Flight cancelled 5hrs before departure - Ryanair saying it was more than 14 days?

NeilBaxter

Hi everyone,

I would like to lodge a compensation claim with Ryanair after our flight from Krakow to Leeds Bradford Airport was cancelled on the morning of departure.

We received notice of the cancellation by email as we were preparing to check out from our hotel. Everyone on the same flight must have found out at the same time as I could literally see all the remaining seats on later flights disappear within minutes. We eventually found a later flight with another airline and Ryanair processed our refund.

However - when I've gone through the Ryanair's website to lodge the claim, a message appears which says,

"Invalid booking details

"We're sorry but the flight you have selected was cancelled more than 14 days before the scheduled time of departure and no EU261 compensation is applicable."

This is clearly incorrect, but the claims process seemingly ends abruptly here and when I've tried to find an avenue for lodging a formal complaint I'm simply redirected back to the passenger rights information. Knowing that I'm dealing with Ryanair, I had anticipated this process being a challenge (and also because the weather was poor on the day of travel) but this dead end takes the biscuit. 

Grateful for any advice on where to take this next, as it appears we have no recourse to any ombudsman-like appeal until we've exhausted Ryanair's grievance/complaints process. 

Thanks

eskbanker

Fortunately you're protected by article 5(4) of the regulations:

The burden of proof concerning the questions as to whether and when the passenger has been informed of the cancellation of the flight shall rest with the operating air carrier.

Once you've exhausted Ryanair's process you can go to AviationADR for independent adjudication:

https://www.aviationadr.org.uk/how-to-complain-about-a-ryanair-flight/