Ryanair refuse to compensate for wrecked child seat

tollhouse423

Had the misfortune of flying Ryanair this week. We checked in a car seat which came out the other side dropped and torn, with the inner padding broken/compromised.  

Submitted a claim after reporting at the airport, but because it’s 4 years old they immediately rejected the claim because of its age and associated depreciation.

Problem is, as the car seat has been clearly dropped it’s no longer safe to use and most likely needs to be written off, and it’s annoying they won’t put be back in the position I was in before they (well the baggage handlers) wrecked the seat.

Appreciate it’s probably one to chalk up to experience, but curious if anyone has ever claimed successfully or whether there’s another route I can go down before I give up? Car seat is worth £80 or so, so not a massively expensive one, but out of principle I’m not ready to give up quite yet.

Aylesbury_Duck

tollhouse423 said:

Had the misfortune of flying Ryanair this week. We checked in a car seat which came out the other side dropped and torn, with the inner padding broken/compromised.  

Submitted a claim after reporting at the airport, but because it’s 4 years old they immediately rejected the claim because of its age and associated depreciation.

Problem is, as the car seat has been clearly dropped it’s no longer safe to use and most likely needs to be written off, and it’s annoying they won’t put be back in the position I was in before they (well the baggage handlers) wrecked the seat.

Appreciate it’s probably one to chalk up to experience, but curious if anyone has ever claimed successfully or whether there’s another route I can go down before I give up? Car seat is worth £80 or so, so not a massively expensive one, but out of principle I’m not ready to give up quite yet.

The pertinent question is: What's a four year old car seat that originally cost £80 now worth?  How much would you pay on eBay for one and what are they selling for?  That's the value of your loss.  A quick search suggests most car seats should be disposed of after 6 years, so yours is arguably worth something like £27.  Go back to them and ask for that sum as a contribution to buying a replacement.

As an aside, why the "misfortune to fly Ryanair"?  Presumably you chose them?  And it sounds as if the problem was caused by baggage handlers, so could have happened on any airline's flight.

On-the-coast

I think most experienced travellers assume that all checked luggage is dropped, slung, squashed etc, and pack accordingly.  If you’ve ever watched luggage entering a carousel and subsequent items landing on the first items you’ll have a small idea of what goes on.
so unless the airline made some specific guarantees for child seats (and you’d packed it as they recommended) I don’t think you have any come-back sadly. 

tollhouse423

Aylesbury_Duck said:

The pertinent question is: What's a four year old car seat that originally cost £80 now worth?  How much would you pay on eBay for one and what are they selling for?  That's the value of your loss.  A quick search suggests most car seats should be disposed of after 6 years, so yours is arguably worth something like £27.  Go back to them and ask for that sum as a contribution to buying a replacement.

As an aside, why the "misfortune to fly Ryanair"?  Presumably you chose them?  And it sounds as if the problem was caused by baggage handlers, so could have happened on any airline's flight.

It’s not quite that simple. Car seats shouldn’t be bought/sold second hand, so technically it’s not possible for me to find a replacement that’s guaranteed to be safe (ask any of the reputable organisations that deal with child seat safety).  It’s why if you claim for a car seat after an accident, they ALWAYS replace new for old.

So my only option is to replace with new, so the airline should provide at least a contribution so I can replace, not just brush it under the carpet and claim zero responsibility. I’d be happy to accept a part contribution accepting it’s not brand new, even though I’ll be out of pocket, but they won’t even do that.

That’s why I state ‘misfortune’, because as is widely reported they will never do right by the customer if they can help it.

tollhouse423

On-the-coast said:

I think most experienced travellers assume that all checked luggage is dropped, slung, squashed etc, and pack accordingly.  If you’ve ever watched luggage entering a carousel and subsequent items landing on the first items you’ll have a small idea of what goes on.
so unless the airline made some specific guarantees for child seats (and you’d packed it as they recommended) I don’t think you have any come-back sadly. 

It was packaged accordingly, it was in a car seat carrier, however that got damaged as well.  

I accept some wear and tear to bags, but not to the point they destroy something beyond use. The airline does have some liability.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

tollhouse423 said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

The pertinent question is: What's a four year old car seat that originally cost £80 now worth?  How much would you pay on eBay for one and what are they selling for?  That's the value of your loss.  A quick search suggests most car seats should be disposed of after 6 years, so yours is arguably worth something like £27.  Go back to them and ask for that sum as a contribution to buying a replacement.

As an aside, why the "misfortune to fly Ryanair"?  Presumably you chose them?  And it sounds as if the problem was caused by baggage handlers, so could have happened on any airline's flight.

Car seats shouldn’t be bought/sold second hand, so technically it’s not possible for me to find a replacement that’s guaranteed to be safe 

I would agree with this and would expect 2nd hand value on the likes of eBay to be low because most people won't take the chance.

Car seats are usually rated by weight or height, if you are able to roughly pin point how much life was left in yours that would be a good way to work out it's lost value.

These things are usually letter before action and small claims if a agreement can't be met but whether airlines have additional obligations I'm not sure. 

tollhouse423

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

I would agree with this and would expect 2nd hand value on the likes of eBay to be low because most people won't take the chance.

Car seats are usually rated by weight or height, if you are able to roughly pin point how much life was left in yours that would be a good way to work out it's lost value.

These things are usually letter before action and small claims if a agreement can't be met but whether airlines have additional obligations I'm not sure. 

Appreciate the thoughts / suggestions, glad there are some helpful people on here!

tacpot12

If you have home insurance, check to see if you have legal expeneses cover. If you do, call the Legal Helpline provided buy your insurer, and ask for their help. They may write a letter to Ryanair, who may recondsider when their lawyers see the letter and give them legal advice; but the advice to Ryanair that they would win in court. You might ask the Helpline about suing Ryanair and the Airport Authority on the same claim  - the Airport might also put pressure on Ryanair to settle. 

I think that the fact that the seat was in a special carrier gives your claim more weight than most. 

Grumpy_chap

tollhouse423 said:

Submitted a claim after reporting at the airport, but because it’s 4 years old they immediately rejected the claim because of its age and associated depreciation.

This approach is correct.  To apply a reduction of value to proportion across life expended versus life remaining.
The point of discussion is whether the expected life is current age (4 years) or less.  OR whether the expected life is greater than current age in which case there is proportional value to claim from Ryanair.

I also accept and understand the comments around not buying a used car seat because of the safety concerns.
Are you able to claim on your travel insurance?  They may be more amenable to compensating full new replacement as they can more easily consider the factors around a used car seat.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

It would be interesting to know how such things are considered, if this were something like a fridge you'd typically need the replacement indefinitely and if you didn't you'd be able to sell the replacement fridge to balance everything out.

With a child's car seat you need it for a very specific time period and can't sell it once that period is up, I wonder if that affects the position? 

pinkshoes

If you use social media, perhaps ask amongst friends/family if anyone has a car seat they no longer need?

(I'm assuming you are only friends with people you actually like and wouldn't hand you on a car seat that has been damaged...).

You can't really expect the full cost of a car seat, but they should perhaps give you a third of the cost of a new one given the car seat would have been good for another two years.