakers have faced mayhem this year with cancelled flights and delays. This is likely to continue during the summer asRyanair staff plan a walkout.

Strikes are set to take place in Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and Belgium in June.

Spain​

Strike action is expected to take place in Spain on June 24, 25,26 and 30 as well as on July 1 and 2.

Workers have said they are unhappy with working conditions and pay which has led to the walkout.

The six-day strike could affect holidaymakers travelling to Spain at the end of June for an early summer break.

Portugal

Portugal-based Ryanair crew are expected to strike on June 24, 25 and 26.

Workers have demanded compliance with Portuguese law and better working conditions for staff.

The civil aviation union, SNPVAC said: “This mobilisation is not only an opportunity to put the spotlight on multiple attacks on workers’ dignity and to make this reality known but also a moment to show unity and solidarity against dumping.”

Belgium​

Trade unions have said they were forced into action because they claim Ryanair was not respecting Belgian labour law.

Ryanair workers are planning to strike from June 24 to June 26. On Monday, Brussels Airport cancelled all departing flights due to a security staff strike.

(https://www.express.co.uk/travel/ar...es-dates-spain-holiday-affected-countries/amp)

Does anyone know the likely level of cancellations as a result of these strikes and if there is a way to find out in advance which flights will be affected?

 

[gabrielhj07]

I would imagine that Ryanair bases in the affected countries will see many cancellations. As for UK flights, those affected would be those flown out of an affected base. Flights that operate based from the UK shouldn't be too badly hit, although some trouble is inevitable.

 

[yorkie]

I would imagine that Ryanair bases in the affected countries will see many cancellations. As for UK flights, those affected would be those flown out of an affected base. Flights that operate based from the UK shouldn't be too badly hit, although some trouble is inevitable.

Is there a way to find out which base a particular flight is operated from? We're on the 1810 from Manchester to Barcelona on Thursday.

(Our original plan was Eurostar + TGV but SNCF messed us about)

 

[gabrielhj07]

Is there a way to find out which base a particular flight is operated from? We're on the 1810 from Manchester to Barcelona on Thursday.

(Our original plan was Eurostar + TGV but SNCF messed us about)

Can't know for sure, but assuming you are FR7544, the last two times this flight was flown (21JUN & 23JUN) it was operated by an aircraft based at Manchester. That's not to say plans won't change, but it looks ok. We'll be able to see the aircraft allocation the morning of the flight to know for certain.

Worth noting however that Ryanair do move their aircraft between bases quite a bit.

Our original plan was Eurostar + TGV but SNCF messed us about

That's out of character!

 

[yorkie]

Thanks for the assistance Hopefully it will be ok!

 

[roversfan2001]

Is there a way to find out which base a particular flight is operated from? We're on the 1810 from Manchester to Barcelona on Thursday.

I don't think it's foolproof, but a good indicator is whether the corresponding flight is before or after yours. In your case (the 1810 MAN-BCN being FR7544), the corresponding BCN-MAN (FR7545) is after your flight, and arrives back at MAN at 2330 so is the last flight of the day. I'd say it's almost certain that your flight is operated by a Manchester crew.

 

[D1024]

As above it is operated by a Manchester based aircraft...on Thursdays the aircraft is scheduled to fly:

FR2821 Manchester to Chania
FR2822 Chania to Manchester
FR7544 Manchester to Barcelona
FR7545 Barcelona to Manchester

Keep an eye on the Chania flight will give you some idea of any delay.

 

[Scotrail12]

I'll be on a 6am from Edinburgh to Barcelona on Friday, is it looking good for me or not?

 

[Huntergreed]

I'll be on a 6am from Edinburgh to Barcelona on Friday, is it looking good for me or not?

Is this the 06:40? If so this looks to be an Edinburgh based aircraft (forming the 10:55 return from Barcelona)

We might see each other on Friday

 

[WestCoast]

I'll be on a 6am from Edinburgh to Barcelona on Friday, is it looking good for me or not?

Yes but leave lots of additional time as security will likely be very busy first thing ahead of the early wave of departures, it certainly was when I passed through at 5am a few weeks ago on a Friday.

As above it is operated by a Manchester based aircraft...on Thursdays the aircraft is scheduled to fly:

FR2821 Manchester to Chania
FR2822 Chania to Manchester
FR7544 Manchester to Barcelona
FR7545 Barcelona to Manchester

Keep an eye on the Chania flight will give you some idea of any delay.

Sure, but don’t rely on it as they can and do swap this around. I learned this the hard way a few years ago in Dublin when they subbed another aircraft and it left without me

 

[D1024]

Sure, but don’t rely on it as they can and do swap this around.

Absolutely! Maybe I should have emboldened my comment:

aircraft...on Thursdays the aircraft is scheduled to fly:

 

[Howardh]

Managed to fly out (20th) and back (26th) Manchester/Ibiza without any Ryanair issues, except on landing there they had the police remove an unruly obviously drugged-up pax! Also was through T3 security within 30', and on return was through passport in 2' (with fastrack) and looks like everyone else would have been through within 10-15'.

However when I got to the station there was no train back to Bolton for over an hour, it being Sunday and after a strike day. Not even with a change at Piccadilly, or trek to Victoria. The latter would have been possible but I needed 19 mins to get from Picc to Vic by free bus, or tram, or fast walk, so very unlikely.

The 26th was a "strike" day I think.

I'm busy booking a flight for October with them, but noticed on the seating plan seats 1A, 2ABC are missing. Not got an "X" through as if it were already taken, just missing off the plan completely. So I have booked 1B in the hope 1A either becomes available or is empty. Can anyone shed light on that?

As for strikes and staff shortages I'm avoiding July/August/September while the situation sorts itself out. I have pre-booked a flight to Jersey shortly; Manchester has re-introduced fastrack for security so hope Easyjet don't cancel. Anyhow you can almost guarantee strikes by someone over the summer, usually French ATC!

 

[D1024]

noticed on the seating plan seats 1A, 2ABC are missing.

That flight will be a 737 MAX (737-8200 in Ryanair parlance) - those seats don't exist.

You can see the seating plan here

Ryanair Boeing 737-Max 8200 - aeroLOPA | Detailed aircraft seat plans

Hola > Ryanair > Boeing 737-Max 8200The Ryanair Boeing 737-Max 8200 is configured 197M

www.aerolopa.com

 

[Howardh]

That flight will be a 737 MAX (737-8200 in Ryanair parlance) - those seats don't exist.

You can see the seating plan here

Ryanair Boeing 737-Max 8200 - aeroLOPA | Detailed aircraft seat plans

Hola > Ryanair > Boeing 737-Max 8200The Ryanair Boeing 737-Max 8200 is configured 197M

www.aerolopa.com

Thanks! So a different plane than the ones I usually travel on with them. So my seat is almost next to the window!

 

[gabrielhj07]

Some updates on FR7544.

The aircraft allocated to the flight this evening has been running about an hour and a half late all day.

7544 has now been delayed until 1920, about 70 minutes late.

 

[Huntergreed]

Some updates on FR7544.

The aircraft allocated to the flight this evening has been running about an hour and a half late all day.

7544 has now been delayed until 1920, about 70 minutes late.

Thanks for the update - looks like another round of drinks may be required

 

[gabrielhj07]

Ryanair’s turnaround times don’t help.

If you fancy some more drink, you’ll be pleased to hear that the aircraft will likely be carrying the old interior. No mood lighting here!

 

[bluenoxid]

Looks like it (FR7544) was nearly two hours late in the end. Just starting descent into Barca at the moment.

 

[gabrielhj07]

Ouch. I was lucky to have made it to Lisbon without trouble today.

 

[Scotrail314209]

Looks like it (FR7544) was nearly two hours late in the end. Just starting descent into Barca at the moment.

There was an Edinburgh to Sofia flight that was 5 hours late the other night. Meant to depart at 1505, left at 20:13.

The return flight didn’t arrive back home until 04:03 when it was meant to be 22:55.

 

[Huntergreed]

There was an Edinburgh to Sofia flight that was 5 hours late the other night. Meant to depart at 1505, left at 20:13.

The return flight didn’t arrive back home until 04:03 when it was meant to be 22:55.

My Ryanair return flight from Bordeaux to Manchester on Sunday (well, yesterday) was 16 and a half hours late.

Sunday was a long and interesting night for many of us involved which included having to fight for 2 hours to get a hotel booked by airport agency staff at Bordeaux (Ryanair were very happy to simply desert us), an abusive manager and being sent to the incorrect hotel.

Needless to say, I’m not overly inclined to rebook with Ryanair for late night flights now, however I am very prepared to fight this and claim all the compensation I’m entitled to, which I’m sure they will try to wriggle out of.

 

[Scotrail314209]

My Ryanair return flight from Bordeaux to Manchester on Sunday (well, yesterday) was 16 and a half hours late.

Sunday was a long and interesting night for many of us involved which included having to fight for 2 hours to get a hotel booked by airport agency staff at Bordeaux (Ryanair were very happy to simply desert us), an abusive manager and being sent to the incorrect hotel.

Needless to say, I’m not overly inclined to rebook with Ryanair for late night flights now, however I am very prepared to fight this and claim all the compensation I’m entitled to, which I’m sure they will try to wriggle out of.

16 hours?! Heck that sounds like an absolute ordeal…

I must admit, ground Ryanair staff are very few and far between. From trips to Edinburgh Airport they only really appear if it’s busy.

 

[WestCoast]

I must admit, ground Ryanair staff are very few and far between. From trips to Edinburgh Airport they only really appear if it’s busy.

Legacy carriers like BA aren't much better at the moment. I had a flight cancelled from Manchester last month and with "final call" on the screens, no staff even turned up to the gate to tell us it had been cancelled.... The app told us that it was delayed four hours, but it never took off. Only managed to get rebooked for the next morning by calling their American call centre, no chance of getting through to the UK number.

 

[Cloud Strife]

I must admit, ground Ryanair staff are very few and far between.

Ryanair usually don't have any ground staff at all. They're all contracted out, although sometimes to a sister company (such as Azul Handling in Spain). Ryanair were very vocal about this in the past, where the contracted ground staff simply vanished as soon as there were any problems whatsoever. Stansted was particularly awful for this for many years, as the ground agents would vanish if there were problems with the schedule due to strikes or weather problems.

There's a good article here about this: https://airlinergs.com/issue-article/ryanair-to-self-handle-in-spain-and-stansted/

Dunne says at Stansted where handling was done by Swissport, staff use to finish at
7pm in the evening if everything was running normally, but with huge ATC delays in Germany, and the UK, the wave of departures that should have of happened between 6-7pm was happening between 7-8pm and not all staff wanted to remain on duty for various reasons which impacted operations.

I know someone who was working in Ryanair operations, and she said that they had tremendous problems with this. They would call the duty manager at Swissport in Stansted to inform them of delays and to request that the ground staff stay longer in order to accommodate them. They had agreements with Swissport to pay for it on an ad-hoc basis, but then Swissport would simply do nothing and the ground staff would go home despite Ryanair paying for it.

With regards to the legacy airlines, things are absolutely dire for them in general. Lufthansa have gone to pieces recently, and a manager friend in Wrocław Airport tells me that the check-in staff have taken to advising business class passengers to consider trying to re-route via Warsaw (LOT) or Munich to avoid Frankfurt.

 

[Scotrail314209]

Ryanair usually don't have any ground staff at all. They're all contracted out, although sometimes to a sister company (such as Azul Handling in Spain). Ryanair were very vocal about this in the past, where the contracted ground staff simply vanished as soon as there were any problems whatsoever. Stansted was particularly awful for this for many years, as the ground agents would vanish if there were problems with the schedule due to strikes or weather problems.

There's a good article here about this: https://airlinergs.com/issue-article/ryanair-to-self-handle-in-spain-and-stansted/



I know someone who was working in Ryanair operations, and she said that they had tremendous problems with this. They would call the duty manager at Swissport in Stansted to inform them of delays and to request that the ground staff stay longer in order to accommodate them. They had agreements with Swissport to pay for it on an ad-hoc basis, but then Swissport would simply do nothing and the ground staff would go home despite Ryanair paying for it.

With regards to the legacy airlines, things are absolutely dire for them in general. Lufthansa have gone to pieces recently, and a manager friend in Wrocław Airport tells me that the check-in staff have taken to advising business class passengers to consider trying to re-route via Warsaw (LOT) or Munich to avoid Frankfurt.

Who supplies the blue handling staff? I was at Edinburgh recently and saw that there were staff at the check in with a “Ryanair Blue Handling” jacket on, instead of the usual Edinburgh Airport staff.

 

[Cloud Strife]

Who supplies the blue handling staff? I was at Edinburgh recently and saw that there were staff at the check in with a “Ryanair Blue Handling” jacket on, instead of the usual Edinburgh Airport staff.

It's a bit confusing, but basically, Ryanair are using the name Blue Handling to refer to their ground staff who are sometimes, but not always, actually working with a separate company. It's very possible that these are still Edinburgh Airport staff, but they're branded as Blue Handling for whatever reason.

At least in Stansted, the Blue Handling company is actually Omniserv in disguise.