Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Ryanair ONLY

eskbanker

MrChips said:

Re taxiing, there was a certain amount of delay, but I thought this was relatively normal.  From what I was reading online, airlines add several minutes to the flight schedule as an allowance for the fact that they usually take some time from hitting the runway to reaching the gate.  I certainly wouldn't regard that as exceptional circumstances myself!  Are you saying that this would be sufficient to allow Ryanair to put up a legitimate defence?

There's always taxiing time built into schedules, as it's obviously unrealistic to equate landing time with parking time, but if, by your own admission, the airport couldn't accommodate the plane until 26 minutes after landing, then the delay wouldn't have been three hours without this, and so it wouldn't surprise me if Ryanair cited this as justification for declining a delay claim, on the (not unreasonable) basis that they didn't cause three hours of delay.

MrChips

It's clearly subjective and arguable both ways.  From my point of view the reason for the delay is that the flight was late in the first place, meaning we landed at the wrong time so the airport didn't have enough crew to sort it out in addition to other flights arriving at the same time.  Is that the airport's fault or Ryanair's fault?  I also don't know why we were over 2 hours late taking off, other than the fact the place arrived late into Budapest.

eskbanker

MrChips said:

From my point of view the reason for the delay is that the flight was late in the first place, meaning we landed at the wrong time so the airport didn't have enough crew to sort it out in addition to other flights arriving at the same time.

That's just supposition though, unless you have evidence to support that, in terms of parking times for earlier flights.

There's no harm in claiming anyway, but I was just highlighting that it wouldn't be unexpected to encounter some resistance, and that you'd need a reasonably compelling case to counter a credible argument that the airline wasn't responsible for all of the delay, even if they were responsible for some or most of it, when the delay was already right on the cusp of eligibility.

MrChips

Appreciate your calm, common sense approach

It's not just supposition, the pilot told us over the loud speaker that we'd have to sit on the tarmac for a bit as we'd landed at the same time as another two planes so there would be a delay before they could get us off.

eskbanker

MrChips said:

It's not just supposition, the pilot told us over the loud speaker that we'd have to sit on the tarmac for a bit as we'd landed at the same time as another two planes so there would be a delay before they could get us off.

By supposition I meant that you were effectively asserting that the airport delay was caused by the airline's delay ("we landed at the wrong time so the airport didn't have enough crew"), whereas it's plausible that even if the flight had landed on time 2.5 hours earlier there could have been similar airport issues affecting taxiing/parking times, if, say, they were understaffed for an entire shift.

milton1970

Is anyone able to help ..

Having submitted an expenses and compensation claim for a late cancellation of a flight by Ryanair (after a 6 hour airport wait) to several different addresses including in writing, online and by customer services upload, I have now reached the point of total frustration.

it is time to progress to small claims court - would anyone have the Ryanair UK address to send documents to for small claims actions.

On the site they have a solicitors address .. Oracle I think - is that the correct address ?

TIA

CKhalvashi

milton1970 said:

Is anyone able to help ..

Having submitted an expenses and compensation claim for a late cancellation of a flight by Ryanair (after a 6 hour airport wait) to several different addresses including in writing, online and by customer services upload, I have now reached the point of total frustration.

it is time to progress to small claims court - would anyone have the Ryanair UK address to send documents to for small claims actions.

On the site they have a solicitors address .. Oracle I think - is that the correct address ?

TIA

Was the cancellation within Ryanair's control? Do you have their reasons for the cancellation?

Was your flight a Ryanair UK flight? Was the code of this flight RK? If it was, then you follow the Ryanair UK contact procedures on the website. If it was FR, you follow the Ryanair DAC procedures.

The addresses are listed at the in the general conditions of carriage.
https://www.ryanair.com/gb/en/useful-info/help-centre/terms-and-conditions

milton1970

Thanks @CKhalvashi

Cancellation was within Ryanair's control - aircraft delayed but they had 10 hrs to sort an alternative aircraft

It was FR - not sure what DAC procedures mean?

Followed protocol so far - it is a hefty bill so they may be stalling

Does that prevent claim in UK SCC ?

housebuyer7

CKhalvashi said:

You should have contacted the live chat team at the airport but that you didn't isn't necessarily a problem.

I would.also advise forwarding to the ADR if you have heard nothing back, as hopefully this will resolve in the meantime.

I did try to use live chat but couldn’t get it to connect to an actual operator. I was in a state of panic at the time though. I don’t have any screenshots of this though. I have forwarded everything to the ADR and await to hear.

CKhalvashi

milton1970 said:

Thanks @CKhalvashi

Cancellation was within Ryanair's control - aircraft delayed but they had 10 hrs to sort an alternative aircraft

It was FR - not sure what DAC procedures mean?

Followed protocol so far - it is a hefty bill so they may be stalling

Does that prevent claim in UK SCC ?

FR code means the flight was operated by Ryanair DAC, this is the legal name of the company in Irish law. DAC = Designated Activity Company. This is detailed in section 2.1.2 of the conditions of carriage linked above.

First I'd recommend the ADR as this will be free for you. Your rights will be under EC261 in this case with UK261 having no jurisdiction over this case, although that doesn't really matter in reality.

You can typically bring a claim in the UK still under section 2.3.2 of the linked above terms, as long as you have followed provisions. This will typically need to be a paper form, not through MCOL. You will need to follow the procedure in section 15.2, which I believe you already have done.

It won't prevent a claim in the SCC, but you likely will find this quicker and easier to go through the ADR procedure, who are an independent service. You will need a deadlock letter or to wait the timescales they define first. You can contact them by clicking here.

Any further questions I'll get back to in the morning as I've been awake since stupid o'clock and have just worked a 14 hour day