EU forces O’Leary to eat humble pie and saves our tourism season

IF Michael O’Leary of Ryanair could make money selling toilet paper on his planes, he would do it, and he has been quite candid about it.

Over the years Ryanair was largely responsible for making air travel affordable for just about everybody. He has been one of the country’s most successful businessmen. He sometimes comes across, however, as one who would never give a sucker a break, so too many people were probably not distressed at what happened to him this week.

At the height of the controversy over John O’Donoghue’s expenses last October, somebody suggested on Marian Finucane’s radio programme that O’Donoghue would never travel with Ryanair. He actually tried at least once, but was not allowed on the plane in Cork because he did not have photo identification. Ms Finucane remarked that it so happened she was denied access to a flight in Cork the same day for the same reason.

I do not know how many times I have crossed the Atlantic over the years. On several occasions I have had flights cancelled and had to stay overnight somewhere in the US. If I were returning home, I would rarely have had enough money to stay at an airport hotel, but every time the airline put me up in one.

Some of the hotels were better than others. Certainly none was five-star. No doubt the airlines had their own arrangements with the hotels.

A former next door neighbour told me his children bought tickets for his wife and himself for a holiday in Norway as an anniversary present last year. They were to fly by Ryanair from Kerry to Norway via London. But the flight from Kerry was three hours late leaving due to an engine problem.

When they got to London the other flight had not yet left but they were told rather curtly by one of ground staff they would have to leave their baggage as it was too late to get it on the flight. Ryanair only flew to the specific airport in Norway two days a week, so they would have to do without their bags for a few days.

Whenever anything like that happened to me in the US, the airline offered to get me out on the next plane, not matter what airline, but Ryanair made no effort. If the couple wished to go to Norway they were going to have to wait a few days until the next Ryanair flight. So they holidayed in England instead.

On Wednesday morning, Cathal Guiomard, Commissioner for Aviation Regulation, was on Pat Kenny’s radio programme saying, quite categorically, the airlines were responsible for the upkeep of passengers stranded abroad due to flight cancellations.

EU regulation 261— which was passed by the European Parliament on February 11, 2004 — established “common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay of flights.”

The regulation specifies monetary compensation of up to €600 that should be paid in certain circumstances. Such compensation was not applicable in relation to the delays caused by the volcano ash, but the regulation specifies that the delayed passengers “should be adequately cared for while awaiting a later flight.”

Mr Guiomard explained that passengers were entitled to claim from the airline a reasonable amount for their meals and accommodation for the period while they were stranded abroad, and if Ryanair did not pay reasonable costs, his office would take on the airline.

“We will not be meeting those bills,” Michael O’Leary defiantly had told Seán O’Rourke on the lunchtime news. “What we’ve said is that we are going to apply exactly the same provisions that apply to trains, ferries and coaches to compensate. The refunds that you would be entitled to receive would be limited to the air fare you paid us.”

He complained the EU imposes absurd obligations on airlines. It was designed to cover an overnight delay because of something like fog, not to cover a period of seven or eight days.

“Have you not had enough manners put on you by the courts in this country already in the past month or two without saying that you are going to flagrantly break the law?” Seán O’Rourke asked him with all due deference.

“The law in this case is an ass,” O’Leary replied. “The issue was not the volcano.” The ban was far more extensive than was necessary. “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?”

It was fighting stuff, but next day O’Leary was back on the same programme. “We have reversed the decision of yesterday,” he said. “This morning I’ve announced we will comply with the EU 261 regulation which will entitle passengers to recover their reasonable receipt of expenses for hotel and meals.”

A week may be a long time in politics, but what a difference a day makes in this case. “We have an example already of someone who paid us €9 air fare and has submitted a claim for €800 in hotel and meals,” he explained. “I think that does expose how ridiculous this legislation is, but we will comply.”

“Why have you changed your mind?” the RTÉ reporter asked “In my experience,” O’Leary replied, “usually when you are in a hole, the best thing is to stop digging. If you made a mistake, correct the mistake quickly and get out of it.”

It was a much humbler O’Leary. If Ryanair had booked the person with the €800 bill into a hotel, like other airlines do, the company would undoubtedly have been able to make arrangements with the hotel and the bill would have been much more reasonable.

BUT before you are overcome with sympathy for poor Michael O’Leary, think of all of those people who did not know their rights and stayed at the airport. They will get nothing from Ryanair, unless they have receipts for their meals at the airport.

Prior to the recent eruptions, the last time that the Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupted in Iceland was 1821. The eruptions then lasted until 1823. That was long before air travel, so its likely impact in the coming months or years is very difficult to predict.

This month is usually peak season for American golfers coming to this country. Without EU regulation 261 and the capitulation of Ryanair on the issue, the whole thing could have had a dreadful impact on transatlantic travel. Likely visitors would have had to wonder what would happen if they got stranded for a week because of winds from Iceland.

Missing out on a week’s work at home would have been bad enough, but paying for a hotel here for an extra week would have added insult to injury for the visiting golfers, especially if they were charged high rates because it would not be part of their tour package. Many of them, undoubtedly, would have decided to forget about their Irish holiday this year. Our economy is already in enough trouble without writing off the tourist season.