Denied Boarding Ryanair

blitz_911

Hi,

My wife and I were due to travel newcastle to barcelona last week on a 9.50pm flight due to land ~ 1am. Initially the flight was delayed which was no issue. Unfortunately the departure time and gates changes a few times and eventually we made it to the correct boarding gate for the new departure at around 11.30pm.

There had been a delay with the inbound plane from barcelona so a decision had been made to use a different plane coming in from Ibizia instead. This plane had 5 less seats and as we were late with the online check in ( lesson learnt) we were denied boarding. There were no ryanair staff available as they clock off at 10pm, the ryanair phone lines were closed and the staff at the boarding gate were most unhelpful. 

Once our bag was retrieved we were taken the the swissport desk where we managed to arrange an alternative flight from edinburgh at 6.05am the following morning and were taken in a taxi to edinburgh through the night with another passenger on the flight.

When we arrived at Edinburgh, the ryanair check in desks were not open so we had to sit around at the check in desks for an hour or so before being able to make our way into security.

Whilst we did manage to arrive in barcelona for the bulk of our trip, we had to change our first day plans, missed our first night hotel and had no sleep for the whole of the disrupted travel. It is also my understanding that the delayed plane was only about 20 minutes away so the delay in waiting for the correct plane would have been minimal. instead we were put through significant stress and disruption.

The wording in the ryanair policy is unclear, the swissport rep advised that we would be eligible for the compensation and cost covered for alternative flight and travel. The ryain policy seems to imply its one or the other.

Can anyone advise on what we are entitled to and how best to contact ryanair regarding this.

Thanks

Wonka_2

I’ll leave it to others re the legal entitlements but they (Ryanair) won’t take decisions lightly to swap plane/crew as it leaves them out of place for future. Whilst it may have been ‘only 20mins away’ there’ll be good reason for the swap - IIRC BCN has a couple of hours closure overnight (a quick check seems to suggest 01h30 to 03h00) which could have been a deciding factor for them 

MattMattMattUK

blitz_911 said:

Hi,

My wife and I were due to travel newcastle to barcelona last week on a 9.50pm flight due to land ~ 1am. Initially the flight was delayed which was no issue. Unfortunately the departure time and gates changes a few times and eventually we made it to the correct boarding gate for the new departure at around 11.30pm.

There had been a delay with the inbound plane from barcelona so a decision had been made to use a different plane coming in from Ibizia instead. This plane had 5 less seats and as we were late with the online check in ( lesson learnt) we were denied boarding. There were no ryanair staff available as they clock off at 10pm, the ryanair phone lines were closed and the staff at the boarding gate were most unhelpful. 

Once our bag was retrieved we were taken the the swissport desk where we managed to arrange an alternative flight from edinburgh at 6.05am the following morning and were taken in a taxi to edinburgh through the night with another passenger on the flight.

When we arrived at Edinburgh, the ryanair check in desks were not open so we had to sit around at the check in desks for an hour or so before being able to make our way into security.

Whilst we did manage to arrive in barcelona for the bulk of our trip, we had to change our first day plans, missed our first night hotel and had no sleep for the whole of the disrupted travel. It is also my understanding that the delayed plane was only about 20 minutes away so the delay in waiting for the correct plane would have been minimal. instead we were put through significant stress and disruption.

The wording in the ryanair policy is unclear, the swissport rep advised that we would be eligible for the compensation and cost covered for alternative flight and travel. The ryain policy seems to imply its one or the other.

Can anyone advise on what we are entitled to and how best to contact ryanair regarding this.

Thanks

It does somewhat depend on why the inbound flight was delayed. In theory you were bumped, and your delay was more than three hours, and the distance between your departure point and destination was 1,552km so you should be entitled to compensation of £350 per person. Make an application for compensation under the scheme, see what comes back.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/flight-delay-compensation/#bumped

mdann52

MattMattMattUK said:

It does somewhat depend on why the inbound flight was delayed. In theory you were bumped, and your delay was more than three hours, and the distance between your departure point and destination was 1,552km so you should be entitled to compensation of £350 per person. Make an application for compensation under the scheme, see what comes back.

If it's a case of IDB (Involuntary Denied Boarding), the reason for the delay or bumping is irrelevant unless it was directly to do with the passengers actions. See Article 4 UK261. It's interesting to note the legislation requires a "bumped" passenger immediate compensation.