Aeroplane runs out of fuel, passengers have to buy extra to continue journey.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-15762127
An airline is set to investigate reports that it asked passengers to pay £20,000 towards the cost of fuel to complete their journey to the UK.
Passengers said they were asked for the money when a flight with Austrian airline Comtel Air from Amritsar in India stopped in Vienna to refuel.

At least the pilot found a filling station before running out!

danniemcq

probably still cheaper than aer lingus

sbsquarepants

Jesus, I hope Michael O'Leary doesn't read this!

K-9

sbsquarepants wrote: »

Jesus, I hope Michael O'Leary doesn't read this!

He'd probably call Vienna near Birmingham.

Brendog

A bad time to be in first class seating....

Fishooks12

Am I the only one surprised O Leary wasn't directly involved after reading the title?

ejmaztec

Fishooks12 wrote: »

Am I the only one surprised O Leary wasn't directly involved after reading the title?

He siphoned the tank.

thee glitz

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine's flight from Estonia was delayed 2 hours as all
passengers and baggage had to be unloaded so the pilot could refuel in Lithuania.

Fishooks12

Fishooks12 wrote: »

Am I the only one surprised O Leary wasn't directly involved after reading the title?

Regardless what you think of Ryanair, at least it isn't a fly by night operation. :pac:

starbelgrade

danniemcq wrote: »

probably still cheaper than aer lingus

I often fly Aer Lingus as they are usually the same price - and sometimes cheaper - than the "low cost" airlines like Ryan Air.

Plus, you get an allocated seat, aren't treated like cattle & the planes don't bounce off the runway when they land.

One of the best things Ryanair ever did was to bring down the cost of other, better airlines.

Lollipops23

what's really amazing is that the passengers actually paid up?!! Would it not have been cheaper to get another flight?

Raging_Ninja

Lollipops23 wrote: »

what's really amazing is that the passengers actually paid up?!! Would it not have been cheaper to get another flight?

Assuming 200 passengers, £20,000 comes out as £100 (the passenger figure is backed up by that fact that one passenger said she had to pony up €150). Doubt you could get another flight to travel from Vienna to the UK for less than that price, though I could be wrong.

Anyways, at best its breach of contract and passengers are entitled to compensation, at worst its fraud/extortion.

Lollipops23

Raging_Ninja wrote: »

Assuming 200 passengers, £20,000 comes out as £100 (the passenger figure is backed up by that fact that one passenger said she had to pony up €150). Doubt you could get another flight to travel from Vienna to the UK for less than that price, though I could be wrong.

Anyways, at best its breach of contract and passengers are entitled to compensation, at worst its fraud/extortion.

True, but I'm sure there would have been plenty of passengers who simply couldn't pay?

To be honest I'd prefer to fork out for another flight than pay that airline!

ejmaztec

The passengers would have willingly paid a lot more if this was what was needed

theTinker

I'm really surprised it wouldnt be standard practice for the airline of the flight to simply transfer money to the refueling station??

ejmaztec

theTinker wrote: »

I'm really surprised it wouldnt be standard practice for the airline of the flight to simply transfer money to the refueling station??

They're obviously strapped for cash, or someone screwed up in the finance department.

bodhrandude

" Another woman who flew from Amritsar to Birmingham via Vienna told the BBC: "We had to pay 150 euros last night in Vienna to get back to Birmingham and then they wouldn't fly us back to Birmingham so we had to pay ourselves to come back."

WTF!

Tar.Aldarion

starbelgrade wrote: »

I often fly Aer Lingus as they are usually the same price - and sometimes cheaper - than the "low cost" airlines like Ryan Air.

Plus, you get an allocated seat, aren't treated like cattle & the planes don't bounce off the runway when they land.

One of the best things Ryanair ever did was to bring down the cost of other, better airlines.

most i have ever paid for a ryanair flight is like 20e, and have even got flights for 1 cent. Dunno people say aer lingus are cheaper now but whenever i check the prices arent even close and i buy ryanair. Although havent bought any in over a year at this stage!

si_guru

theTinker wrote: »

I'm really surprised it wouldnt be standard practice for the airline of the flight to simply transfer money to the refueling station??

What if they have no funds though?

Also (other posts) why bash O'Leary... his planes are on time, clean, safe and the company runs at a profit!

..plus he personally states he would neverr levy a fuel surcharge.

Saila

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...ngham-15762127
An airline is set to investigate reports that it asked passengers to pay £20,000 towards the cost of fuel to complete their journey to the UK. coke and hookers at the airline staff's hotel later that night
Passengers said they were asked for the money when a flight with Austrian airline Comtel Air from Amritsar in India stopped in Vienna to refuel.

.

drdeadlift

During the hurricane season in florida one of our flights had to use miami instead of orlando sfb airport.There were no fuel contacts in mia so the flight mechanic had to pay for 70 tons of fuel with his own credit card needless to say he had a whopper of a credit limit.

laoch na mona

I would tell the airline to **** of

Wertz

Airline in question has gone bust this evening...lot of people stranded.

Stinicker

theTinker wrote: »

I'm really surprised it wouldnt be standard practice for the airline of the flight to simply transfer money to the refueling station??

I remember on "airline" that the show on Sky a few years ago an EasyJet plane having to divert to some airport in France with a medical emergency they didn't normally fly to and the Captain had to pay for it on his Credit Card as the airline did not have agreement with the oil company. Better than the passengers having to fork out though!

Ellis Dee

The pilot of an aircraft usually has a company credit card to pay for fuel when it is needed, but this can sometimes be a problem for a variety of reasons, such as an unscheduled landing, cockups in accounting departments, and so on.

A friend of mine flew to Tirana with Finnair in the early 1990s, just after the communist regime had collapsed in Albania. The plane was carrying the Finnish soccer team, officials, sports journalists and some fans to a World Cup qualifier.

The plane remained at the airport for the duration of the game, but when the pilot tried to have it refuelled for the return trip, the Albanians refused to accept his credit card; in fact, they had never heard of a credit card.:eek:

The pilot had to make a whip round from everyone on board to get enough cash to make the short flight to Italy, where the credit card was accepted.:D

Naturally, the airline repaid everyone their money and, as a gesture of appreciation, gave them free ticket vouchers for later use

starbelgrade

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

most i have ever paid for a ryanair flight is like 20e, and have even got flights for 1 cent. Dunno people say aer lingus are cheaper now but whenever i check the prices arent even close and i buy ryanair. Although havent bought any in over a year at this stage!

I'm flying to Madrid next week. The flights cost €90 return with Aer Lingus. The same flights were €160 with Ryanair. I find that this is regularly the case & the flight times are almost always better with Aer Lingus.

The deals Ryanair do are great, like the 1cent flights, but that's if you book well in advance and /or are flexible about when you travel.

I've no real problem flying Ryanair - I'll fly with whoever is the cheapest when I go to book and that normally is around 60-70% of the time in favour of Aer Lingus.

kincsem

I have an idea that Michael O'Leary might like - inflight refuelling. That should be a nice earner.