Ryanair - Cancellation for flights due to compulsary quarantine on return from Mallorca - refund?

cptwhite · 27 July 2020 at 3:40PM

We booked flights to Mallorca for 12 August - 21 August, this was on the 4 July after the 'air corridor' to Spain was opened. After having 2 previous holidays cancelled, it seemed best to go with a government approved destination. I booked the flights directly on the Ryanair website, and also took out travel insurance and car rental through the website as well - I thought it might help to have it all booked through them in case of any issues, all payments were also made on credit card.
Flights & Accomodation were booked seperately
I have until the end of Wednesday 29th July to cancel the accomodation and receive a full refund (booked with Homeaway.co.uk). However with the latest news it might be the air corridor is re-opened for Mallorca by Friday (see- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53552888 -but if not, it will be too late to claim a full refund, only 50%).
So my thought is to cancel the apartment late on Wednesday, if no decision has been made by then, then rebook as soon as possible if the corridor to Mallorca is re-opened.
Then there's the issue of Ryanair, compensation and insurance. If we cancel going (due to quarantine requirements not being lifted), then can I claim on my insurance? The two important parts of the Cancellation section are highlighted, being placed under compulsary quarantine it seems is a valid claim, but presumably they mean at the time of the flights, although that is not explicitly stated. However under what is not covered, they say "any claim arising from a government order", which this effectively is, so presumably this is their "get out" clause.

I'm curious if this would hold up in court, as their wording does not specific state the compulsary quarantine has to be overlapping either of the sheduled flights.
Any thoughts welcome...

SECTION A: CANCELLATION AND

CURTAILMENT

What is covered:

The insurer will pay up to the amount shownin the schedule of benefits, for your proportion of the cancellation costs, or curtailment costs which you have paid or you are contractually obliged to pay and which you cannot recover from any source, if it is necessary and unavoidable to cancel or cut short your trip as a result of:

a. Death, serious injury or illness during the period of insurance of:

• you, or a person you are travelling with, or a relative, or a close business associate who lives in your country of residence, or a friend or relative who lives abroad, with whom you were staying.

b. You, or the person you are travelling with: being required in your country of residence for jury service or as a witness in a court of law, or being placed under compulsory quarantine, or being required to be present by the police, as a result of your, or their home or usual place of business in your country of residence suffering a burglary within seven days before the start of your trip

• suffering accidental damage to your, or their home that renders the home uninhabitable, within seven days before the start of your trip

• being made redundant, providing you qualify for redundancy payment under current redundancy legislation

• being posted overseas or receiving emergency requirements of duty in the Armed Forces, Police, Fire, Nursing or Ambulance Services.

What is not covered:

The insurer will not pay for the following in addition to the general exclusions, in connection with claims made under Section A:

a. the excess as shown in the Schedule of

Benefits.

b. any claim for curtailment which has not been approved by the Medical Emergency Assistance service prior to your return to your country of residence

c. the cost of Airport Departure Duty, orsimilar tax, where separately identified.

d. any claim which is not supported by written medical confirmation andclinical reports from medical service providers, as well as other proof of the happening of an event causing you to cancel or cut short your trip.

e. any costs which you have paid or you are contractually obliged to pay, if your trip is cancelled for the followingreasons:

• claims arising directly or indirectly as a result of a pre-existing medical condition relating to you, your travelling companion, a relative or close business associate of yours or your travelling companion, or the person with whom you have arranged to stay whilst on the trip.

• the person whose medical condition giving rise to the claim:

□ is travelling for the purpose of having medical treatment during the trip duration, or

□ is travelling against the advice of a medical practitioner, or

□ has received a terminal prognosis by a registered doctor before taking out this policy, or

□ is on a hospital waiting list, or

□ is awaiting the results of medical investigations.

12

• you have failed to have any ecommended vaccines,innoculations or medications prior to

your trip.

• you have failed to get the relevant passport or visa.

• unlawful or criminal proceedings are instigated against you, or a person you are travelling with.

• redundancy, which is not notified during the period of insurance.

• your disinclination to travel for any reason, including phobias, anxiety or stress.

• your personal financial circumstances, other than you being made redundant during the riod of insurance, having received notice of redundancy after the date upon which the certificate was issued.

• your late arrival at the airport or port after check in or booking in time

f. any costs in respect of the following:

• any claims arising directly, or indirectly from the cancellation or curtailment of travel arrangements, in any way caused by, or contributed to by any order or recommendation issued by a government, public or local authority. This includes, but is not limited to, orders or recommendations issued by any civil or federal aviation authority.

• loss of air passenger duty.

• unused timeshare property, air-miles or other benefits or promotions ofthis nature.

• your loss of enjoyment of the trip, however caused.

• your failure to advise us of any material fact prior to the issue of the certificate or prior to your departureon your trip.

• unused portions of your original ticket, where repatriation has been made.

• your travel expenses for you to return to your country of residence, if you do not already possess pre-paid return travel tickets.

• any cancellation or curtailment costs, which the insurer would not have had to pay, had you notified the travel agent, tour operator or provider of transport or accommodation immediately after you knew you would be cancelling or curtailing your trip.

• any costs incurred as a result of repairs to your private motor vehicle.

• any claim resulting from you, or a person you are travelling with being posted overseas or receiving an emergency requirement of duty, following an act of war, invasion or terrorism

• failure in provision of the booked itinerary including error, omission or default by the provider of any service forming part of the bookeditinerary.

SkiSimon · 28 July 2020 at 11:35AM

We had flights booked from last October to fly to Alicante with Ryanair on the 22 July. Ryanair cancelled those flights on 20th May 2020 and we completed the form for a refund. They have since tried to get us to change our minds and accept vouchers but we don't want them and want our money back. Ryanair initially promised to refund us by the end of July, but they now say they only promised to try and refund us by that date! I have been a long standing Ryanair customer with well over 100 flights with them over many years for both business and holidays (including organised group holidays by me bringing them up to 9 other clients on each trip) and I think their failure to follow the government guidelines and issue a refund is despicable.
If a refund does not materialise this week, what action can take?

unforeseen · 28 July 2020 at 11:55AM

For the first bit highlighted, you are not being quarantined during the period of your trip and therefore unable to go so that can be ignored.

NitroBN · 28 July 2020 at 3:31PM

Edit: Content deleted due to MSE editorial teams current policy and methods of addressing cyber bullying in their forums is to silence the victims.

Sapphire · 28 July 2020 at 3:39PM

NitroBN said:

I would not have booked a holiday abroad in the first place in the current climate, the chances of getting locked into a stuffy hotel should one other guest come down with this is just to great, plus the risks of quarantines being reimposed wuth no notice etc, there are way to many pitfalls.

Plus the risk of infecting others when coming back to Britain (from any other country, not just Spain, however vested interests might argue that travelling abroad is 'safe').

Streaky_Bacon · 28 July 2020 at 4:03PM

New policies, which provide any COVID19 cover, generally seem to have the wording that you will be covered if you personally have been instructed to quarantine, but not if you simply fall under a general quarantine.

The wording of your policy is a little more vague. If your personal circumstances meant that the quarantine effectively forced you to cancel, then you may have an argument, but no guarantee.

The recent quarantine was announced with immediate effect, after only a few hours consideration of new data. Even if an air corridor was announced in the next couple of days, how confident are you that the situation wouldn't change before the end of your holiday, and would you be OK if it did? Equally, how confident are you that Spain won't issue a full lockdown, and close all accommodation before you leave?

It's only a few weeks since the news was full of desperate travelers, thrown out of their hotels and queuing at airports, desperately trying to get a flight home.

I think a key lesson of the last few months, is that it is effectively impossible to predict what will happen, even a few days into the future. I don't personally think that it is a good time to be abroad.

On that basis, I personally would be getting my full accommodation refund while it is still being offered, and then trying to get a flight refund, or at least a very long rebooking window.

cptwhite · 7 August 2020 at 1:51PM

As an update I've got the accomodation refunded, but Ryanair are being VERY inflexible. I had booked car hire, and insurance through their website, hoping this might simplify things should the situation get my complicated, as it has. Here's a transcript of my chat with their representative on live chat for your amusement. (Long story short, they basically offered no assistance or even vouchers for future use with themselves). Bold is their representative

If you want to change your flight, you can easily do it online up to 2.5 hours prior to the departure time, unless you have already checked in. I would recommend you to go to our website, select My Bookings then Manage Booking, there you need to click on the ""Change your flight"" option from the list.

Here’s a link to the website www.ryanair.com/gb/en/

13:02

Regrading the card hire refund I would suggest contacting your travel insurer.

13:02

You are my travel insurer

13:03

I took out travel insurance at the time of booking

13:03

Also car hire was through your website

13:03

We are not. You can book that on our website but it is not provided by us.

You can e-mail claimsryanair@roleurop.com

Or you can call them on: +34915140000