Ryanair accuses Air Malta of hiding statistics

Peter Scott

Jul 14th 2010, 14:52

ALL SMOKE AND MIRRORS!
No interline agreements with other airlines = no connecting baggage (the biggest lost bag issue)
AND secondary airport operations = no major hub issues
= NO CONTEST!

C.Scerri

Jul 13th 2010, 23:03

I have flown with AIrMalta 7-8 times per year for the past 20 years and I am proud to state that have never had any baggages that were lost and apart from the notorious evening flight from London Heathrow, flights regularly leave on time and arrive on time if not earlier. In the few occasions that flights left late, I have always arrived either on time or a couple of minutes late.

In the case of the Heathrow evening flight, the problem seems to be the airport's fault and not AirMalta - the plane is usually on time, seated on time, but then remain on the tarmac 30-40 minutes before given the green light to go.

As for customer care - AirMalta customer care has improved by great strides and the last time I flew the customer care person not only tried to assist me but went out of her way to see that my requests were met to the full.

Thank you AirMalta - hope that the authorities find a legal and just way to keep assiting the company in these difficult times.

As for Stephen McNamara and RyanAir - the least said, the better!

c galea

Jul 13th 2010, 21:24

Mayybe Mc Namara can tell us the facts which he says are being hidden ...but while he comes back with his statistics , people can read here

http://www.ihateryanair.co.uk/ryanair-and-the-tale-of-the-illegal-subsidy/

Other countries have grown wise , will we grow wise when it is too late ?

In other countries this airline is referred to as Ruinaire!

gorg bonnici

Jul 13th 2010, 19:33

Have to concur with people below - Air Malta has given me pretty good service, but Ryanair has probably been one of the worst airlines i've flown with. Ryanair has a bad attitude, once when i had 2 bags a large one and a small bag they weighed them and put them through and only then told me they were too heavy. Had they told me before putting them through I could have taken the smaller one as hand luggage. Of course they did not because overweight luggage makes them money.

Glad to see people here aren't fooled by sham statements.

Roger Boyle

Jul 13th 2010, 17:59

@ c galea

Very well put. Well done.

Ryanair won't even carry your dead body back home should the worst happen to you while abroad.

No surprise really, given the disrespect this insult-to-aviation so called airline shows towards the living.

R.Zammit

Jul 13th 2010, 17:37

Ryanair has the best punctuality record in Europe. Says who? Says Ryanair! Every other airline relies on the IATA for its punctuality record, Ryanair (who refuse to join IATA) provides its own data for you. That, along with inflated flight times that give them a lot of leeway - a flight that is half an hour late in departing will still land on time - and you've got yourself that amazing punctuality record. Clever, eh? Luckily, I've found an independent site that provides its own Ryanair punctuality figures. You can see those figures by clicking below:

http://gospain.about.com/od/ryanair/qt/punctuality.htm

And that's another thing. The industry uses the 'departure time' to establish punctuality. Conviniently Ryanair use 'arrival time', for the reason explained above to distort the truth.

Regarding luggage, these are mainly lost when a passenger connects at an airport and the luggage transfers 'on its own'. This is a difficult process to manage, and unfortunately mistakes are made. Ryanair do not have this problem because they do not offer any connections and besides they do their level best (like charging £80 to carry a second bag this summer) to dissuade the carraige of baggage.

Lawrence Azzopardi

Jul 13th 2010, 17:17

National airlines service a lot of routes to accommodate the population rather than choose popular routes where the load factors are going to be high. Ryaniar service is non existant.
For anyone interested please read this article:
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/transport/article4641399.ece

Joe Grima Brussels

Jul 13th 2010, 16:49

You astound me with these, 'your' facts, Mr McNamara!!
So, according to you, Air Malta has a 'rotten performance'! If that were true, than I am a very lucky man! I've been flying, mostly with Air Malta, for the best part of 30 years, and I have never had any luggage lost, or misdirected. Since June 2002 alone, I've flown 48 times with 'our' airlines. Pure luck? Or Air Malta efficiency? Take your pick, Mr McNamara.

a mcbally

Jul 13th 2010, 16:27

from the comments i read here, one can realize that people know to choose between a cheap, robotized service and a good human service. perhaps we pay a little more but we arrive safer. down with ryanair. i had only problems with them!!!!!!!!

c galea

Jul 13th 2010, 16:25

Ryanair do not loose many bags because their passengers do not have luggage because it would be very expensive to carry on any bags with that 2 star airline .
It is not me that invented this ranking but a well know and reliable website

http://www.airlinequality.com/Airlines/FR.htm

Who picked up the stranded passengers when Ryanair cancelled its flight due to volcanic ash over the UK .. Airmalta our national airline !

Who provides medical transport to all the Maltese patients travelling abroad ..Airmalta.

Does Ryanair provide Incubators for the transport of babies to overseas hospitals like Airmalta ?

How many millions of Liri are received in subsidies by Ryanair from the taxes we pay to leave the Airport ?? The Maltese flying from Malta airport ,owned by a foreign company , sponsoring foreign travellers on a foreign airline !!!!
We used to call ourselves Nationalists ???

Jason Coleiro

Jul 13th 2010, 16:19

i always stick with airmalta ,for the past 7 years i did and although ryanair is MAYBE cheaper still theres no comparison to the service offered by airmalta,heyafterall its our national airline people and its good so support it instead of moaning.

joe vella

Jul 13th 2010, 16:07

so mr mcnamara, will you commit yourself and declare that those maltese passengers who were in venice for the aerosmith concert will get full refund because the ryanair flight was CANCELLED due to thunderstorms?
a relative of mine got absolutely no information from your desk, they had to travel to treviso, then by train to rome (6 hours!) and then pay for an air malta flight
can you explain all this please? other airlines delayed their flights but eventually got all their clients home, not your airline I'm afraid

Ernest Vella

Jul 13th 2010, 15:40

mhux bilfors l-inqas li jitilfu jekk ftit luggage itellghu in-nies meta jitilghu maghhom ghax ibieghu bl-oghli ghal 100 grams iktar.

L-Air Malta hija kumpanija serja u qatt ma kelli problemi maghha, anzi jilqghuna b'mod tajjeb wara li tkun ilek ma tara l-maltin xi 15 il-gurnata...tiltaqa ma l-impjegati ta l-Air Malta u thossok go wasalt home. Dejjem u kullimkien ma l-Air Malta fejn possibli, servizz eficjenti u qatt ma sibt xi ngerger...u issa ahna l-Maltin maghrufin ghat-tgergir...imma fejn hu tajjeb mhux ser jigi dan il-barrani jghallimna kif tmexxi kumpanija ta l-ajru

P.Farrugia

Jul 13th 2010, 15:35

Whenever possible I have always flown with Air Malta and I have no reason whatsoever to criticize our national airline. On the contrary the flights were always punctual (give or take the usual 10 minutes), my luggage was never lost and the Air Malta crew was always courteous and helpful. The only unpleasant flight I can remember was when I had to use Ryanair to attend to an urgent matter. Their seats are so close to each other that I couldn`t move my legs. And some passengers were commenting that the pilot was flying the plane at full speed! These comments kept me tense during the whole flight. But of course for Ryanair time means money!!

Ray Mangion

Jul 13th 2010, 15:18

Arrogant is not a good enough word to describe you Stephen. Your customers don`t know how to calculate the total figures to use Bucket flight holidays. By the time one pays for the extras which are many, your fares are not much cheaper that a scheduled flight. Don`t mock Air Malta; I for one am very happy with its service and assistance everytime my wife and disabled son come and go between Malta and the UK. I would rather pay a little bit more for a secure flight and seat with AirMalta, than having to fight to get a seat where you want to sit. I have been using AirMalta since I started travelling and I was always satisfied with their service.

Michael Vella

Jul 13th 2010, 15:14

Been flying regularly with Air Malta for years and i have never had a piece of luggage lost and despite being delayed a couple of times, my flight was never cancelled without warning....can the same be said about Ryanair???

Berys Said

Jul 13th 2010, 15:13

Part two!

@Pierre Agius
Ryan Air provide excellent shuttle services at their "unbranded" airports. Incidentally, do you consider Luqa "unbranded"???
I use Ryan Air regularly and I am very happy with the service. At Christmas the flight to Malta had to be cancelled due to the bad weather and I received a full refund. I have only been delayed once and that was due to a crack in the windscreen which was fixed within three hours during which time we were offered refreshments courtesy of Ryan Air.

Berys Said

Jul 13th 2010, 15:13

@B Pollaco
Ryanair allowed me to change flights when the ash cloud struck. They kept their passengers informed via thier website with regular updates and links to various helpful websites such as Embassies etc. They put extra flights on to help stranded passengers. There was no charge to change flights and no 3 hour queues at the airport as was the case with Air Malta. I had to change my Ryan Air flight 5 times to get back to the UK when the ash cloud struck. My colleague had to go to Luqa Airport three times and queue for hours each time to change his flight during the same period. He didn't have the same number of options as me as Air Malta do not have such a regular service to the same airport. It was a nightmare for him and a breeze for me.

Gabi Tabone

Jul 13th 2010, 15:07

I agree with J. Scicluna. The flight times printed always are longer because for the life of me I do not know how even though Ryanair invariably leaves Dublin later than advertised by around 15-20 mins at least, it gets to Malta on time. Same goes for cancellations. When hit by the snowstorm in January I somehow didn't manage to book a flight for no extra cost as the system kept getting stuck but I had to order a new ticket and pay an extra EUR93. As for service, after taking the monopoly for Dublin flights, it is only scheduling flights twice a weekcome the winter months while before 3 times was standard. Seriously who are you trying to kid when you talk about ignoring passengers!!

Roger Boyle

Jul 13th 2010, 15:00

Does Mr McNamara's memory fail him so badly? Who can forget Ryanair's arbitrary cancellation of an entire day's flights on the 21st April when the European airspace opened following the ash cloud closures and all the world's airlines were scrambling to fly again? Hope he enjoyed his self imposed off day. His passengers were certainly not amused.

J.Scicluna - Rabat

Jul 13th 2010, 14:49

Pull the other leg Stephen McNamara....it's got bells on.

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100625/local/air-malta-ranks-third-in-uk-holidaymakers-survey

THESE are the kind of statistics that count.

Simply NOT carrying baggage would obviously result is less misplaced bags (but you still manage to lose them, don'tcha?)

Simply by PRINTING longer flying times does not improve your ontime performance; actually you are only kidding yourselves; remember that when you hear the "on time fanfare".

As for cancellations...No Comment from my side, I'll leave that to the hundreds and thousands who were simply left tot fend for themselves because Ryanair decided that by cancelling flights it would cuts costs and improve loads on the adjacent dates/flights.

B. Pollacco

Jul 13th 2010, 14:47

at least air malta TRIED to arrange flights were possible when there was the Icelandic volcano eruption

Godfrey Grima

Jul 13th 2010, 14:45

Mick, you can't be serious. Please tell us how you can claim to carry 800,000 passengers to Malta when you know as much as any idiot does that this is physically impossible even if you operate a year round full peak summer operation, with full flights all round, no winter frequency reductions or route cancellations? Or how a recent flight of yours from Malta which was delayed by more than 2 hours was still showing as ON TIME on your so called live flight information on your website?

Pierre Agius

Jul 13th 2010, 14:44

Of course Ryan Air has a good record of puntuality and least lost baggage records. What do you expect. It operates from potato fields airports without any competition and far away from civilised airports! It is usually exclusive to some abondoned military airport where Ryan Air can dictate to management. I would liek to see Ryan Air operating in branded airports! What your bubble burst?

CLIFTON GATT

Jul 13th 2010, 14:34

Do people carry checked in luggage on Ryanair flights?