Ryanair EU261 expenses claim rejected!

CLA1981

Hi all, hoping someone can help point us in the right direction....

We booked a package holiday with Loveholidays for our family of 11. We were caught up in the ATC failure and our flight was cancelled by Ryanair 4 hours before we were due to depart to come home.

We contacted the emergency holiday company in resort team (Loveholidays) and were advised by 1 agent we could book flights and accomodation via them using their Ecredit cards, and to call back when we were ready to pay. So we did that, spoke to a different agent who said that information was completely wrong and we needed to pay for eveeything ourselves and claim it back. 

After spending 8 hours in the airport awaiting information we decided to return to our original hotel and continued to try to contact Ryanair - we had zero contact from them except the cancellation email. They provided no accommodation, food, drink, transfers etc... 

Finally, Ryanair replied via an online chat and she advised they couldn't fly us home until 6th September (as we were such a large group) so to book our own flights and they would refund the original cost and the difference between the new cost. I double checked we could fly to any uk destination and via any airport and she said yes. I took screenshots of our chat as evidence. She also advised we would need to cover the cost if our accomodation ourselves and they would pay that back.

At every stage we researched screenshoted that there were no other flights and that there were no other cheaper hotels.

We submitted an EU261 claim to Ryanair for 11 people. We provided extensive evidence and proof we had researched prices, as were were aware of this term 'reasonable' expenses. We uploaded every single receipt, screenshot and the copy of my chat with the Ryanair agent.

Ryanair have offered next to nothing and we are almost £8,000 out of pocket!!! They have said its their final offer and to go through the AviationADR.

Our insurance company have refused claims as they said it was extraordinary circumstances.

Loveholidays have refused to refund anything, despite not delivering the package we booked with them.

Do we have any credit card protection in this situation? 

Any advice very welcome! Thank you.

la531983

Credit card protection? No.

Section 75 isnt a silver bullet. It also wouldnt refund you anything more than the flight even if it was, and I am guessing your expenses are much higher than these originally were.

You will likely need to do as they suggested and then if that fails, its small claims court time. If you have cast iron proof of screenshots of web chat it sounds like an open and shut case tbh.

bagand96

This is an interesting case with I think two things at play:

- EC261 regulations mean that Ryanair are responsible for providing alternative transport, and care/assistance between the time of the cancelled flight and a rearranged flight.  They're not liable for compensation though as the ATC issue was outside of their control. 

- You had a package with Love Holidays then this would also be governed by the Package and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018.  There's an argument that LH are responsible for arranging your alternative flight home and care in between time under this legislation.  LH detail package rights on their website Your package rights | loveholidays 

There's an argument that under different regulations, both LH and Ryanair are liable for your costs. It will be an uphill battle with both I expect given the size of the claim. On what grounds did Ryanair refuse your costs? As they've said you can proceed to AviationADR if you wish, or as suggested above small claims court.  No S75 against Ryanair because you didn't pay them with the card.

However I'd go back to LoveHolidays before letting them off the hook.  Point out their obligations and your rights under the Package Travel regs, and the fact that initially they appeared to offer this, before backtracking.

CLA1981

Thank you both for the swift reply. 

We haven't tried to claim compensation as we understand it falls under the "exceptional circumstances", we simply want our expenses paid. There are hundreds of pounds we havent claimed for because we could get VAT receipts at the time - , however it feels like each company is blaming the other and we are sadly left with £1000's of debt 😞

Sorry if I wasn't clear - Ryanair have made an offer expenses of just over £3,000...I'm not sure how they think 11 people can be accommodated for 4 nights, pay food, drink, transfers and flights from North Africa for under £300 per person!! They are refusing to pay our total costs as they say they are not reasonable.

I'll try Loveholidays again, thanks for the advice- much appreciated. 

la531983

If they were the cheapest flights available it certainly would be reasonable.

bagand96

If it had been a proper tour operator like TUI or Jet2 then you would have been looked after - accommodated and flown home without any expense.  The law doesn't distinguish in this obligation between Tour Operators and Online Travel Agents (like LoveHolidays)