6 hour delay due to technical fault, Ryanair say no compensation!

MarkBargain

Thanks for all the responses.

I did state in my original letter that I wanted compensation "As per EC Regulation 261/2004" and they referred to "EU261" in their responses, so I think I will send a "NOTICE BEFORE ACTION" letter now quoting the Wallentin-Hermann case and saying I will take it to court if they do not pay in the next month.

I'm not sure I can use the HMCTS site as Ryanair are based in Ireland, so it'll need to be a European equivilent I guess. Does anyone have experience of this or any tips?

Yes, this will all take my time and I shouldn't have to do it, but for the 250 Euros and as a point of principle I will take it forward.

simongregson

Ich wrote: »

Are you sure of that?
I understood from a senior pilot they maintain one spare aircraft for every two bases (i.e. where aircraft and crews are based. Maintenance is not carried out at everyone of these). Which is more than 20 aircraft
They also maintain a small business jet to fly spares and engineers around Europe 24/7.

Reading the court case it looks as though the airline (Alitalia) knew the aircraft was faulty from the night before, which is a bit different that an aircraft going faulty in flight or just prior to taking off. Ryanair aircraft have a very sophisticated system of reporting any faults back to base immediately they land. Some mean they legally cannot then take-off without the fault being rectified.
Is anyone suggesting they keep a full set of spares at every airport they use as well as qualified engineers, just in case, or fly with unsafe aircraft?

I am not suggesting that Ryanair should maintain this number of spare aircraft, it is their commercial decision not to, but the rules are very clear. Day to day technical faults are not an unforseen circumstance for an airline as large as ryanair. Therefore they must pay the compensation required by the EU.

Ryanair add an amount separately to every sector booked to cover this cost. It is as other posters say, if Ryanair is successful in putting off people claiming the compensation by initially suggesting incorrectly that the claim is invalid they have effectively banked the extra charge as profit.

Doshwaster

Louisdf wrote: »

Did you really encounter £200 in expenses? Are you able to support this with receipts? The greedier people will get, the higher ticket prices will go. Thanks for your altruistic behaviour!

I have a lot of sympathy with this view. If a plane has a technical problem then I'd rather the airline concentrated on fixing it properly rather than rushing the job so they don't have to pay compensation.

If my car broke down on the motorway I wouldn't expect Ford to pay me compensation.

Louisdf

if you thought the compensation vultures couldn't stoop any lower:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-10697334

Claiming for lobster! It was probably an overpaid executive who retired at 55. How selfish.

Bob_the_Saver

Louisdf wrote: »

Claiming for lobster! It was probably an overpaid executive who retired at 55. How selfish.

Very Shellfish if you ask me..





IKIAC

Bob_the_Saver

Doshwaster wrote: »

If my car broke down on the motorway I wouldn't expect Ford to pay me compensation.

Neither would I

(It's not a Ford)

MarkBargain

Regarding the compensation comments, I did pay £4 return EU261 levy, a surcharge Ryanair adds to all flights. Ryanair sells 80M flights a year, so that's £160M income for the EU261 levy. Let's not forget that.

Louisdf

MarkBargain wrote: »

Regarding the compensation comments, I did pay £4 return EU261 levy, a surcharge Ryanair adds to all flights. Ryanair sells 80M flights a year, so that's £160M income for the EU261 levy. Let's not forget that.

And how much time and money did you save compared to driving/taking a train to your final destination? A LOT otherwise you wouldn't have chosen Ryanair.

MarkBargain

Louisdf wrote: »

And how much time and money did you save compared to driving/taking a train to your final destination? A LOT otherwise you wouldn't have chosen Ryanair.

You are right, but I don't see why that is an argument against an airline paying delay compensation in accordance with EU law, especially when they apply a £4 return surcharge for that specific law.

richardw

Doshwaster wrote: »

...... rushing the job so they don't have to pay compensation.....

The engineers responsible for aircraft air-worthiness are only interested in flight safety and they'll take as long as they need to get the job done to their high standards of flight safety.
They couldn't give a monkeys if there is a probability that the airline may have to pay compensation if it takes time to fix an aircraft.