Ryanair Cancelled Flight Compensation

AlanFitz1992

Hi, I was due to fly home to Liverpool from Spain on 11.6.24. Me, my wife and two children had checked in, were at the gate, and the flight disappeared. I later received an email from Ryanair blaming 'Thunderstorms' for the cancellation. Because it was cancelled due to adverse weather, we are not entitled to any compensation.

However, there were no storms at the airport, and other flights were landing and taking off without issue. Upon checking FlightRadar, two inbound RyanAir flights (one from Liverpool and one from Marrakech), both due to land at roughly the same time, but both late, were diverted to Madrid. No other flights from any other carrier were diverted, only those two RyanAir flights. And the only Alicante departure cancelled that day was my flight to Liverpool. I do have a link to all departures and arrivals in Alicante that day which backs up everything I said, but I can't post the link here.

Other flights were landing and taking off freely every 5 minutes or so. It seems implausible that there was a localised thunderstorm that only seemed to affect 2 aircraft?

Ryanair could not find us a suitable alternative flight home until 3 days later, and would only put us up in a hotel for one night, which I decided to turn down, and we found our own accommodation. The only thing I asked from RyanAir was £45.00 for extra parking at Liverpool Airport because obviously we picked the car up late, and they wouldn't even give me that.

I'm just wondering if there are grounds to complain to an Ombudsman/regulator? How can a flight be cancelled for thunderstorms, when the skies over the airport were clear? It seems to me that they are hiding behind a thunderstorm so they don't have to pay out. But what I'm worried about is complaining, causing a fuss and then getting blacklisted by RyanAir for complaining. Can they do that?

Thanks

born_again

Was the plane at Liverpool airport?
Or flying in from another airport that may have been effected & as such could not take off?

la531983

Exactly, the OP is likely making a very wrong assumption here, the plane in question could have been on its 2nd, 3rd or 4th trip of the day and the issue was at another airport.

Hoenir

AlanFitz1992 said:

Upon checking FlightRadar, two inbound RyanAir flights (one from Liverpool and one from Marrakech), both due to land at roughly the same time, but both late, were diverted to Madrid. 

Then your plane was in the wrong place it seems. Not a lot RyanAir can do.  Just the way the cookie crumbles. 

Once on a flight from Bristol to Valencia. Due to adverse weather we were diverted to Alicante, then to Mercia , then finally onto Madrid where we landed . All to do with air traffic control restrictions at the time we were in the air. 

AlanFitz1992

la531983 said:

Exactly, the OP is likely making a very wrong assumption here, the plane in question could have been on its 2nd, 3rd or 4th trip of the day and the issue was at another airport.

You're right about the plane being on it's third or fourth trip. The flight from Liverpool to Alicante is essentially a shuttle; it flies back and forth from Liverpool to Alicante and I believe this was the third trip. But the flight took off from Liverpool Airport fine, made the journey to Alicante, circled once, and was then diverted to Madrid. I do have a link to the flight track but I can't post it here.

Another Liverpool to Alicante flight (EasyJet) took off at exactly the same time, and landed at Alicante; albeit they had to circle for 20 minutes.

Ryanair aren't claiming an issue at the departure airport, they're claiming thunderstorms at Alicante prevented the Liverpool flight from landing, which meant 'my' plane was then sent to Madrid. But my point is, I don't believe 'thunderstorms' were the issue. There was no adverse weather at the airport itself; I concede that there was some weather around, but multiple other aircraft landed in the half an hour period around the Liverpool flight being due to land, including an Easyjet flight making exactly the same route at roughly the same time.

I think the issue may have been that the Liverpool flight not having sufficient fuel to circle while any weather cleared, as EasyJet did. If they circled for 20 minutes and the weather did not clear, they may not have had enough fuel to then divert to Madrid? But if that was the case, would that not then be the fault of RyanAir? Basically, the weather was not sufficient in stopping aircraft from landing. Other aircraft landed, so I think RyanAir are hiding behind the weather so they don't have to pay compensation. I wasn't bothered about compensation until they refused to reimburse me for any of the additional expenses incurred due to having to stay another three days.

Caz3121

Diversions are not taken lightly - they are a nightmare for the airline and not something they would do unless they were given no other option - ofter ATC instructed.
Personally I would forget about the compensation element and focus on being reimbursed under your rights under Duty of Care. If they were unable to provide you another flight for 3 days you should be reimbursed for your accommodation and meals during this wait in Spain (your additional parking cost would not fall into this claim and would be something for travel insurance although excess may mean not worth claiming)

AlanFitz1992

Caz3121 said:

Diversions are not taken lightly - they are a nightmare for the airline and not something they would do unless they were given no other option - ofter ATC instructed.
Personally I would forget about the compensation element and focus on being reimbursed under your rights under Duty of Care. If they were unable to provide you another flight for 3 days you should be reimbursed for your accommodation and meals during this wait in Spain (your additional parking cost would not fall into this claim and would be something for travel insurance although excess may mean not worth claiming)

Hi Caz

Thanks for the reply. They have already given me the big middle finger regarding accommodation etc., which is why I'm wondering about compensation. I do have travel insurance which will cover the cost of the accommodation etc but I'm thinking why should I have to pay the excess etc (£75 per person) when RyanAir should really be at least trying to help. They offered me a flight home to Aberdeen on Tuesday and said they'd pay for a taxi home. And because I turned that down and instead opted for the next direct Liverpool flight 3 days later, they said they could only put me up for one night in a hotel, and would have to wait hours in the terminal for them to organise hotels and a coach, which I turned down because the kids had already been in the airport for 6 hours and I just wanted to get them somewhere comfortable.

I'll get on to RyanAir again re the accommodation so I don't have to go through travel insurance.