We FLEW Carcassonne to Stansted with Ryanair on December 23. There were delays, but we were kept informed every 10 minutes or so. It was a good service.

The flight was delayed about two hours but not too bad considering the weather.

The problem was the connection. National Express would not honour our tickets as we were too late to catch the bus from London Victoria to Southampton.

We had purchased non-refundable tickets allowing 3.5 hours to get to Victoria. In normal times 1.5 hours is what you need to allow.

On realising we were going to miss our bus we went to the Stansted office to ask if we could get a later bus, they said to go to the office in Victoria.

Once at Victoria they said it should have been dealt with at Stansted.

Their computer said there was no way to travel – no consideration for the adverse weather, nor the time of year.

No amount of persuasion would make them change their minds. (Even though there were plenty of seats on the next bus).

Tina Dye
Llanguedoc Roussillon

We contacted National Express for a comment but had not received a reply by the time we went to press.