Will Ryanair ever refund? Very sick son

pna1

I booked and paid for flights costing £830 in total for my son, his wife and two children to go to Portugal on 25 July.

My son (34) is now desperately ill in a major London hospital having had three strokes and is in intensive care - mercifully stable but future is uncertain.

I absolutely know that he comes first and this is not posted out of any sense of not having my priorities right but having looked at Ryanair's site, they will not allow cancellations and will not make refunds under any circumstances. All they would do is allow changes at £100 a person.

Does anyone know of any situation where Ryanair have had any willingness to invoke special circumstances where it is so obviously health related? If my son has his own travel insurance (which I believe he does through his bank account - Smile), might they look favourably even though payment was by me and not by him?

Any views and comments truly appreciated.

nikki33

If he has travel insurance, you should be able to make a claim through them rather than off Ryanair. Unfortunately, Ryanair are unlikely to pay up and even less likely if they know there is a travel insurance policy that you can claim on instead.

alanrowell

Few travel companies will do refunds, so it's not just a Ryanair thing.

spiro

alanrowell wrote: »

Few travel companies will do refunds, so it's not just a Ryanair thing.

Agree lots of airlines have no change/no refund policies on cheap tickets, that is way it is very important that you take out travel insurance the moment that you book any travel.

Hope your son get better soon.

melb

it's an interesting point you make as to whether your son's travel insurance will pay out as it was you who paid for the flights. i really hope they do as have never come across this circumstance before. Does the insurance cover the person who is to travel or the person who is out of pocket?

apt

I hope your son gets better. I would have thought your son's travel insurance would cover him regardless of who paid providing there is a seat booked in his name and he cannot travel for medical reasons. One possible problem with Ryanair is that some insurance companies require a letter of cancellation which Ryanair don't provide as they say you cannot cancel flights.

bcl999

apt wrote: »

I hope your son gets better. I would have thought your son's travel insurance would cover him regardless of who paid providing there is a seat booked in his name and he cannot travel for medical reasons. One possible problem with Ryanair is that some insurance companies require a letter of cancellation which Ryanair don't provide as they say you cannot cancel flights.

30 years ago my father died suddenly while we were visiting relatives on the other side of the world. It was in the days of apex, super-apex tickets if anybody remembers them. They were non-refundable. Initially the insurance company said they wouldn't pay out the return portion of his ticket (about £400, a lot of money in 1981) and I had to argue with them that if the ticket was non refundable from the airline then what on earth was the point of their insurance if it was also not covered by that?

They did finally pay out - to the amazement of the travel agent involved - who was inclined not to question them when they first turned down the claim.