Ryanair refuse to compensate for wrecked child seat

screech_78

Professional advice for an £80 car seat? It’s a bit over the top. 

Guidelines say car seats should be replaced every 5-6 years so really, OP is only looking at about £20-£30 back. And that’s the view the courts would most likely take so it’s not worth it. Regardless of the item, giving you a brand new seat is betterment. It would have been moved around in the cargo hold anyway so I’m not sure you could argue it would ever really be safe after a flight.  If we’re going on the “guidelines”. 

Grumpy_chap

tollhouse423 said:

I’m now attempting a travel insurance claim to see if I can get anything through that route.

tollhouse423 said:

Anyhow, I’ve now sought professional advice so I’ll see what comes of that.

Did your travel insurer give a response a yet?
That may be a path of lower resistance than the legal route.  Unless the professional advice is being covered by either the travel insurance or your home insurance.  
Given it is such a low value, I would have thought that any insurance that covered the loss would have simply paid out rather than incur legal costs.

DullGreyGuy

Legal Expenses insurance will provide general advice on anything (within the range of topics covered) but for acting there must be a reasonable prospect of success (51% or higher) and costs must be proportionate... insurer won't pay £500 in legal costs to try and recover £40. They won't payout the £40 either, that's not what the cover is for, they will just decline the claim. 

tollhouse423 said:

I do hear what you’re saying, but I still can’t accept that the airline (and their subcontracted parties) can damage an item and just say ‘oops sorry about that’ and that be the end of it. Seems very unfair. A car seat is very different to other luggage as it’s a safety device, but it feels like I’ve fallen into a black hole of legality.

Personally I don't think they can, but they need to settle the secondhand value which is more like £30 than £80. It's your free choice if you use that £30 to buy a secondhand item or add more funds to it to buy another brand new one.

The question becomes how much of your life is it worth spending on £30 

tollhouse423

Grumpy_chap said:

I totally understand the OP's comment about the car seat being 4yo and not being comfortable with a used car seat because of the risk that it fails to have the level of integrity that it should.

Out of interest, how long would it be before the OP had to buy a new car seat in any case for the next "stage" reflecting the child growing?
That is, obviously, a question in isolation and assumes the OP does not have a younger child that might have made use of the same car seat later.

Sorry for the delayed response. Insurance (one I have with Revolut Premium) paid out for the seat.

Out of principle I’m annoyed that Ryanair have got away without paying a penny, but I’m back to the position I was in before Ryanair got their hands on my property, which is the main thing I guess.