Cheap flight, costly information

Ryanair's entry into the local low-cost market was welcomed by the vast majority of people, including the undersigned. However, as recently experienced in person, one must also take into account that an airline charging such ridiculous fares (our flight to Pisa cost us Lm44.10 return, broken down into 10c for the flight, and Lm44 taxes...thanks once again to our government for bleeding us dry on that score) must inevitably economise in other departments, one of which unfortunately seems to be the customer service department.

On May 22 we had our flight back home from Pisa, and in the early morning we learnt that there was a strike action in Italy which would probably affect our flight. Ryanair's website showed our flight as cancelled, while their handling agents in Malta, when contacted, said that as far as they knew, the flight was still on. So we managed to dig up a call centre number from Ryanair's website and tried to call them for confirmation of what was happening. Apart from the fact that their call centre charges you for calling them (a minimum of €1.50 per minute), and you have to put up with their advertising before you actually get to speak to someone, with the money clock ticking away, the person we managed to talk to asked us for our reservation number, and promptly assured us that the flight was cancelled and would we like to be rebooked for the next flight four days later. We replied no thanks, drove down to Rome, booked a hotel and reserved an Air Malta flight for the next day, at a total cost of close to Lm100.

Imagine our sheer delight on finding out that the Ryanair flight landed in Malta that same afternoon, and without any delays!

I am not so naive as to expect any refunds, apologies or explanations... Ryanair are well-known for their nonchalance in this respect, but I seriously question their ability to keep their finger on what is happening around them. If their info centre wasn't sure of the status of our flight, they could have just told us to wait for further developments, but it seems that their policy is to shrug off any of their responsibilities.

This is not meant as an attack on low-cost airlines per se (in fact it is more than probable that I will use them again in future); it is just a word of warning to people intending to fly with such companies to know what to expect from them at the slightest hint of a problem. They might be cheap and cheerful, but keep in mind that you get what you are paying for.