Ryanair cancelled flights & travel insurance

alreeve27

Hi,

3 weeks ago I booked a trip to Luxembourg this September. I booked flights directly with Ryanair and 2 hotels separately, with Hotels.com and Expedia. Yesterday I received an automated email from Ryanair notifying me that the flights are now cancelled, and the route is not in operation throughout September and October. My two options were to get a full refund on the flights, or try for alternatives at no extra cost.

I called Ryanair and asked about alternatives, but they explained there are no flights to Luxembourg at all, from anywhere, with them during this time. So I had to request the refund, which I now have confirmation of. My frustration lies in the fact I have paid for accommodation based solely on the fact the flights were so cheap and I had them confirmed.

Ideally we would still like to go on the trip, but the next cheapest flights available for those dates are £120pp, compared to £26! We have a FlexPlus travel insurance policy through Nationwide (UK Insurance Ltd), so I called them and explained the situation. I asked whether we'd be covered for the additional cost of the new flights, but she could not answer without me providing full costings of what we've spent on accommodation and a reason for the flights being cancelled, in writing from Ryanair. I should mention that one of the hotels has been paid for and is non-refundable, and the other is payable when we arrive (through Expedia) but looks like it should be free to cancel, although there is possibly a charge from the hotel for doing this.

I went back to Ryanair to request the information re the flights in writing, and they were completely unhelpful, telling me the only way to get it is to fill out their online form and wait a few days for it to come through. I stressed that I needed it immediately but they showed no interest at all, despite it being completely their fault. I did a live chat with them afterwards, but got the same response. I finally filled in the online form (which has a 1000 character limit, helpful) and now await a reply. I tweeted them a few times last night also and have no response, despite them visibly responding to people who tweeted after me.

I am unsure as to what else I can do to speed this up with Ryanair as I appear to be getting nowhere with all their contact options. Any suggestions? Re the insurance itself, we are currently £80 out of pocket on the 1 hotel (as the flights have been refunded and hopefully we can just cancel the other hotel for free), however we would like to go on the trip still. Do you think it is likely that the insurance policy would cover the extra cost of the new flights with a different airline? I can't see anything about this in the T&Cs, but assume that we can claim the cost of the hotel back if we did decide to cancel the trip. I am also conscious that the longer this goes on, the more expensive the flights may become.

I'd be grateful for any advice please.

Thanks

richardw

Article 8 (c) of EU regulation EC261:2004 advises that when a flight is cancelled you must have the choice of being re-routed, this is an absolute right and if Ryanair don't offer you this they are in breach of the regulation.
If you still want to go find the best alternative flights and ask Ryanair to book you on them, if they refuse, and you are determined, tell them you'll book yourself on them and reclaim the money from Ryanair using the European small claims procedure.

alreeve27

Thanks very much Richard. Just so I've fully understood, when you say find the best alternative flights, presumably you mean with Ryanair still? There isn't any way to get to Luxembourg itself with them, so any re-routed Ryanair flight wouldn't end up in Luxembourg. so I'd need to fly to the nearest possible location to Luxembourg and then claim back from them, in addition to the extra costs of finding another way to get there from wherever we fly to? Is it not likely that the travel insurance would cover us for booking flights with Luxair and flying there direct? Thanks

richardw

alreeve27 wrote: »

..when you say find the best alternative flights, presumably you mean with Ryanair still...

If there are ryanair flights to Frankfurt Hahn and you want to get them you could ask for those. There is a coach to Luxembourg and you could ask for the cost of that. The website is https://www.mobiliteit.lu and there's an app for smartphones which is easier to use.

But you originally booked to LUX, so if the best alternative is BA or Luxair, then ask for those, they will say no, so only push this one if you're prepared to start the European Small Claims Procedure against ryanair.

"Article 8

Right to reimbursement or re-routing

1. Where reference is made to this Article, passengers shall be offered the choice between:

(a) - reimbursement within seven days, by the means provided for in Article 7(3), of the full cost of the ticket at the price at which it was bought, for the part or parts of the journey not made, and for the part or parts already made if the flight is no longer serving any purpose in relation to the passenger's original travel plan, together with, when relevant,

- a return flight to the first point of departure, at the earliest opportunity;

(b) re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at the earliest opportunity; or

(c) re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at a later date at the passenger's convenience, subject to availability of seats."

Voyager2002

richardw wrote: »

Article 8 (c) of EU regulation EC261:2004 advises that when a flight is cancelled you must have the choice of being re-routed, this is an absolute right and if Ryanair don't offer you this they are in breach of the regulation.
If you still want to go find the best alternative flights and ask Ryanair to book you on them, if they refuse, and you are determined, tell them you'll book yourself on them and reclaim the money from Ryanair using the European small claims procedure.

Fine, but the OP has already agreed to accept a refund of the air fare paid. So is this route still open? Would it be open up to the point when the refund arrives in their bank account?

photome

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Fine, but the OP has already agreed to accept a refund of the air fare paid. So is this route still open? Would it be open up to the point when the refund arrives in their bank account?

I would have thought that accepting the refund would be the end of it as far as Ryanair are concerned.

Op if you can afford it book the flights for the extra £100 and then if you get anything back its a bonus otherwise go and enjoy the trip

alreeve27

Thanks everyone. I could pay for the extra flights but the only reason we chose to go there was because the flights were £12.99! It's turning into a much more expensive break than planned. Certainly wouldn't have booked it otherwise.

Until I actually get some confirmation from Ryanair explaining the reason that the flights were cancelled (which I pushed for again today and they have 'requested'), I can't do anything with the travel insurance. If there is a possibility that the insurance would cover the cost of alternative flights, that would be extremely helpful. I have never had to claim on insurance before so I have no idea if this is a common thing that would be covered? As I say I couldn't find anything about it specifically in the T&Cs but then again it didn't say they wouldn't.

Thanks

jpsartre

alreeve27 wrote: »

If there is a possibility that the insurance would cover the cost of alternative flights, that would be extremely helpful.

Why don't you just have a look at your policy? That should tell you what is and isn't covered. In general, I would think you've got a better chance of getting the non-refundable hotel reimbursed should you decide not to go but every policy's different.

richardw

photome wrote: »

I would have thought that accepting the refund would be the end of it as far as Ryanair are concerned..

'as far as Ryanair are concerned' in this situation they just want passengers to accept a refund, when they should be acting fully in accordance with EU regulation EC 261:2004 Article 8. IMHO they didn't so it's not they end of it.

callum9999

richardw wrote: »

Article 8 (c) of EU regulation EC261:2004 advises that when a flight is cancelled you must have the choice of being re-routed, this is an absolute right and if Ryanair don't offer you this they are in breach of the regulation.
If you still want to go find the best alternative flights and ask Ryanair to book you on them, if they refuse, and you are determined, tell them you'll book yourself on them and reclaim the money from Ryanair using the European small claims procedure.

I don't follow this particularly closely but I'm not aware of such an argument ever reaching and/or being accepted by a court. Have I missed some cases? Because it certainly doesn't make clear that you must be rerouted on other carriers.

I hope you're not encouraging the OP, who clearly doesn't really know about the regulations, to embark on some kind of test case level legal battle for the sake of an £80 hotel room!

richardw

The regulation clearly says passengers must be offered re-routing.
It doesn't say 're-routing, under comparable transport conditions, restricted to flights to be operated by the current booked air carrier, to the final destination...'

It's too risky for the airlines to let a case on re-routing go to court and for them to lose, so they'll just settle.