INVERCLYDE people or their relatives may have been affected by one of the biggest public relations disasters in the history of aviation.

Ryanair’s abrupt, no-nonsense cancellation of thousands of flights across Europe has caused chaos and untold stress for thousands going to and returning from holiday.

The Irish airline possibly thought they could get away with minimal bad publicity, for my experience is that they believe selling cut-price tickets means they don’t always have to show enough respect to their passengers.

That rubs off on some of those who travel on their planes, as I discovered on a flight to Malaga where drunken louts going to a stag party were allowed to harass other passengers for almost three hours before the crew threatened them with arrest in Spain.

When I complained to the hooligans, one of them snarled back: “What do you expect on a cut-price plane?”

Ryanair claim full notifications have been sent to all customers about cancellations, and that they are completely complying with all legislation.

But consumer group ‘Which?’ say their advice on compensation fell “woefully short”, leaving passengers hunting around desperately for information.

I’ve heard of people echoing my own view that, if Ryanair is the only way to get to a destination, then they’ll go elsewhere with another airline which treats them with the respect they deserve — even if it costs more money.

Ryanair need to change their arrogant attitude to escape these turbulent times.