What a cheek! Ryanair tells customer to ask a travel agent for advice

By Louise Longman
17/09/2021
Home » What a cheek! Ryanair tells customer to ask a travel agent for advice

A travel agent has spoken of the irony after learning that Ryanair advised a customer to ‘contact a travel agent’ for advice on PCR testing.

Maggie Rogers, owner of Shropshire-based agency The Travelwallet said she received a phone call from a customer asking for advice on whether to take a PCR or lateral flow test for her trip to Portugal.

“We had a phone call from a lady who asked if she could pick my brains. I told her my brain was pretty pickled from the pandemic, but offered to help,” said Ms Rogers.

After learning the telephone enquiry was related to a flight-only booking to Portugal with Ryanair, Ms Rogers suggested the lady go back to Ryanair to get the correct information.

However, Ms Rogers was then told that a customer service agent at Ryanair had told the lady she was unable to help regarding information on PCR tests and that she should ‘contact a travel agent’ to get the right information.

“I thought we – travel agents – were the great unwashed as far as Ryanair was concerned,” she said.

“I have no doubt that this is not actually Ryanair’s policy, but it’s a bit rich asking us for advice, when Ryanair has such an appalling attitude towards us, and is always bad-mouthing the travel industry.”

Ms Rogers said bookings had picked up recently, but she still felt like she was giving away free advice.

“It’s not the fear of catching COVID that is putting people off travelling, it’s the uncertainty and cost of the PCR tests. But I wouldn’t book Ryanair, I would rather lose a booking than use them,” she added.

Travel Gossip has contacted Ryanair for a comment.

Read more: Agents should charge for advice, say industry chiefs

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