Don’t take Ryanair’s word about compensation

Following the disastrous cancellation debacle, Ryanair’s rearguard PR campaign kicked into gear this week with the announcement of the sale of a million flights, many for under a tenner.

Nobody understands better than Michael O’Leary that price conquers all.

So many of us have walked out of Dublin Airport muttering “never again”, only to come crawling back a few months or a few years later, drawn by the irresistible pull of the bargain. The summary cancellation of 2,100 flights — disrupting the plans of 315,000 consumers — is a new low, of course. It will be interesting to see if the airline recovers from it.

The crisis deepened this week with the announcement of the cancellation of a further tranche of flights. In an effort to calm consumer anger, Ryanair has sent a €40 voucher (or €80 in the case of a return flight) to everyone affected. Those who had their plans disrupted by cancellation are also entitled to redress under EU law.

If Ryanair cancels a flight, it must offer you either an alternative flight at the earliest opportunity or at a later date of your choice, subject to availability. You also have the choice of a full refund.

Ryanair may choose to offer comparable transport to the final destination if the airline has no other flight available itself.

When a destination is served by several airports, they can offer to fly you to an alternative airport rather than the one originally booked. If this is their solution, they have to carry the cost of transferring you to the airport that you had booked or to another close-by destination agreed with you.

If your agreed rerouted flight departs later than your original, you must be offered care and assistance free of charge while waiting for your rerouted flight. What that means is that you should get meals and refreshments while you’re waiting, together with hotel accommodation in cases where an overnight stay becomes necessary. You are also entitled to transport between the airport and place of accommodation. The legislation — written in the days before mobile phones were ubiquitous — entitles you to two telephone calls, emails, faxes, or telexes.

If the airline does not organise and pay for this ‘care and assistance’, keep your receipts and apply for reimbursement directly to the airline. Details of how to do that are given below.

Compensation, as distinct from refunds and reimbursement of expenses, is also payable in a significant number of cases. You are entitled to compensation if you have received less than two weeks’ notice of the cancellation, regardless of whether you’ve travelled or claimed a refund for your flight.

Ryanair has already said all passengers who had their flights cancelled up to October 28 were notified on or before Monday, September 18, and any cancellation after October 2 will not qualify for compensation.

Don’t take their word for it, check your flight date and the date on which you were notified before you decide to pursue a claim.

Any flights cancelled, between September 10 and October 2, inclusive, will be entitled to compensation, assuming the cancellation was because of Ryanair’s scheduling issue.

Ryanair has also said that it has assessed all the impacted flights and has identified all passengers who they believe qualify for compensation. Note too that the airline also cancelled flights on September 10 and 12. These cancellations had to do with thunderstorms in Italy and the French air traffic controllers’ strike. If your flight was cancelled for these reasons, you’re not entitled to compensation.

Similarly, you’re not entitled to compensation if Ryanair gave notice of more than the two weeks.

There’s one other slightly nuanced situation to be aware of. Ryanair may not have to compensate you if they told you of the cancellation between two weeks and seven days before the scheduled departure time, but then offered re-routing which allowed you to depart no more than two hours before the scheduled time of departure, reaching your final destination less than four hours after the scheduled time of arrival.

This also applies if you are informed of the cancellation less than seven days before the scheduled time of departure, but then are offered re-routing which allowed you to depart no more than one hour before the scheduled time of departure, reaching your final destination less than two hours after the scheduled time of arrival. In general terms, compensation is not payable if the airline can prove that the cancellation was caused by an extraordinary circumstance which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures were taken. We’re talking here about the aforementioned industrial action and weather, as well as things like bird strikes.

The bad news is that ‘consequential losses’ are not covered by the legislation. If you’ve already paid for hotels or excursions, concerts or other events, then find your flights cancelled, you cannot claim for these extras. Nor is it likely your travel insurance will cover them.

So how much compensation are you entitled to? That all depends on the length of the flight. If it’s 1,500km or less, the amount payable is €250. This covers a range of short-haul Dublin flights, including Milan and Barcelona. For longer flights, such as Dublin–Malaga or Dublin–Faro, the compensation amount is €400. These figures are per person.

Just to be clear, compensation is distinct from and separate to reimbursement of expenses and/or the refund of the cost of an unused flight ticket.

So, the big question: How to claim. While it’s possible to do so by post, the easiest way is online. To apply for a refund, see https://refundclaims.ryanair.com/ which directs customers to a form which seeks details, such as flight number, reservation number, and date of the disrupted flight.

To seek reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses as a result of the cancellations, go to https://eu261expenseclaim.ryanair.com/. The address to get to the compensation claim form is a little more obscure. You’ll find a link to it on the aforementioned page, where you seek out-of-pocket expenses. Ryanair says they aim to deal with applications within four to six weeks. If you are not happy, you can apply to the Commission for Aviation Regulation (CAR), but only if you’ve dealt firstly with the airline. There’s more detail on flightsrights.ie.

The other complication is that CAR can only deal with complaints and issues relating to flights that originate in Ireland. If you’ve fallen foul of Ryanair’s compensation process, but your flight originated in another EU airport, you’ll have to go through the enforcement body of the relevant jurisdiction. You can find details under the ‘Make a Complaint’ tab in the flightsrights.ie site.

The European Consumer Centre (ECCIreland.ie) is another great source of information and support. It dealt with 338 air passenger rights cases last year.

John Hearne plots a course through the rights of passengers whose flights have been cancelled