A Ryanair passenger was all ready to set off to France for a holiday until he arrived at Leeds Bradford Airport. David Wright, from Durham, is a retired university researcher who had plans to go to Limoges last month but there was an issue with parking.
The researcher told ChronicleLive that he discovered the meet and greet parking service he booked through Ryanair "didn't exist" and staff at Leeds Bradford Airport told him that they didn't deal with Ryanair bookings.
David, 72, and his wife Angie, 73, say they were forced to pay £229 to park their car in the airport's long-stay parking, despite having already paid £85.57 to Ryanair when they booked their flight. David said: "When we arrived at the airport, we went to the Meet & Greet Desk in the terminal and was told that they do not deal with Ryanair bookings."
"We searched for the service at Leeds Bradford Airport on my phone, and found a webpage saying that it service was not available. We were not the only passengers in the situation, but by that time, we had no choice but to use the on-site parking or risk missing our flight. I'd already paid Ryanair for parking at the same time as my flight and ended up having to pay more on the day to park at the airport.
"We travel to Limoges about six times a year using either Manchester or Leeds Bradford Airport, as we have had a holiday home in France for about 15 years. At Leeds we usually book a long-stay car park and we use meet and greet at Manchester successfully so we thought we would try the meet and greet offered by Ryanair, not realising that it was not the service offered by the airport itself, but another provider called Looking4Parking."
When David and returned to their home near Durham, they set about looking into the issue and trying to get their money back. "As we booked the flight and parking together with Ryanair, we assumed it would be a relatively simple matter to get a refund from Ryanair," said David.
"But we were wrong and it proved to be quite difficult. I contacted both Ryanair and Looking4Parking but it took a while to get a response from either company. Then I read about another customer who had had a similar problem with Ryanair on ChronicleLive and I wondered if the problem is more widespread and I thought it might serve as a warning to people to be on their guard."
A spokesman from Leeds Bradford Airport said it was aware of the issue with Ryanair booked parking, but was not affiliated with it. "Leeds Bradford Airport does not offer a parking service that entails dropping off a vehicle at the one-hour free parking zone and any company that is is not affiliated with the airport," he said.
Have you had trouble parking at Leeds Bradford Airport? Let us know in the comments.
"We do offer a meet and greet service, located in front of the terminal, as well as other direct parking options, but these are not associated with this company in question. We encourage people to book directly with the airport to guarantee the purchase of official meet and greet parking."
A Ryanair spokesman said: “This customer made a booking with Looking4parking for meet and greet car parking at Leeds Bradford Airport, however due to a minor temporary IT issue, his reservation was not processed. We apologise to this customer for this processing issue with Looking4Parking’ which has since been rectified, and a member of our customer services team has contacted him directly to arrange a refund.”
Ryanair later confirmed that when it receives the Leeds Bradford Airport receipt, the airline would also reimburse David for the £229 fee for long-stay parking at the airport. ChronicleLive contacted Looking4Parking for a comment, but the company has not responded.
Have you encountered problems at Leeds Bradford Airport or with Ryanair? Send an email to jaimie.kay@reachplc.com.
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