Ryanair reopens 'faster' upgraded website

NEW TEXT alerts and faster response times are the main features of the revamped Ryanair website, which reopened on Saturday afternoon after being shut down for maintenance work.

The budget airline said it had closed the website on Friday to “significantly upgrade and enhance the processing capacity” of ryanair.com. Its spokesman, Stephen McNamara, said the upgraded site would have three times the capacity and processing speed of the old version.

“This will allow significantly faster response times to Ryanair passengers booking flights, checking in online and purchasing ancillary services,” he said.

The upgraded site also provides for SMS text alerts to customers in instances when a flight is delayed by more than two hours or during periods of mass disruption, such as adverse weather, air traffic control strikes or airspace closures.

The airline was criticized on online forums for shutting down its website while telling passengers to check in online before the shutdown.

Normally, Ryanair charges passengers a €60 fee if they have not checked in online and printed off their boarding cards before arriving at the airport.

However, it then emerged the airline had sent emails to passengers traveling during the affected period telling them they would not be charged if they were unable to check-in online during the website’s downtime.

There had been fears the website shutdown would affect the thousands of rugby supporters who traveled to Twickenham to watch the Leinster and Ulster match at the weekend and the soccer fans who travelled to Germany for the Champions League final between Chelsea and Bayern Munich.

Ryanair will be back in the news today as it reveals its full-year results.

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