Ryanair to Resume 79 Routes to Poland; Calls Irish Quarantine ‘Useless’, UK Luggage Policy ‘Rubbish’

Ryanair announced on Friday that they will resume 79 routes to Poland from the UK and Ireland in their Summer 2020 schedule. In separate announcements, the carrier called Ireland’s quarantine ‘Useless From Filling’ and the UK’s hand luggage policy ‘Rubbish.’

Ryanair Boeing 737 NG - Courtesy Ryanair

On Friday, Ryanair announced that they will resume service to 79 destinations in Poland as part of their summer 2020 schedule. To celebrate the reopening of Poland without quarantine restrictions from June 13, 2020, the carrier is offering seats from €29.99 each way. Ryanair fully supports the restart of Europe’s tourism industry as people return to work and friends and family members can finally reunite. In Friday’s announcement, Ryanair’s Alejandra Ruiz said,

“Ryanair, Europe’s No. 1 airline, is pleased to offer a total of 79 routes to Poland from the UK and Ireland this Summer. These routes will operate from 21 June as part of our Summer 2020 schedule. Customers in the UK and Ireland can now books seats on flights to Poland for June, July & August and finally begin to restart Europe’s economies & reunite families and friends. To celebrate Poland’s reopening, we are releasing seats on sale for just €29.99 for travel until the end of August 2020, which must be booked by midnight Sunday (14 June). Since these amazing fares will be snapped up quickly, customers should log onto www.ryanair.com and avoid missing out.”

In a separate announcement today (June 12, 2020), Ryanair called on Irish Health Minister Simon Harris, the Government and the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) to abandon what the carrier calls a “useless form filling quarantine.” The mandatory quarantine will likely deter EU visitors from visiting Ireland during the critical July/August summer holiday season, at a time when most other EU countries are once again welcoming tourists. In today’s announcement, a Ryanair spokesperson said,

“Thousands of Irish families are booking holidays in Portugal, Spain and Italy during July and August. However, Ireland’s hotels, tour operators, visitor attractions and restaurants are being unnecessarily damaged by this useless and ineffective visitor “quarantine”, which will deter European visitors during the peak travel months of July & August. We call on NPHET to scrap its useless form filling “quarantine” before the end of June, and replace it instead with scientific measures which are approved by the WHO and the ECDC, which comprise of mandatory face masks and rigorous hand hygiene on all forms of public transport where social distancing is not possible. Having managed the Covid-19 lockdown well, it is deeply regrettable that NPHET continues to mismanage the return to normality by being too cautious, and not following the well-established scientific advice being implemented by the rest of Europe. If NPHET are not willing to make these sensible and scientifically based decisions, the Minister Harris and the Government should. Officials advice, but Ministers decide, and Minister Harris should now scrap Ireland’s useless and ineffective visitor quarantine before the end of June.”

Yesterday (June 11, 2020), Ryanair also criticized the UK Department of transportation’s advice to minimize carry-on luggage in favor of checked bags. The carrier considers this new advice even more nonsensical than the UK’s mandatory 14-day quarantine for arriving guests. Quite to the contrary, Ryanair recommends that passengers avoid checked luggage where possible and instead carry-on their own luggage, thereby minimizing the contact of bags by multiple parties. In the June 11, 2020 press release, a Ryanair spokesperson stated,

“In attempting to minimize physical contact during the travel process, particularly on short haul flights, Ryanair recommends passengers to minimize checked bags and, where possible, confine themselves to one or two carry-on bags (1 large and 1 small for customers with Priority boarding) which minimizes physical contact with other persons. The UK DOT should stop issuing rubbish advice to passengers about baggage and instead focus their efforts on scrapping UK’s useless visitor quarantine which the UK Home Office now admit cannot be implemented, supervised or policed effectively. Ryanair is going back flying with 1,000 daily flights from 1 July. Recent bookings show how UK customers are largely ignoring this useless visitor quarantine as they book in their thousands to holiday destinations in July and August.”

Source: Ryanair