Ryanair - Nightmare Flight Change

capybaramoneysaver

Hi everyone, 

Last week, I decided to change my return flight on a Ryanair booking so that we would be able to come home a bit later, it cost us £120 but we were just happy to spend more time in our destination. I received an email the following day saying the return flight I paid for had now been cancelled! I didn't see this email until today as it went into my junk folder. 

I spoke to Ryanair agents via telephone and live chat today and they all said the same thing - to cancel the entire booking and rebook the flights to my original journey to get a full refund and my £120 back. Just one small problem, the flight had now almost doubled in price, which meant I would end up paying more than the original booking and the £120 extra I paid to change. 

So, I decided to take matters into my own hands and change the cancelled flight back to the original flight and chargeback the £120 via AMEX. AMEX have credited the amount back to my account, unless Ryanair dispute this. Ryanair have emailed me saying since I changed the flight back to the original, I am no longer entitled to my £120 back. This feels wrong because I am not receiving the later flight I paid for and if I made no changes at all, I'd still have my £120. My friend has said I could get blacklisted from Ryanair for charging back. 

What are my rights in this situation? Is it my fault for changing my flight back? Will Ryanair dispute my chargeback? Am I entitled to the £120? Will I get blacklisted for charging back even though I did not receive a service? I have two other trips booked with Ryanair so I hope I don't lose my money and my flights? Please help!! 

eskbanker

You're not entitled to a chargeback here, so Ryanair are highly likely to challenge it.  They won't blacklist you as such but have form for recovering such debts when next trying to fly with them, so you'll have to pay that £120 one way or another.

Having said that, when they cancelled the flight you were booked on, they were obliged to find you an alternative flight at their expense, and potentially pay compensation too, depending on the circumstances, so there may be some swings and roundabouts to come....

Voyager2002

When Ryanair cancelled your flight home, they were obliged to provide either a refund (of the £120) or re-routing at no extra charge. They gave you wrong advice and unfortunately you accepted this and agreed to the cancellation and refund. Once you had accepted this they had no further obligation. What you could and should have done was insist on re-routing, so that they rather than you booked you back on to your original flight.

You then purchased another ticket and then used 'chargeback' to reclaim the amount you paid for this. By doing so you put yourself in the wrong: if Ryanair dispute the chargeback Amex will reclaim the money from you in order to pay them. Furthermore they have an absolute right to choose who is or is not welcome on their flights and so if they decide to blacklist you (as they may well do) then you have no right to prevent this. Ryanair have historically used black-listing against people who successfully used chargeback against them, but in your case your chargeback will fail if Ryanair dispute it and so once they have your £120 back in their coffers they will have no reason to blacklist you.

capybaramoneysaver

Voyager2002 said:

When Ryanair cancelled your flight home, they were obliged to provide either a refund (of the £120) or re-routing at no extra charge. They gave you wrong advice and unfortunately you accepted this and agreed to the cancellation and refund. Once you had accepted this they had no further obligation. What you could and should have done was insist on re-routing, so that they rather than you booked you back on to your original flight.

You then purchased another ticket and then used 'chargeback' to reclaim the amount you paid for this. By doing so you put yourself in the wrong: if Ryanair dispute the chargeback Amex will reclaim the money from you in order to pay them. Furthermore they have an absolute right to choose who is or is not welcome on their flights and so if they decide to blacklist you (as they may well do) then you have no right to prevent this. Ryanair have historically used black-listing against people who successfully used chargeback against them, but in your case your chargeback will fail if Ryanair dispute it and so once they have your £120 back in their coffers they will have no reason to blacklist you.

I didn't do the cancellation or refund I just changed by return flight but I see what you mean here. Thank you.