Welcome to the Mr. O'Leary Show
The low-cost airline panacea it opened up a world (and never better said) of traveling possibilities. Round trip to Rome from Madrid for €100, express visits to Amsterdam for €50... But there was a palimpsest underlying the picture of the perfect trip that gradually revealed itself... to crash landing.
Three forced landings in Valencia (August 26), bedbug bites on the London-Rome flight (September 6), cabin depressurization on a flight to the Canary Islands (September 7), emergency landing of a plane to Reus (September 15), emergency landing in Barajas (September 16), emergency landing on the London-Bratislava route (September 24) ... Something smells singed, and it is not the kerosene, precisely . September has been a more than convulsive month and Rubén Sánchez, spokesperson for FACUA-Consumers in Action, knows it well, who has compiled the company's irregularities as a hashtag. What sanctions has Ryanair received? None. Instead, **FACUA received a burofax** from the airline requesting the rectification of one of the Association's communications in which the alarming situation and the dangerous 'silent response' of the Government were denounced. Does anyone give more? Well yes: Ireland; the mother country of the airline supports O'Leary but she advises Ryanair to update its fuel policy . What sharpness.
“Not only do you have to check the fuel of the planes, a macro sanction must be imposed ; You cannot silence everything that has happened. We need a transparent investigation”, says Rubén Sánchez. Any action in sight? As far as we are concerned, last August 14 the Ministry of development opened an investigation into the airline of which nothing is yet known, not a line (and that September was an even busier month, and never better said, for Ryanair passengers). At the beginning of that same month, Rafael Calá, Secretary of State for Infrastructures, stated that "soon" some result will be known, but silence is still the answer. And it's been two months.
What interest is behind all this? What underlies not to take seriously a month of emergency landings and depressurizations? There is a serious security problem and Ryanair has opened 'Pandora's box'. Rubén Sánchez puts on the table an alarming fact, to say the least: in a conversation with a **responsible person from SEPLA** (Spanish Union of Air Line Pilots), he tells him that in 14,000 flight hours only two inspections are carried out and, precisely, not very detailed. It is, without a doubt, a debate that goes beyond the O'Leary media show that he not only laughs at those affected, but also calls for the dismissal of those who try to put obstacles in the way of so much absurdity. And still, the house wins. Ryanair has transported ** 2.4% more passengers ** so far this year compared to 2011. But given the price, security can never be left in the background, "you cannot leave everything in hands of self-regulation”, as Sánchez comments; Development cannot be silent.
But for now, shhh. Meanwhile, Ryanair continues to obtain **subsidies that become obscene**, governed by an employment regime that is not quoted in Spain. The absurdity of the situation makes a lot of sense if we think about one of the main economic activities in our economy: the blessed tourism . Precisely, behind the good annual results of the Irish, is where Sánchez sees the key: "A 'the queen of fraud' he is given carte blanche playing 'I offer you plane traffic if I receive certain subsidies'; but in the end, he commits deception at an informative level, in the sale of tickets, in matters of health and safety...”. And the question is, as long as Ryanair tickets continue to be bought, will the investigation continue to be silenced? Doesn't it make more sense to spend those grant money on a robust safety plan where there are more than a couple of checks in 14,000 flight hours? At what price do we travel? Ryanair seems to fly very low.
The last sentence imposed on the airline for its bad practices was €1,469 that he had to pay a family for not letting a minor board without their DNI. “The regulatory framework for consumer protection is very clear; there should be penalties of 7 or 8 zeros simply because of the issue of abusive surcharges and misleading advertising. A sanction like this, are caresses for a fraud for which he continues to earn millions,” says Sánchez. Do we bow our heads before a multi-millionaire mass?: "More than the image of a multinational, it looks like the shadow of the bank: it decides, it wins", insists the FACUA spokesman. And until when?: “O'Leary does what he wants with no response from administrations. What are you waiting for, a tragedy? There is no need to wait for regulations to be broken. The politician has to enforce the law and judges have to ensure compliance with obligations. The Administration has to have power and exercise it."
Solutions, Mr. Speaker? “First of all, absolute transparency about the incidents (and not only from Ryanair); the second, to put social pressure so that users denounce; the third, a government that takes action , that impose fines, that there be no misgivings in sanctioning companies... no caresses to 'do what we do without doing' ”. Solutions Mr Ryanair? There was no response to repeated attempts to contact Stephen McNamara, the airline's Director of Communications.
These 'caresses' lead to the absurd, to a show orchestrated by the president of the airline that grabs headlines (where the jokes border on the denounceable) with his acts and statements, insolent, sexist, even misogynistic. Welcome to the O'Leary Show , the millionaire party of the headline where 'bad press is better than none'.
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And why not make the passengers fly standing up?
Whether humorous or not (here is a guide to what has been taken out of context), what is clear is the bad taste of O'Leary's provocations (gentlemen, we are talking about the President of one of the most important from Europe, not from the Today World) .
latest tips :
Get out paper and pencil. Rubén Sánchez gives us the 'abecé' of how to act in case of infraction: "from the outset, notify the airline in writing on a claim sheet at the same airport window; if later they do not assume obligations, transfer the complaint to the State Aviation Safety Agency, to the Community Consumer Office or to FACUA". And what about waiting hours at airports and that dreaded 'Delayed' sign? "Many times airlines hide the arrival time of the plane to prevent the passenger from going to a hotel and claiming the bill. You have to claim and you can get between 125 and 600 euros of direct compensation." And those attractive prices on the websites that later turn out not to be the final ones? "According to the law, the price of the advertisement must be the real final price and this is not a truism: if they charge supplements or try to charge concepts, we can claim." So you know, the right to kick nobody takes it away from us, at the moment.