Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Ryanair ONLY

badmedic

30/05/2013

Ryanair Customer Standards
Corporate Head Office
Dublin Airport
Co Dublin
Ireland


Dear Sir or Madam,

Re: Compensation claim for delayed flight
Booking reference: Xxxxxxx

I am writing regarding flight FR9592 on 17/05/2013 from liverpool (LPL) to Palma (PMI) with the scheduled departure time of 18:15. This flight arrived at 01:09 hors some 3. Hours and 24 minutes late at Palma (PMI).

The judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union in Tui & others v CAA confirmed the applicability of compensation for delay as set out in the Sturgeon case. As such, I am seeking compensation under EC Regulation 261/2004 for this delayed flight.

The passengers in the party were Xxxx xxxx.

My scheduled flight length was 1590 kilometres, therefore I am seeking £339 (€400) per delayed passenger in my party. The total is for all passengers £339 (€400).

During the delay I was not provided with any refreshments and I have only become aware after the fact that I could claim receipted expenses, I would hope that Ryanair as a respectable business would return the figure of £25 which I feel to be reasonable for a 3 hour delay.

The total compensation sought is £364 which is comprised of £339 (€400) for in excess of a 3 hour delay plus reasonable reimbursement of food and drink to the value of £25.

I look forward to a full response to this letter within 14 days. If I do not receive a satisfactory response I intend to pursue my complaint further, which could mean taking it to court.

Yours faithfully,


Now I know I spent in excess of £25 (probably closer to £50 but i can be a beer monster and thats not their fault)on beer and a sandwich but never asked for a receipt but

Mark2spark

You can't claim for alcoholic drinks. And as the food voucher they hand out is in the region of €4/5/6 per person you might be entering into a letter writing game over a tenner, which isn't particularly advisable.

finder

Hi all

I have been following this thread for a while and have found it very helpful. I am writing because I am a bit stuck in my claim against Ryanair and wondered if those of you with legal knowledge could advice me as I am not willing to let this claim go to waste without a proper fight.

The facts

* My claim dates back to a trip in April 2010, that is 3 years ago. The flight was from Madrid to Stansted and arrived in London with a 7hrs delay.

* Wrote at least 4 times during that period to Ryanair. They never replied to any of my letters.

* The Spanish Civil Aviation Authority confirmed in April 2011 that the delay was not due to extraordinary circumstances. The agency sent a copy of that report to Ryanair, but they took no notice of it.

* In March 2013 I put a claim against Ryanair using the European Small Claim Procedure (ESCP) in Newcastle upon Tyne. That claim was served to Ryanair on the 15 March 2013.

* Ryanair failed to reply to the court claim within the prescribed time of two weeks. I did therefore ask the county court to enter judgment (by default). The court ordered Ryanair on 21 May 2013 to pay to pay £313.40 by 18 June (link to judgment).

* This is where it gets confusing for me. Last week, I received a new letter from the court where the judgment against Ryanair was set aside (link). That was dated 24 May 2013; this new ruling was entered due to Ryanair having filed an ESCP Form C on 13 May 2013, almost two months after the claim was served on them. Ryanair defence is that I don’t have a case as I have waited more than 2 years to take them to court (link to Ryanair’s form C).

The question I have:

Is the judge decision definitive? If not, what would I have to do to counterclaim that judge decision?

Many thanks

blondmark

This information has been redacted

Vauban

blondmark wrote: »

Is which decision of the judge definitive? The one about setting aside the judgment so your claim can be heard? Yes that one is and you can't appeal that decision.

Ryanair's terms stating that they will not entertain claims brought after two years is nonsense for the reasons stated in paragraph 3 HERE.

It seems inherently unfair that an airline can ignore a claim, have judgement set against it by default, and then return to the charge several months down the line. Are there not any rules or principles that apply her to setting aside a judgement (eg the airline was not made aware of the claim until judgement was given), or is it simply up to the whim of a judge? Will the court give a reason for setting aside the judgement?

JPears

Vauban wrote: »

It seems inherently unfair that an airline can ignore a claim, have judgement set against it by default, and then return to the charge several months down the line. Are there not any rules or principles that apply her to setting aside a judgement (eg the airline was not made aware of the claim until judgement was given), or is it simply up to the whim of a judge? Will the court give a reason for setting aside the judgement?

From my limited experience of small claims. a defendant can request setaside of judegment if they can show reasonable grounds for the case to be defended. Now the point here is that they have argued that there is a 2 year limit which we know isn't true, and Ryanair know isn't true.
I suspect there will either have to be a hearing and if claimant wins arguement about 2 year rubbish then Ryanair really should be hauled over the coals (and back again) big style by the judge.
Perhaps there will be a prelim hearing and judge will rule against 2 year limit nonsense and re-instate judgement.
I think a letter to the court explaining and giving evidence of 6 year rule (assuming claimant is UK resident)| with the relevant case should be sent.

finder

blondmark wrote: »

Is which decision of the judge definitive? The one about setting aside the judgment so your claim can be heard? Yes that one is and you can't appeal that decision.

Ryanair's terms stating that they will not entertain claims brought after two years is nonsense for the reasons stated in paragraph 3 HERE.

Yes, I meant the decision setting aside the first judgement; I think I understand it now from your comments. The "set aside" judgement nullifies the judgement by default ordering Ryanair to pay so the procedure can continue its course. (Does the defendant gets penalised for answering late, though?)

What brings me another question. In that Form C Ryanair says they don't want a hearing to be held. So, what is it supposed to happen now? Will another judge look at my arguments and Ryanairs' arguments and decide accordingly? am I allowed to get back to the court to counter-argument Ryanairs' answer before that happens?. From your link, it appears you can write back to the court to counter-balance the defendant's point. Is there a standard form to do so under the european small claim procedure? and is there any time limit for me to provide further evidence?

Apologies for all that many questions!

JPears wrote: »

.... I suspect there will either have to be a hearing and if claimant wins arguement about 2 year rubbish then Ryanair really should be hauled over the coals (and back again) big style by the judge. Perhaps there will be a prelim hearing and judge will rule against 2 year limit nonsense and re-instate judgement.
I think a letter to the court explaining and giving evidence of 6 year rule (assuming claimant is UK resident)| with the relevant case should be sent.

Yes, I am an UK resident.

Many thanks

blondmark

This information has been redacted

y2jammie

I started the process of trying to make a claim for a 4 hour delay in Dublin back in November last year, yesterday I received a €600 / £425 cheque in the post as compensation for myself and another traveller.

It goes to show that not giving up does sometimes get you the result that you're after.

I spent weeks being batted away by Ryanair, they even tried sending me through their own insurance company to try and make an insurance claim (who then said they only deal with actual insurance claims for people whove taken out Ryanair insurance). They then stopped even replying to my claims for compensation / explanations for the delay.

I eventually put it through the CAA in Ireland who were very helpful - I provided them with a lot of information about my case including email/letter correspondence with Ryanair, and one day (a month or two later) Ryanair just emailed them to say they'll be issuing me with compensation.

Thanks to everyone on here for their advice!

Dr_Watson

Dr_Watson wrote: »

That's my forms and supporting evidence submitted (three copies of each remember) to the combined court centre here in Sheffield and my £80 fee paid.
The clerk told me it was only the second time they had seen one of these types of claim submitted.
So here's the address of another court you can submit your claim forms to:-
The Law Courts
50 West Bar
Sheffield
South Yorkshire
S3 8PH

I'll let you all know how things progress.

Ryanair had until the 28th of May to respond to my claim. I've heard nothing and neither has the court. So we move on with the procedure. Interesting to read earlier posts of how Ryanair's tactics have played out regarding the European Small Claims route.
As always I'll let you know how things progress.