Ryanair customers have today branded the budget airline a 'disgrace' after being forced to spend up to £1,500 of their own money on new flights to get home - with some even having to pay twice.
The under-fire carrier has revealed the 2,024 routes which will be axed over the next six weeks, leaving the travel plans of up to 400,000 passengers in chaos.
Graham Walsh, from Borehamwood, was one of a large number of passengers who claim they had to pay twice to reserve seats.
'Ryanair allow you to change flights for £0, but charge you again for seat allocation that you've already paid on the cancelled flight,' he told The Sun.
'I was quoted one amount for new seat reservation then charged 3 times that value'.
More than 250,000 people caught up in the cancellation chaos will miss out on compensation but boss Michael O'Leary insists he won't quit and said: 'It's not my biggest cock-up'.
The debacle affecting two per cent of the airline's giant customer base could cost the airline £18million and knocked £500million off the airline's value yesterday.
The share price rose slightly today after Mr O'Leary said he didn't 'give a rat's a**' about it.
But the controversial boss faced calls to be hauled before MPs to explain the reasons for the chaos.
Members of the Commons' Transport Select Committee want to probe the businessmen on what caused the 'major failing'.
Tory MP Steve Double told The Standard: 'We need to understand exactly what's gone wrong and how to make sure it never happens again.'
Today it also emerged 120 Ryanair pilots met in Dublin yesterday and discussed striking over working conditions, which could lead to even more cancellations.
Travellers have been stranded abroad and offered alternative flights back to Britain days later, meaning they have needed to shell out for hotels, tickets and taxis home out of their own pockets.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is to investigate the crisis amid suggestions it was not warned of the cancellations - and will also probe claims Ryanair refused to fly customers home with other carriers.Ryanair customers have today branded the budget airline a 'disgrace' after being forced to spend up to £1,500 of their own money on new flights to get home - with some even having to pay twice.
The under-fire carrier has revealed the 2,024 routes which will be axed over the next six weeks, leaving the travel plans of up to 400,000 passengers in chaos.
Graham Walsh, from Borehamwood, was one of a large number of passengers who claim they had to pay twice to reserve seats.
'Ryanair allow you to change flights for £0, but charge you again for seat allocation that you've already paid on the cancelled flight,' he told The Sun.
'I was quoted one amount for new seat reservation then charged 3 times that value'.
More than 250,000 people caught up in the cancellation chaos will miss out on compensation but boss Michael O'Leary insists he won't quit and said: 'It's not my biggest cock-up'.
The debacle affecting two per cent of the airline's giant customer base could cost the airline £18million and knocked £500million off the airline's value yesterday.
The share price rose slightly today after Mr O'Leary said he didn't 'give a rat's a**' about it.
But the controversial boss faced calls to be hauled before MPs to explain the reasons for the chaos.
Members of the Commons' Transport Select Committee want to probe the businessmen on what caused the 'major failing'.
Tory MP Steve Double told The Standard: 'We need to understand exactly what's gone wrong and how to make sure it never happens again.'
Today it also emerged 120 Ryanair pilots met in Dublin yesterday and discussed striking over working conditions, which could lead to even more cancellations.
Travellers have been stranded abroad and offered alternative flights back to Britain days later, meaning they have needed to shell out for hotels, tickets and taxis home out of their own pockets.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is to investigate the crisis amid suggestions it was not warned of the cancellations - and will also probe claims Ryanair refused to fly customers home with other carriers.Danish holidaymaker Simon Christensen, 26, has arrived in the country only to discover he is stranded.
American Ewen Callaway also told the BBC: 'We are about half way through what's going to be an all day journey involving a taxi and two planes'
Mr Christensen is now trapped in the UK with his friend after Ryanair cancelled their flight home.
The pair flew out from Aalborg this morning and now have to desperately find a new flight home.
He said: 'We are pretty much stranded, we've got to book another flight home now and it is four times as expensive.
'They have closed the chat for the customer service and we can't contact them. We are going to book a flight and they I'm going to contact a lawyer when I'm back home, it is a joke'.
Rebecca Brown is also stuck abroad after a flight cancellation and said: 'We've had to pay out hundreds of pounds extra to book another hotel and also extra flights to get back. The communication from Ryanair has been absolutely atrocious. We don't even know why it has been cancelled. We're just really desperate to get home now'.
American Ewen Callaway also told the BBC: 'We are about half way through what's going to be an all day journey involving a taxi and two planes. It's been a really frustrating experience. Frustrating and costly'.
During an extraordinary press conference in Dublin Mr O'Leary said: 'As the largest individual shareholder in Ryanair, I never give a rat's a** about the share price. I couldn't care less'.He added: 'It's not my biggest cock-up. I have a litany of cock-ups in Ryanair over the past 25 years'.
It has emerged that 250,000 travellers now left without 1,300 flights cannot get compensation of at least €250 demanded by the EU because the majority have been given more than two weeks' notice.
The fiasco at Europe's biggest carrier has been caused by changes to its holiday year – a backlog of staff leave means it has too few pilots on standby over the next six weeks.
That means any minor disruptions – such as weather problems – were causing knock-on delays for lack of staff cover. Ryanair chiefs decided to clear the backlog through the drastic last resort of cancelling flights.
Passengers blasted Ryanair as 'a joke' at Stansted Airport, in Essex today.
Holiday plans had been thrown into disarray by the last-minute changes, with travellers left counting the costs.
Staff were forced to deal with disappointed customers today after receiving an email last night telling them their flights had been cancelled.
Fabiana Lopes was flying out to Bremen in Germany, to visit a friend. The Oxford resident told MailOnline: 'I think Ryanair is a joke and it is typical of them because they work at the limit of their staff and everything.
'I have heard it is ridiculous mismanagement that they just sent most of their staff on vacation and now there aren't enough for flights.
'This is what happens when a company works the way they do, they are disrespectful to their customers and they have no sense of respect to their customers.'She added: 'I was supposed to fly back Sunday and I'm doing it on Monday now.
'I'm visiting a friend and her family rented an apartment for us and the reservation is going to finish now.
'I'm going to have to travel to her home train sleep at her parents' place and then travel back.
'I haven't even got in to how much it'll cost me, I hear trains are expensive in Germany.'
Another couple hit out at the airline after discovering their flight from Edinburgh had been axed.
They are now heading out to the Scottish capital and have no idea how they are going to get back home after the four day trip to visit family.
The angry pair, from Portsmouth, said: 'The website has gone down, nothing is working.
'We have to get a flight with another airline now and we have got all our tickets in advance.
'They are going to refund the flight, but everything is up in the air. We could be hundreds of pounds out of pocket.
'Because of the late notice getting a flight home it's going to be very expensive.
'You should know when people are going on holiday.
'It's a joke you should know when your staff are going on holiday, we only had an email last night.'
On a shambolic day for Ryanair:
- Its shares fell around 3% yesterday, knocking a further £500million off its market value;
- The compensation bill was expected to run to millions of pounds - but 250,000 people may not be eligible;
- Michael O'Leary insisted he should stay in charge and be allowed to clear up the 'mess';
- Mr O'Leary's said they 'come out with our hands up' but insisted nobody – least of all himself – would be getting the chop over the airline's decision to cancel flights;
Customers have already vented their fury over having their weddings ruined and their whole years destroyed thanks to the bedlam caused by the grounded planes.
Mr O'Leary called a press conference yesterday and said air traffic control delays, strikes, bad weather and a backlog of holiday has led to punctuality falling to below 80 per cent over the last two weeks and admitted: 'It is clearly a mess.'
The under-fire boss said it will cost up to £5million in lost revenue and £18million in compensation.
But in his usual bombastic style he added: 'It's a cock-up that affects two per cent of our customers over a six-week period and I'm very sorry for it. Has this been one of the greatest days in Ryanair's history? No.
'It is my mess-up there, therefore I have to clean it up. I don't think my head should roll, I need to stay here and fix this. I apologise to customers who were affected'.
He added: 'We're working very hard at the moment to make sure we finalise the list of flight cancellations, which will affect less than two per cent of our customers, and also look after those customers who are disrupted.'
