As you know from the previous post, Ryanair is having major problems with running a network at the moment. Whilst it tries to boast it’s running at 99%, there have been some nasty cuts to the UK Domestic operation.
Ryanair Boeing 737-800 at Birmingham Airport – Image Economy Class and Beyond.
Let’s look at the domestic cancellations for the winter:
- London (LGW) – Belfast
- London (STN) – Edinburgh
- London (STN) – Glasgow
The two London to Scotland services are of the first bit of major concern. Thankfully, there is alternative cover between these two cities:
- London – Glasgow (Covered by British Airways – LHR/LGW/LCY, EasyJet – LGW/LTN/STN, FlyeBe – SEN (London Southend))
- London – Edinburgh (Covered by British Airways – LHR/LGW/LCY, EasyJet – LGW/LTN/STN, FlyBe – LCY/LHR
Of course, as these are totally land covered routes, there are good options using Virgin Trains East Coast (via York), Virgin Trains West Coast (via Crewe) and of course, the Caledonian Sleeper
However, there’s one route that is out on a limb – and that’s the London to Belfast route. As the route goes over the Irish sea to Northern Ireland, a rail option isn’t the greatest around.
Current options from Belfast include:
- Belfast International – EasyJet (LGW/LTN/STN)
- Belfast City – Aer Lingus (LHR), British Airways (LHR), FlyBe (LCY)
The good news is in the majority of cases – there are good options open to you if you need to travel.
However, with one less carrier carrying passengers around, existing services may pack out, or have more limited availability.
Expect carriers to take advantage of this.
However, for Ryanair – with possible legal action from the UK Civil Aviation Authority after misleading consumers about their rights during the first wave of cancellations – and for the airline for wrongly claiming it did not have to re-route passengers on rival airlines – a breach of the rules to say the least.
The airline isn’t going to see the end of its issues for a while I suspect.
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