CV19 Cancellation - Taking Ryan Air to a smalls claim court - UK, Ireland or EU?

hosk

Does anybody know if I need to take Ryan Air to court in the UK or through the EU small claims process - and what is the best way of doing that?

My flight to Rome was cancelled in June 2021 (over two and a half years ago!). It was booked via Kiwi.com and there were two carriers: Aer Lingus and Ryanair. Kiwi.com provided a refund from Aer Lingus but Ryan Air offered a voucher with the guarantee of automatic refund if I did not use the voucher before it expired (I know, I should not have accepted the voucher, alas). I didn't use the voucher. It expired. They sent me another one with the proviso that if I didn't use it they would automatically issue me with a refund. Of course that has expired unused and I still have no refund.

Now Kiwi.com are telling me that, because they have issued me with the voucher the claim is effectively closed and they can't do anything more, unless I can prove to them that that Ryanair have paid them my refund. Ryanair on the other hand won't answer my emails or letters asking them what is happening with my refund. Firstly they said they can't speak to me because my email address didn't match the one on the booking (it was a kiwi email address). Once I gave them the correct email address for this booking, as supplied by kiwi.com, Ryan Air just stopped communicating with me. I have sent recorded delivery letters and lots of emails but they don't answer. 

So, I think I need to take Ryan Air to court. It's a fairly simple case: I was told they would refund me under the CV-19 policy if I didn't use the voucher and they haven't. I would give up on this because it is causing me a lot of stress, but I guess Ryan Air want me to do that. It's over 350 Euros.

bagand96

Oh dear the perils of using agents and Ryanair.  (and as an aside Kiwi.com have a terrible reputation!)

It could well be that Ryanair have issued the refund, they would issue it to the payment card which in this case would be Kiwi's own card and not your own.  I see the problem, you need to establish whether Ryanair have done that or not but Ryanair won't talk to you.

If you're from the UK you can't use the EU Small Claims procedure anymore.  You could try the UK small claims procedure as Ryanair do have an operating company in the UK.  However it might depend on whether your flight was due to operated by the UK arm of Ryanair, which very few are.  Although I'm not 100% on that and I'm no legal expert.