Folks, please don’t treat airline representatives this way, because they don’t deserve it. I’m covering this because I think it’s interesting how the public’s lack of knowledge about how airline operations work often creates some deceiving narratives.
We don’t know the full story. It’s possible the system had been “closed” at that point, and there is a cutoff by which you have to be at the gate, regardless of who walked on the plane before you. It could be that the person who walked in shortly before him had already been scanned onto the flight much earlier, and was only delayed by having to pay a fee, or something.
But here’s where it gets interesting. The man repeatedly makes the point that he was on a connecting itinerary. Ryanair is a point-to-point airline, and doesn’t sell connecting flights, at least through direct channels. If you go to Ryanair’s website, you won’t find any option to book this itinerary from Manchester to Tirana via Krakow.
So that means this man voluntarily booked the two separate flights with a 55 minute connection. Never mind that Ryanair requires passengers to be at the gate 20 minutes before departure, and the Manchester to Krakow flight is “often delayed by 30+ minutes,” as noted on Google Flights.
Look, this guy made a risky (stupid, in my opinion) decision to book two separate tickets with a very short connection on an airline known for unapologetically enforcing strict policies, and it ended as you’d expect.
I think my favorite part of all of this is how he demands the man’s name because he’s going to file a complaint against him. Dude, you’re flying Ryanair. Have you seen the company’s social media and general approach to customer service?
Does he think he’s going to get a personal apology from Michael O’Leary because they *checks notes* denied him boarding when he arrived at the gate after the posted time for the gate to close? If anything, O’Leary would probably praise the gate agent for being able to generate more revenue for the airline, by selling a second ticket!
Bottom line
A Ryanair passenger was furious after he missed a flight by seconds (or so he claims), while on a “connecting” itinerary. The only issue is that Ryanair doesn’t actually sell connecting itineraries, so he booked those two segments at his own risk.
A great solo travel tip spotted this week on One Mile at a Time.
