Durham summer resident David Wright was ready to fly to Limoges in France last month, until he showed up at the airport.
The retired University of Newcastle researcher says he found that the parking service he had booked through Ryanair “did not exist”, and Leeds Bradford airport staff said it was not possible. ‘occupied Ryanair’s reserves.
David, 72, and his wife Angie, 73, say they were forced to pay £ 229 to park their Hyundai in the airport’s long-stay car park, even though they had already paid £ 85.57. £ to Ryanair at the time of booking your flight.
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“When we got to the airport, we went to the Meet & Greet Desk in the terminal and were told they don’t take care of Ryanair reservations,” David said. “We looked up the service at Leeds Bradford Airport on my phone and found a website that said the service was not available. We weren’t the only passengers in the situation, but at the time, we had no choice but to use the service on.-parking or risking missing our flight I had already paid Ryanair for the parking at the same time as my flight and I ended up having to pay more per day to park at the airport.
“We travel to Limoges about six times a year using Manchester or Leeds Bradford Airport, as we have had a holiday home in France for about 15 years. In Leeds we usually book a long-stay car park and use the service. of meetings and greetings in Manchester was successful, so we thought we would try the meet and greet offered by Ryanair, without realizing that it was not the service offered by the airport itself, but another provider called Looking4Parking “.
David Wright of Durham warns people to be on guard with airport parking (Image: Craig Connor / ChronicleLive)
When David and I returned home near Durham, they set about investigating the problem and trying to get their money back. “When we booked the flight and parking together with Ryanair, we figured it would be a relatively easy matter to get a refund from Ryanair,” David said.
“But we were wrong and it was quite difficult. I contacted Ryanair and Looking4Parking, but it took me a while to get a response from any of the companies. Then I read about another customer who had a similar problem with Ryanair on ChronicleLive and I wondered if the problem was more widespread and thought it might serve as a warning to people to be on guard. “
A spokesman for Leeds Bradford Airport said he was aware of the problem with Ryanair’s reserved car park, but was not affiliated with it. “Leeds Bradford Airport does not offer a parking service that involves leaving a vehicle in the free one-hour parking area and any non-affiliated company at the airport,” he said.
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“We offer a welcome 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 you to book directly at the airport to ensure the purchase of official parking. meeting and greeting “.
A Ryanair spokesperson said: “This customer made a booking with Looking4parking for car parking at Leeds Bradford Airport, but due to a minor temporary computer problem, their booking was not processed. We apologize to this customer for this processing problem with Looking4Parking ‘which has since been rectified, and a member of our customer service team has contacted him directly to arrange a refund. “
Ryanair later confirmed that when it received the receipt from Leeds Bradford Airport, the airline would also reimburse David the £ 229 fee for the long-stay car park at the airport. ChronicleLive contacted Looking4Parking for comment, but the company did not respond.
Leeds Bradford Airport (Image: Evening Gazette)
Earlier this year, ChronicleLive reported that Monkseaton couple John and Sheila Paton had a similar experience after buying parking at Newcastle Airport via Ryanair, provided by Looking4Parking.
Like David, they ended up paying for parking at Newcastle Airport, as they ran out of time to catch their flight to Malaga. Ryanair has finally reimbursed the money for both the Looking4Parking reservation and the Newcastle Airport long-stay fare, but John says it took almost a month – and about 20 emails – before his 49 was reimbursed. Initial £ 67. It took another two weeks, and only when ChronicleLive got involved, to recover the extra £ 66.67.
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