Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Ryanair ONLY

PDC

This is around the average of prices I've seen. We've looked a few times over the years and the prices to Spain have always been quite high, enough to put us off. A Ferry to France would be much cheaper - normally in the £50-100 range but then you've a lot of miles to cover to get to Spain.

Perhaps taking a ferry without the car and then hiring a car at the other end may work out cheaper?

Robin9

Driving through France is an option - you would need to factor in the fuel costs, meals on route and possibly an overnight stop.

Voyager2002

The cheapest way to get there would be Eurolines: a bus from London that would pass through the tunnel and then take you across France.

isplumm

haventearnedit wrote: »

New poster here looking for some advice! Are there any ways to get a Ferry to Spain via car and save some money? The cheapest I could find is a £500 return. I would fly but I hate flying and I suffer from a panic disorder so probably not advisable anyway.

look at joining Brittany Ferry club voyage - you can get some decent discounts via them.

Mark

AlexMac

Its a frequent Question and there are other forum people out there who can help you with their "Club Voyage" number which save a little; see many of the posts at
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5671798/brittany-ferries-club-voyage-is-it-worth-joining&highlight=brittany+ferries

But, as a regular Brittany Ferries customer I'd observe that by the time you factor in the short crossing cost, fuel, tolls, stress on you and the car and a hotel in France, driving the extra 400-600 miles isn't much cheaper (see the fuel / toll /route calculators at viamichelin.com )

And as I've said a few times (e.g post #8 at https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5480847/brittany-ferries-to-spain-2017&highlight=brittany+ferries )
there are ways to save on BF:

If you book even three nights accommodation with them (click the 'holidays' button not 'ferry' or whatever on their website) , the ferry crossing price falls so much that in effect, the hotel or cottage is free.

Also, they have a little publicised early booking discount period, for about a 4-5 weeks in, usually late Nov, or Dec or Jan each year. This meant that while a return car crossing only, with a basic inside cabin with bunk beds is about £600-800, we paid under £950 this May for a fortnight away. This included 12 nights B&B in exceptionally good hotels, a cabin upgrade each way (which usually costs £240 extra) to an 'outside large 2/4 berth'; so, a proper window, sea-view and no climbing ladders!

It's really worth upgrading, as the basic inside cabins are a bit tight- albeit adequate with ensuites. Don't even think of travelling without a cabin as that's no fun!

For us, the 24 hour crossing's part of the hol, so we also push the boat out (so to speak) and eat in their excellent on-board restaurant from about £25 a head; especially as dining out in Northern Spain is very cheap right now, even with a depressed pound

You can book a couple of different accomodations en-route; easy to find on the planning map tool on their website (multi-site trips are best then booked by phone via their helpful call centre staff).

Or opt for their slightly cheaper 'no-frills' boats (not much cheaper so why bother) or cost a trip out to Caen or another French port and back from Spain- We did that one year when their boat broke the day before our planned trip; 10 hours through France but it did cost at least £200 on fuel & tolls which they refunded as well as giving us a free hotel night in La Rochelle mid way!

Buon viaje

antenna

It is only worth joining Brittany Ferries Club Voyage if you make 2 or more return trips per year.
Driving from dover....look at the costs. one way.....ferry £50,France tolls at least £60 could be £80,petrol/diesel to spain border £60/70...so around £220/£250..............if you try to avoid tolls it can take you an extra 6 hours..............I used to drive Romford to Malaga every year thru France,but now i use brittany ferries using the "economy" service,takes 2/3 hours longer but it is a very good service

DrA_Harrogate

I guess this thread is going to be busy with another flock of Ryanair strikes occurring. There was (another?) pretty unhelpful article in today's Daily Mail saying in the headline that numbers of passengers were 'failing' to get compensation using ADR. (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-6043725/Only-14-Ryanair-passengers-got-compensation-delays-2017.html). If you read the article the tale fogs up a little as the sad story is explained. There seems to be a rash of 'don't bother claiming against Ryanair' stories.... wonder how that happened?

Tyzap

The regulations for delayed flights, and more particularly the regulators who design them, are an utter disgrace.

Let me make some suggestions to the regulators to simplify and improve things.

1) Qualifying delays would automatically mean compensation for all passengers, no claim required.

2) One single ADR entity, per EU country, to adjudicate on whether a whole flight would qualify.

3) £1/euro1 (slightly negotiable) paid to the airline for delay insurance/levy, per sector flown.

That way it would stop all the arguments and court cases and give a strong incentive for the airlines to improve flight reliability. If this caused the airline industry to collaborate more it would also help.

boatman

Tyzap wrote: »

Hi Boatman,

That phrase is one created to suit Ryanair's defence, it's not in any regulation.

There is no neat blanket coverage that excludes the payment of compensation due to weather. Each case must be looked at on it's own merits, as the weather conditions change all the time.

You need to find out what the weather was like when your flight was due for departure and if other airlines were able to depart and arrive. Did the incoming aircraft divert to another airfield etc

RA will fight cases such as this because, probably, thousands of claims are at risk from that day.

If you can come up with some convincing evidence to support your claim you will need to take them to AviationADR or ESCP.

It is they who must prove to a court that an EC existed, not you who must prove that it did not. It's not so easy for them when under oath.

As I'm sure you realise, RA make it as difficult as possible to claim. You will need determination and grit to see any compensation from them.

Sorry, I don't have a Flightstats subscription.

Good luck.

Thanks for your reply. With regard to the flight, it was over 4 hours late leaving/arriving, the aircraft was not used previously on that day or the previous night, I suspect it was dragged out of maintenance because the original plane for that flight was delayed/cancelled. I have spent 6 months going through Aviation ADR and they have produced a draft adjudication that is a joke.

As for 'proving' EC, ADR have, without evidence from Ryanair, stated, there was nothing Ryanair could do. Ryanair have provided nothing except a website weather report link, so it is impossible for ADR to state it as EC. For that to happen RA are required by the regulations to produce evidence, they haven't, nothing.


I cannot see the link given by ADR for the Stansted departures because you need a subscription, but as far as I can remember flights were leaving with a short delay, certainly not 4 hours.

ADR have clearly not considered this on an individual basis, all they can see is bad weather, therefore I can't claim, hence why they have lied about Ryanair not being able to do anything. For starters, it looks like they got the plane out of maintenance, so there was 'something' they could do, but not mentioned in their defence.

panda_jamie

Hi everyone,


I have put in a claim to my travel insurance to try and recoup some of the expenses and lost parking etc following cancellation of my flightl


Insurance company has asked for:
· [FONT=&quot]Written confirmation from the airline stating when was the next alternative flight would have been provided to you following the cancellation.[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]



The letter i have from RA simply says refund or transfer to another flight. When i tried to transfer there was no availability for the next 3 days at least. Of course i didn't screen grab that as was too busy trying to get another flight!


Does anyone have a customer services email? I am sure they won't provide this letter but worth a try.


I already have a resolver claim with them so don't really want to use that process as it may mess things up. I have just put an ADR claim inas RA won't accept my claim.


Thanks for any input


Helen