Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Ryanair ONLY

MikeWarner

Hi All. We were one of the first impacted by the recent Ryanair cancellations, in fact this hit the news the day after our flight was cancelled. It was cancelled at 5:30pm the day before the flight which was due to leave at 8am. No other Ryanair flights were available to transfer to.


We put in a claim for genuine expenses to cover the additional cost of a different flight (booked through Easyjet). Firstly, the new flight was from an airport which cost more to get to by taxi as it was 3x further away from our home. Due to missing our booked (and non-refundable) transfer, we had to make other arrangements at additional cost.


In addition to this, we also claimed Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 compensation, so 3x 250€. The claim we put in amounted for around just over £900. Note that the original cost of the flight was claimed for and refunded separately already, as such the claim I'm posting about only accounts for additional costs incurred.


Yesterday we got a letter advising they would 'refund' £73.10. This is £24 per person. This a complete joke and offensive to be honest. I'm a little confused by the use of the term 'refund', as it is compensation, but likely just poor wording on their part more than anything else. The letter says the offer is final and that a cheque will be going in the post in the next few days.


Please could someone advise our best course of action to seek the compensation claimed in full?


Many thanks for any help given.


Mike

jpsartre

What does their response say exactly? Have they explicitly denied your claim for EU compensation? Does the £73.10 add up with anything? E.g. is it the difference between your new flights and the amount you have already been refunded?

I think you will struggle to get the cost of getting to your airport refunded but if your flight wasn't cancelled due to extraordinary cicrumstances you should get back whatever you paid for the new flight (minus whatever you were refunded for your original tickets) + EU compensation.

MikeWarner

It doesn't qualify the amount offered in any way and the amount does not equate to anything. It doesn't even cover the additional cost of the alternative flight. The letter says:

I wish to confirm that a compensation cheque has been authorised for the amount of 73.10 GBP in full and final settlement of your claim and in accordance with Article 7 of EU Regulation 261/2004 and this will be sent on to you in due course within the next 14 days.

Thank you for flying with us and I hope we will have the pleasure of welcoming you on–board another Ryanair flight again soon.

jpsartre

I would give them a call to find out what's going on. Could be something as innocent as a typo in the email they sent. Article 7 of EU261 covers cash compensation but obviously £73.10 doesn't match up with anything.

MikeWarner

I'm wondering if it should be £731.00 (i.e. the decimal in in the wrong place). Based on current exchange rates, the 3x 250€ plus the additional cost of the flights would be £744.97.....so pretty close.


Is it even possible to phone them? I've tried emailing in the past, but no email address appears to be manned, resulting in a bounce back.


Thanks for your help.

jpsartre

That certainly sounds like a possibility.

Phone numbers are on their website. They also have a chat service.

MikeWarner

I just used the chat service, but got a lot of standard responses which were no real help. I've submitted a complaint using their online form. I'm guessing they will take their time in responding, but I'll update here when something happens.

TMDaines

Hello all,

I've been to this site for many years and used the knowledge of the forums in the past to beat an unjust private parking ticket. Now I've joined to try and get some help with getting the right about of reimbursement from Ryanair, who so far are not offering me my full entitlement.

To summarise: I had a return holiday flight from Barcelona to Manchester cancelled at 24 hours notice due to French air traffic control strike in October. There were no flights on the same route with Ryanair for at least 72 hours, Ryanair direct you to their live chat to be put on a different route, but this was down due to the number of people accessing the site, so I manually booked another flight from Girona to Liverpool with Ryanair for the next day. Ryanair have refunded original flight and expenses, but the rebooked flight to get home was more expensive and I believe that those costs are part of their duty of care.

Below I will copy and paste a letter sent to Ryanair on 30th November 2017 that summarises my situation in full so far:

Dear Sir or Madam,

Re: Refund claim for cancelled flight
Booking reference: ABC123

I am writing regarding flight FR7545 on Tueday 10th October 2017, due to depart from Barcelona [BCN] to Manchester [MAN] at the scheduled departure time of 22:05. This flight was cancelled the day before flying and I have been seeking compensation under EC Regulation 261/2004 for this flight. The passengers in the party were ME and WIFE. Whilst I have received a partial reimbursement of the costs to which I am entitled, I am awaiting the full amount.

As my flight was cancelled and there were no flights on this route in the following days. I needed to be rerouted. Unfortunately, Ryanair does not provide the facility for you to reroute manually through your site and request that you contact live chat to resolve it. Your live chat was down and remained down for the next hour, presumably due to the volume of traffic to your website after the mass cancellations. Knowing my rights under EU261, I therefore booked two more flights through you from Girona [GRO] to Liverpool [LPL] for the Wednesday 11th October 2017. I even let you know about this on Twitter and was responded to: [Link Removed]

On 13th October 2017, I submitted an EU261 claim to you through your EU261 web form, where I requested reimbursement of expenses for the extra day's stay and for the cost of the REBOOKED flights. I hasten to add that at no stage did I request a refund for my ORIGINAL flights, neither when my original flights were cancelled nor when making an EU261 claim.

On the 24th October 2017, I received a letter from you, notifying that I was to be refunded the cost of my ORIGINAL flights and would be sent a bank transfer for the expenses.

Accordingly, I am still due further reimbursement as my rebooked flights booked at two days’ notice understandably cost more than my originals. The EU is explicitly clear that I am entitled to additional reimbursement of the price difference with my new ticket, should you decide to unilaterally reimburse my original ticket. Please see here on their website: [Link removed to Europa EU website]

On the same day, 24th October 2017, I contacted your live chat to complain that my refund was handled incorrectly and to insist that I am entitled to the reimbursement of the REBOOKED flights under EU261. I was directed to your general complaints form at [Link Removed] My query was registered under No. 3966591.
After not hearing anything for a few weeks, I chased the status of my claim through your live chat facility and was assured my complaint had now been expedited or something to that effect.

On the 29th October 2017, I received an e-mail stating that

I can see that your complaint has been already processed by our Head Office, therefore we consider this case closed on this channel. If your query has not been fully resolved or you wish to submit further documents supporting your claim, please click on the link below. In order to submit the documents to the relevant case please use the reference they have included (reference number in bold). You can also track the status of your claim via aforementioned link.

Please click on the below link to submit this information:

[Link Removed][2]

I have no received no update so can only presume that my claim has been dismissed. The tracker does not recognise the number I was given. I contacted your live chat today and after explaining to them for an hour what had happened so far and why I was entitled to further reimbursement, my chat was abruptly ended after I politely requested that it was escalated.

I’m therefore still seeking a further reimbursement for the difference in cost between the original and rebooked flight tickets, which I’ve not yet received from the airline. The original flights on booking ABC123 cost £39.99. The rebooked flights on booking XYZ789 cost €93.83 (£82.54) per person. The outstanding difference between the two flights therefore is £42.55 per person. The total outstanding reimbursement is therefore £85.10 for all passengers.

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.

I have since yesterday, on 6th December 2017, received a letter from Ryanair sticking by their original ruling.

I am certain that I am in the right and that they should be refunding the cost of my rebooked flights and not my original booking, especially when I at no stage requested a refund for my original flights. This is part of their duty of care and this is regardless of exceptional circumstances and my ineligibility for compensation as such. Am I correct?

What would be the best next steps?

JPears

Under the regualtion, you have the right to re-routing at a time convenient to you. Clearly a 3 day delay is unacceptable.
Have you quoted the relevant part of regulation 261/2004 in any correspondence (Articles 5, 8 and 9)?
It may be time to send your final demand (an NBA) and possibly with the completed ESCP papers (unsigned) showing your readyness to take legal action if no reimbursement is made within 14 days.
You are not due any compensation under reg 261/2004

TMDaines

JPears wrote: »

Under the regualtion, you have the right to re-routing at a time convenient to you. Clearly a 3 day delay is unacceptable.
Have you quoted the relevant part of regulation 261/2004 in any correspondence (Articles 5, 8 and 9)?
It may be time to send your final demand (an NBA) and possibly with the completed ESCP papers (unsigned) showing your readyness to take legal action if no reimbursement is made within 14 days.
You are not due any compensation under reg 261/2004

Thanks, so it is as I thought.

I quoted a user-friendly version of the legislation in my letter with a screenshot of the Europa EU website. I’ll quote the article directly in my NBA.

Is there anything to demonstrate that it is perfectly acceptable to reroute myself under comparable conditions and then seek reimbursement for those costs, especially should the airline not have been contactable and unable to assist me?