Ryanair Bad service, double standards and ******s

PLEASE NOTE THIS IS MY SECOND COMPLAINT

To whom it may concern Formal complaint against Ryanair double standards and overcharging for luggage and not booked in online.

I Johannes Adriaan van niekerk and My wife Joey travelled from South Africa to several European countries including Qatar and Ethiopia. When we started our planning, we made sure of all the relevant regulations regarding luggage, whether it is checked -in or carry on luggage. We decided to only take back packs or rucksacks and no luggage to be checked in as it will also be faster to book in or after landing getting out of the airport terminals. We found that the airlines that we will use have the following allowances for luggage. 1. Turkish airlines a. One bag of 23kg for Economy class b. One personal item of 8kg c. 23 x 40 x 55(118cm) 2. Ryanair a. A free small personal item b. 40 x 20 x 25 to fit under the seat (85cm) c. Priority & 2 cabin bags d. 55 x 40 x 20 (115cm) e. 10kg to be stored in the overhead locker 3. Pegasus Airlines a. Cabin baggage 3kg b. 40 x 30 x 15 (85cm) c. Cabin Baggage 8kg d. 55 x 40 x 20 (115cm) 4. Ethiopian Airlines a. Free Carry on 7kg b. 55 x 40 x 23 (118cm)

Given the mentioned dimensions we settled for a backpack of 40 x 20 x 25 with a maximum weight of 7kg. That will allow us to travel on all the booked airlines with no problems. We ordered special bags with the exact sizes to fill our needs. And so our journey started…… We left O.R Tambo in Johannesburg South Africa with no issues with our luggage, no oversize bags, no overweight bags. Flight was TK39 on Turkish Airlines. We arrived in Istanbul, and our next flight was to Portugal Lisbon flight number TH1779. Again, no issues with luggage sizes or weight. Every time it was stored in the overhead compartment.

We spend a few days in Lisbon and travelled a bit and we then left for Barcelona in Spain. We were booked on a flight from Lisbon to Spain, VY8461 with luggage allowance Max: 40x20x30. We were booked in and again no issues with the baggage sizes or weights. The only issues I had was the poor service of the food on this flight. I ordered myself a Burger and I noticed that not a lot of people ordered anything. After waiting for more than 15 minutes for the burger, I was so disgusted that I did not even want to eat it. Besides the ridiculous pricing, the quality was of such a standard that my dog would not even eat it. Also, it was burned to the box, and the bottom half was for that reason not eatable. I had to throw it away. The staff was also not as friendly as one would expect. Also I was not allowed to put our baggage in the overhead compartment. As we got into the aircraft I put our bags in the overhead compartment. Then the unfriendly hostess shouted at me and said my baggage must go under my seat. I asked her why and she responded that she said so and I must obey her instructions. This was so humiliating because other people could put their bags in the overhead compartment and not us. Then a person sitting in front of us told me that they look at the passport document and they treat people accordingly. In my opinion this is ******, unfair and whatever goes with it.

We spend a few days in Barcelona because it is our second visit to the country and then left for France. We were booked again on Ryanair to Paris FR3121. As from the start when booking in it was a disaster. On arrival to get our boarding tickets the person charged me more than R500.00. I asked him what that is for. He said it is because I did not book in online and I give them extra work. I said you must be joking, that is ludicrous. So I had to pay. Then we moved to the waiting area to board.

The unorganised queuing system was a chaotic situation. Then when we started to queue boarding the situation got worse. There was 2 lines, one for priority and the other non-priority. People were jumping from one row to another with no control. I remember a family in the priority line was taken out of the line and they were asked to put their baggage in the container to see if it will fit. The suitcase fitted but the airline hostess said that it must not fit like vertically but horizontally. The husband was very upset and even took pictures that I also have. Then the hostess demands a payment for the oversized luggage and the woman said but the luggage fits. She demanded payment and then the woman said but they did not budget for extra expenses. And then the rude answer from the hostess came: then you must go take a bus. They were African people and treated very very bad. The husband then decided to pay for the baggage.

There were a few people who had to pay extra for the luggage BUT some people with larger bags and suitcases were allowed and did not pay extra. Then it was our turn. The hostess was very abrupt and unprofessional and asked my wife to put her bag in the container. The bag fitted but the hostess made her take the bag out and put it horizontally so that it does not fit at all. She then said my wife and me must also pay extra and then we could board. I said but this is totally unfair. The bags fit inside the container to size it, and NO baggage will fit if you turn it the other way round. She said to me that is how they work. I was so disappointed, and we then had to pay extra for 2 bags. That alone costed me more than R2000.00 and I did not even sit next to my wife. This is so unprofessional as can be. Then we left for Paris France only to land about 80km outside of France and we had to take the bus to get to France. I was sitting next to a young lady, and she was not very fami**** with flying. I had about 200 to 220 flights on my record, and we visited about 30 countries of the world already. As we came in to land, I sense that the pilot is not very fami**** with his approach, but I thought it might be a cross wind. But when he touched down, I knew this is an inexperienced pilot. He landed so hard that I thought the undercarriage of the plane broke off and I could feel the aircraft started to surf like it is going of the runway but then the aircraft became steady, and we were on the way to taxi to the drop-off point. The young lady next to me was in tears and she said she got the feeling that the aircraft is going to flip over. As we walked out of the aircraft, I said to the cabin crew that they can tell the pilot I will report his harsh landing and his dangerous approach to the relevant bodies as that is totally not acceptable. That was the last time we were on an aircraft belonging to Ryanair.

After a few days we went from Paris to Brussels in Belgium, from there to Dusseldorf in Germany where my daughter works for an international company dealing with 70 countries across the globe. She then went onto the Google platform and shows me that Ryanair promotes their staff to charge passengers for oversize baggage. Source: BBC https://search.app/Rmb3q She was very disappointed in our experience with Ryanair. From Germany we visited Netherlands and Luxembourg and Prague in Czechia. After a few weeks we travelled from Dusseldorf to Istanbul with Pegasus Airlines. Not even with this airline we had problems with our luggage regarding size or weight. From Istanbul we travelled again with Pegasus to Doha Qatar. We spend a few days in Qatar and we left to come back home to South Africa. We booked on Ethiopian Airlines and not even with this airline, which is part of the Star Alliance group, we had problems with our baggage. We even had a few gifts, and our luggage was more than the allowed 7kg but still NO Problems. I am convinced that there are double standards with Ryanair as we were allowed on the aircrafts in Lisbon to Spain but only experience problems with the same baggage in Spain to France.

I believe the bonus system implemented by the company is unfair and not app**** constantly across the board.

I herby request that this case be followed up and would like to have your response within the next 3 working days.

Thank you very much

Attie van Niekerk