Flight cancellations – Passenger rights

The Commissioner for Aviation Regulation Cathal Guiomard was categorical yesterday in a radio interview that the airlines are responsible for the upkeep of passengers stranded abroad due to flight cancellations. This is the law of the land, he insisted.

Passengers are entitled to claim from the airline a reasonable amount for their meals and accommodation for the period while they were stranded abroad. Michael O’Leary, the chief executive of Ryanair, states that his company would only pay compensation of the amount of the cost of the ticket.

Over the years Ryanair has provided an invaluable service to the community in lowering airfares. The company deserves a great deal of credit for making air travel affordable for people of modest means. Mr O’Leary is a shrewd businessman. He entices people to travel with his company, often for absurdly low prices.

Regardless of what people pay for the ticket, it amounts to a contract with the airline to deliver them within a reasonable time. If it is the law that the airline is responsible for providing meals and accommodation, when the passengers are delayed overnight, it is in the interest of everyone – the airline industry as well as passengers – that the law should be implemented. Otherwise there could be chaos within the industry that could seriously damage tourism.

Mr O’Leary insisted that compensation should not apply in this case because what happened was not within the airline’s control. He argues that the EU has been imposing absurd obligations on airlines.

“Why exactly are the airlines expected to be reimbursing people’s hotels and meals and everything else when the government are the ones who made a balls of this?” he asked.

His dispute would seem to be with the authorities. The passengers, his airline’s customers, should not be used as pawns in this dispute.