[DazedNadConfused]

Not a complaint but a bit of industry news that may benefit discussion - as my wife is French I do have a bit of fun with their ability to turn everything into a protest.

BRUSSELS (AFP) – More than 100 angry Ryanair passengers sat in a dark cabin without food or water for four hours Wednesday, refusing to leave their plane after it was diverted to Belgium, authorities and passengers said.
The passengers, mostly French tourists who were supposed to land near Paris after returning from holidays in Morocco refused to come out of the aircraft even after the crew had left it at the Liege airport in southern Belgium.
Reda Yahiyaoui, a business owner who was travelling with his wife, a two-month-old baby and a three-year-old, said the passengers had no water and the toilets in the plane were locked.
"The pilot left and he even left the cockpit open," he said.
After several hours of negotiations with furious passengers, officials convinced them to leave the plane and wait inside the airport for buses that would take them to their original destination, a firefighter told AFP.
"The negotiation was so difficult that we weren't sure they would come out," the firefighter said by telephone.
"People are obviously outraged. I'm just trying to look out for their well-being," he said.
Passengers on the plane told AFP that the flight had left Fes, Morocco, three hours late at 7:15 pm local time on Tuesday but had been unable to land in Beauvais, France, because by that time the airport there had closed.
The plane landed in Liege at around 11:30 pm and passengers only agreed to come out after 3:30 am the next morning.
"This is unacceptable," Mylene Netange, who runs a network on social responsibility for business leaders, told AFP.
"The plane didn't land in Beauvais but in Liege without warning us. Consequently, we refused to leave the plane," she said.

[cortney]

No doubt i would be upset too, if we diverted somewhere without being told. i cant believe they werent told...unbelieveable....but it is Ryan air. they have to be the worst airline in the world even topping delta for the position. But what do the passengers think was going to happen by sitting on the plane for hours without a crew? the plane would magically leave or something? there is alot missing too...what caused the delay in the first place...mechanical, weather, crew etc. If i were a passenger on that plane...i would be upset and mad if i weren't told about the diversion but i wouldnt be sitting on the plane for hours for no reason

[DazedNadConfused]

I agree - I would have been upset but when the plane doors open I feel like a bull coming out of the chute - I just want to leave the plane. I have never had the opportunity of flying with Ryanair - and it sounds like a good thing if they are worse than Delta

[jimworcs]

Ryanair are a nightmare. They are hostile towards their passengers and simply don't care. It is really an airline for backpackers. I have only ever flown on it where there is no-one else on the route. It doesn't surprise me in the least. The only way in which this protest had any chance of winning was to make a decision to stay on the flight until the next morning, when Ryanair would need the plane. Sitting all night in the dark didn't make much of a point and probably resulted in the passengers arriving home considerably later than planned. However, there is one other consideration. Ryanair staff routinely lie to passengers to avoid confrontation. For example, telling passengers there will be buses to take them to their next destination, or they will be reimbursed for additional costs. They then fail to provide these. It happens so often, the explanation can be that staff are trained to lie to customers, I think to protect staff from customer rage. It may well be that the passengers just didn't believe the buses would materialise and that staying on the plane might at least mean they would be flown to Beuvais when it opened. (Even describing Beuvais as being a Paris airport is a Ryanair lie. It is about an hour and 20 minutes by bus to Paris from Beauvais!!!)