Ryanair overruling national Covid policies

ivy1910

Last Saturday, the 14th Aug 2021, Ryanair refuse me boarding the flight from Edinburgh to Berlin, which I was taking to fly further from Berlin in two hours from getting there. They said I should had filled in a digital registration for entering Germany, entering some random address in Germany since an address of stay is required on the form. However, the rules clearly say that there is no need to do the digital registration if transiting. There is also a definition of transiting on the same page, stating it as continuing travel with the same mean of a transport, i.e. flight-to-flight or ship-to-ship. There is no indication that changing an airline on transit makes it not counting as a transit, which Ryanair wanted to impose. That was my outgoing flight, and the connecting flight operates twice a week only, hence I lost the entire trip, which was planned for legal reasons and missing it I am missing now much more than just the ticket money.

How can I complain, and what sort of evidences could be there? I am afraid they can just say they never saw me, since I have no paperwork from them. My husband was with me (not flying), but I guess this is a weak evidence. I also made a call to kiwi.com (with whom I booked), and they made a call to Ryanair and called me back saying that Ryanair was in their right and was following government guidance (which is not true). I guess, them discussing this with kiwi.com a kind of confirms that they admitted the incident, am I right?

Also, I am going to attempt flying this route again on Tuesday. I am worrying if I should now comply with their rules and fill in the digital registration? The matter is - I need to state some address in Germany (required fields), and choose a purpose of coming to Germany from their tab, where there is no option of a transit. I worry then, that if it takes them some time to process my entrance to Germany, they will not let me out to take the next flight, before the entrance is cleared. Is this something to worry about?
Thanks a lot

Westin

RyanAir is a point-to-point airline. It was correct in its determination that you were flying to Germany and would need to fulfil current Germany entry requirements. As far as RyanAir was concerned your travel terminated in Berlin.

Kiwi.com is known for cobbling together flights, often on low cost carriers, all of which are separate and require what they call ‘self-transfer’.  The risks of this are clearly laid out on Kiwi’s site.

Can I suggest that during this time of a global pandemic, short notice airline cancellations and rescheduling, and ever changing entry restrictions to countries (including those you are transiting through) that you avoid using these overseas based cheap ticket sellers and book direct with the airline and direct to your destination.  Now is not the time to buy cheap from kiwi.com.

Caz3121

Are you planning on entering Germany to collect and recheck baggage? Separate tickets are not a good idea in current times - as far as Ryanair are concerned, your final destination is Germany and they need to ensure you meet the entry requirements 
Many airlines are being cautious when the rules are not 100% clear. (Often transit can refer to travelling on one ticket and remaining airside in transit area - not entering country) you may be best trying to get official confirmation from Germany as to what is required (if baggage involved I would also consider if there is a better routing on one ticket - a small delay in flight, immigration  or baggage reclaim and you could easily miss the second flight….what would your plan B be in that case?)

sheramber

https://www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/faqs/EN/topics/civil-protection/coronavirus/coronavirus-faqs.html#doc13797140bodyText3

When is transit through Germany permitted?

Pollycat

From the link in the post above:

When is transit through Germany permitted?

In general, nationals of countries outside of the EU (third-country nationals) should travel directly to their country of destination.

Neruda

As Westin explains, Ryanair are right about this. I do hope that you did not attempt the journey again on Tuesday.

In order to transit through an airport you must have ONE ticket to your final destination.

Sandtree

Neruda said:

As Westin explains, Ryanair are right about this. I do hope that you did not attempt the journey again on Tuesday.

In order to transit through an airport you must have ONE ticket to your final destination.

Whilst I agree on the transiting aspect, the website the FCO links to states a list of exceptions to having to complete the form of which one is that you will be in Germany for less than 24 hours. So there were possibly grounds that the form didn't need to be done but its not the transit one

ivy1910

Thank you all a lot for your replies! I wish I could fly direct, but I need to transit somewhere, and the low costers' connecting flights were the shortest option, done in one day, while otherwise I would need to travel for two or even three days one way, with 4-5 connections, which would make my test to expire and hence not possible to do. I do though fly without a luggage, which makes it one trouble less.

I did try again on Tuesday (today), and filled in the registration form. This time, when trying to show it at the Edinburgh Airport, they said it is not needed if I do not stay in Germany (that was a different lady). I am now in Berlin, waiting for my connecting flight, which so far looks alright. When entering Germany, I asked about the registration, and they were surprised to hear that someone was demanding me to do this, since it turned out not to be needed (yes, on the under-24-hours-stay ground, as Neruda said above). There were no troubles with Ryanair at all today, hence it looks like a human factor, or something to do with Saturday (maybe, the flight was overbooked and they wanted some people out? I was not the only one refused boarding by the same reason). Anyway, they were not in their right then.

michael1234

Great that you've made it Ivy. Very difficult times for those of us that want/need to travel.

It seems you were right and you had followed rules only to be denied boarding. Terrible.

I hope you put in a complaint and then claim from them.

The idea that someone can book two flights separately in and out of an airport for the same day but cannot be treated as a transit passenger is as the OP relayed to us, false. Be careful what you read !

Neruda

michael1234 said:

The idea that someone can book two flights separately in and out of an airport for the same day but cannot be treated as a transit passenger is as the OP relayed to us, false. Be careful what you read !

I think it is more complicated than this: Ivy was allowed to travel as someone staying in Germany for less than 24 hours, not as a transit passenger. When it comes to immigration requirements and the possible need for visas, you can only be treated as a transit passenger if your flights into and out of a particular airport are on just one ticket.