Flight compensation advice please

simpleton99

Hi, does anyone understand the EU flight compensation laws? We were caught up in an 8 hour Italian Air Traffic Control strike on Tuesday. Our Ryanair flight home was due to leave Pisa one and a half hours before the end of the strike, but rather than bring the flight in late as some airlines were doing, Ryanair cancelled it. We were then offered reroute home via Dublin entailing an overnight hotel stay there.

The 100 Euro hotel cost is of course below our travel insurance excess.

Does anyone know whether we should have a go at getting the cost back from Ryanair?

Any advice welcome, I know there are compensation laws now, but also that there are exclusions....

thanks very much

mickyd21

compensation laws only cover if your flight is delayed more then12 hours and even then its not very much. Airline will just says its beyond there control, which unfortuantly it is. Sorry but hope it helps

budgetflyer

The Air Users Council are quite specific about what you are +are not entitle to.
In this case, Cancellation rules apply, however a strike isnt Ryanairs fault and they did get you home via re routing. I interpret that as their only obligation

The page is here

Ive quoted below the exceptions that gets them IMO off the hook

2. Compensation

(The airline is not obliged to pay compensation if it can prove that the cancellation was caused by "extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken". Such extraordinary circumstances might occur "in cases of political instability, meteorological conditions incompatible with the operation of the flight concerned, security risks, unexpected flight safety shortcomings and strikes that affect the operation of an operating air carrier".)

arnie&caseysma!

Ryanair are very very difficult to get any cash out of.

BIL and a load of mates went to Paris for his brothers stag doo and without warning on the way home Ryanair cancelled without any apparent reason. They were not helped to get home in any way at all.
Unable to get any further flights they were forced to travel home by train, through the channel and then north into Scotland. This meant an extra nights accommomdation, train fares, meals, travel from train stations to airport parking to get the cars back, it all left them quite substantially out of pocket, not to mention the extra day off work that most of them had to try and organise cover for at the last minute.
Any Ryanair? Nope, not had a penny out of them yet.

budgetflyer

from the AUC FAQS

. If the airline does not give me assistance when my flight is delayed and I have to pay myself, can I get my money back? The Regulation does not deal with this situation. But we think that the airline, having failed to honour its obligation under the Regulation at the time of the disruption, should be prepared to reimburse reasonable expenditure on those items listed under “assistance” in the Regulation on sight of receipts.

simpleton99

Thanks for all this. Perhaps I'll write just in case Ryanair feel generous ha ha.