Ryanair😡

[DaveG]

Hi Aficionado,
I thought it was a joke at first but it was mailed to my daughter on the 3rd in relation to her flight to Alicante today - it was mailed to her direct and had her booking reference and other flight details etc attached. I took those personal details out of the post.
When she arrives I'll check that the planned searches were actually carried out.
Regards
Dave

[Aficionado]

Cheers Dave, it will be interesting to hear her feedback.

Found this in the Mirror online dated 18th June.

Ryanair has already taken a number of measures to prevent disruptive behaviour on its flights, and customers are not permitted to consume their own duty-free purchases on board.

"Customers flying from Glasgow Prestwick and Manchester to Alicante and on all UK flights to Ibiza are no longer permitted to bring duty free alcohol on board the aircraft, and those who have purchased duty free alcohol will be asked to put it into the hold or leave their purchases behind.”

So looks like it is selective at present and not a global policy.

Michael.

[oliversl]

we flew back a couple of weeks ago to Newcastle with Easyjet and alcohol on board was limited to 2 drinks each - was announced before they started bringing trolley out - some people moaned but nothing serious

[kevinb]

We book our seats so me and the wife sit together, don't bother with priority boarding as it just means you sit on the plane longer.

[DaveG]

Afternoon Michael,

My daughters flight was from Manchester and the email definitely originated from Ryanair; there were too many details in it that only they would know. However none of the aforementioned checks were undertaken so perhaps it is a shot across the bows to passengers flying from the airports you mention in the hope that said passengers will heed the warning and therefore make the checks unnecessary whilst maintaining the threat of sanctions.

A worse problem was the increased traffic chaos at Manchester airport since the introduction of drop off charges ostensibly to alleviate traffic problems. Twenty minutes to reach the car parks from the end of the motorway (a distance you could walk in ten minutes) doesn't sound like a sensible solution to a problem that didn't exist in the first place.

Dave

[Aficionado]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the update, yes it does look as though it was more of a "watch out" type of warning, maybe staff were just told to be alert to the issue but not to do anything unless drunken behaviour was noticed, who knows.

This business of charging for drop off in the name of easing traffic congestion is of course nothing more than a money raising operation, the same has been done at Belfast International where you are forced to go through a £1 drop off zone or else go into one of the carparks, makes no difference to traffic flow and if anything slows it down as there are barriers to the zone but fairly rakes it in for the airport. At Belfast City there is a better, much more user friendly approach whereby cars can no longer get access to the front of the terminal building and must go through a drop off zone but at least this is free for 10 minutes which is more than enough to unload your passengers, goodbye hugs etc. It is a short walk to the the doors of the terminal so all in all an acceptable way of doing things. Not been through City for a while so hopefully what I say still holds true.

Michael.

[Blue and white stripes]

BHX - £2 for a 10 minute drop off or free for 30 minutes if you can handle a 10 minute walk/bus ride. Alternatively you can pick up and drop off free for 20 minutes at Birmingham International station and then take the monorail to the airport. It's a good place to pick up as I've never seen any traffic wardens patrolling at the station.

[DaveG]

Hi Michael,

Customers flying from Glasgow Prestwick and Manchester to Alicante and on all UK flights to Ibiza are no longer permitted to bring duty free alcohol on board the aircraft, and those who have purchased duty free alcohol will be asked to put it into the hold or leave their purchases behind.

”Regional profiling - I thought it was illegal!!!

See link to get the views of the local judiciary.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-manchester-45599295

The price for a 5 minute drop off is £3 but the traffic is that bad that by the time cars reach the exit barrier they have exceeded their time and cannot exit requiring a further payment; this dominoes backwards causing mayhem.

As you say a money making racket and in this case has transformed a fairly well organised delivery and collection into nothing short of third world chaos. Not a good advert for an ambitious regional airport.

Dave