RYANAIR’s popular route between Edinburgh and Tuscan hotspot Pisa has been blighted with delays and cancellations which have left hundreds of passengers stranded.
Regular delays on the Monday evening flights have been capped with cancelled flights which left more than 400 passengers high and dry and scrambling to find late night accommodation.
On 12 June Scots and Italian fliers were boarded late on the outgoing 6.15pm flight from Edinburgh but after sitting on the runway for about 40 minutes they were told the flight had been cancelled and had to return to the terminal building.
The incoming flight from Pisa, due to depart at 10.25pm, was also cancelled with hundreds of unhappy fliers left to sort out accommodation as it approached midnight, and many having to wait a further three days for the next direct flight to Edinburgh.
Ryanair blamed the cancellation of both flights on “thunderstorms at Edinburgh Airport” but eyewitness passengers on the ground confirmed there was no weather issues on the evening of Monday 12 June.
One furious flyer heading to Pisa, Ruth McGivern of Cumbernauld, said: “When we were queuing in the priority line of one of the Ryanair staff said, “I don’t know why you are bothering to stand here because the plane has not even left Bournemouth yet’.”
As the 6.15pm departure time approached, passengers were informed the flight was delayed until 7.25pm, eventually boarding at 8.35pm, but after a 30-40 minute wait on the tarmac they were informed the flight had been cancelled because Pisa Airport was “closed”.
The previous Monday – 5 June – the same 10.20pm flight from Pisa to Edinburgh was approximately three hours late arriving in the Scottish capital, with passengers given no explanation for the delay.
Ruth McGivern added: “Customer service was non-existent, they pretty much didn’t give a damn and there no hint of an apology from anyone about the cancellation. I know storms were forecast down south but there was certainly no heavy rain or thunder in Edinburgh.”
At Pisa, passengers were left in the lurch and had to find hotel accommodation, including one women and her exhausted 60-year-old mother who had recently finished treatment for cancer.
The 33-year-old executive, who asked not to be named, said: “It was very stressful and Ryanair ruined a short break which was to celebrate my mother completing a bruising round of chemo and radiotherapy.
“We managed to find a hotel near the airport and then returned to Lucca for two days where we could get the support of family who are there, but there were a number of elderly people at Pisa Airport who were clearly distressed on learning of the cancelled flight and I have no idea how they coped with making alternative arrangements at such a late hour.”
Delayed departures have continued to plague the service. On Monday 19 June the outgoing flight from Edinburgh to Pisa arrived 1 hour 19 minutes late, while the return flight to Scotland was more than one hour late touching down.
A spokeswoman for Ryanair said: “This flight from Pisa to Edinburgh (12 Jun) was regrettably cancelled due to thunderstorms at Edinburgh Airport. Ryanair apologises for any inconvenience caused as a result of this weather-related cancellation which was entirely beyond our control.”
Ryanair failed to explain the three hour delay on the Pisa to Edinburgh flight on 5 June.
Stephen Rafferty is a former crime correspondent at The Scotsman and was a staff reporter for the Daily Record and Edinburgh Evening News. He has freelanced for many of the Scottish and UK national newspaper titles. Got a story? Get in touch - stephen@theedinburghreporter.co.uk
