Ryan Air Bereavement Refund

Lallpoof67

I was due to fly to Spain on 8th October but sadly my father passed away on 5th October, I informed the airline I was not going to fly and asked for their refund process. In order to make a claim for a refund you need a copy of the death certificate which had not been issued as he died at the weekend and it had only been 1 working day.

Their conditions of carriage states.... If an immediate family member who is not travelling with you dies within 28 days of your booked flight, you may claim a refund equal to the fare you paid for the particular flight (or flights) you don't take as a result, plus any associated taxes, fees and charges that you paid. You must make your claim before the date of the flight and provide a copy of the death certificate."

In the circumstances it was impossible to make a claim before my flight. 

They have responded to reiterate that this is their position.

I wonder how many others have been affected by this ?

pramsay13

I don't have the figure off the top of my head but to be fair to Ryanair they don't need to offer a refund in this instance so having a policy that ensures it is being applied correctly seems reasonable.
You could claim on your travel insurance. 

DullGreyGuy

Lallpoof67 said:

I was due to fly to Spain on 8th October but sadly my father passed away on 5th October, I informed the airline I was not going to fly and asked for their refund process. In order to make a claim for a refund you need a copy of the death certificate which had not been issued as he died at the weekend and it had only been 1 working day.

Their conditions of carriage states.... If an immediate family member who is not travelling with you dies within 28 days of your booked flight, you may claim a refund equal to the fare you paid for the particular flight (or flights) you don't take as a result, plus any associated taxes, fees and charges that you paid. You must make your claim before the date of the flight and provide a copy of the death certificate."

In the circumstances it was impossible to make a claim before my flight. 

They have responded to reiterate that this is their position.

I wonder how many others have been affected by this ?

They have no legal requirement to offer you anything so their terms already go beyond what they are required to do. It may also be a term that they dont enforce in practice but want to encourage people to be prompt hence have the term. Ultimately you can only apply and see what the response from the bereavement team is. 

More commonly it is something that you'd claim on your travel insurance 

TELLIT01

You had informed them that you wanted to claim, so hopefully that will be accepted as 'making the claim'.  You can only try.  As has been said, the claim should be made through you travel insurance.

TheShape

Lallpoof67 said:

I was due to fly to Spain on 8th October but sadly my father passed away on 5th October, I informed the airline I was not going to fly and asked for their refund process. In order to make a claim for a refund you need a copy of the death certificate which had not been issued as he died at the weekend and it had only been 1 working day.

Their conditions of carriage states.... If an immediate family member who is not travelling with you dies within 28 days of your booked flight, you may claim a refund equal to the fare you paid for the particular flight (or flights) you don't take as a result, plus any associated taxes, fees and charges that you paid. You must make your claim before the date of the flight and provide a copy of the death certificate."

In the circumstances it was impossible to make a claim before my flight. 

They have responded to reiterate that this is their position.

I wonder how many others have been affected by this ?

I would think that a reasonable reading of this would be that the claim must be made before the date of the flight and that a copy of the death certificate be provided (at some point to support the claim).  

Otherwise it would presumably be clearer to state You must make your claim and provide a copy of the death certificate before the date of the flight.

eskbanker

TheShape said:

Lallpoof67 said:

I was due to fly to Spain on 8th October but sadly my father passed away on 5th October, I informed the airline I was not going to fly and asked for their refund process. In order to make a claim for a refund you need a copy of the death certificate which had not been issued as he died at the weekend and it had only been 1 working day.

Their conditions of carriage states.... If an immediate family member who is not travelling with you dies within 28 days of your booked flight, you may claim a refund equal to the fare you paid for the particular flight (or flights) you don't take as a result, plus any associated taxes, fees and charges that you paid. You must make your claim before the date of the flight and provide a copy of the death certificate."

In the circumstances it was impossible to make a claim before my flight. 

They have responded to reiterate that this is their position.

I wonder how many others have been affected by this ?

I would think that a reasonable reading of this would be that the claim must be made before the date of the flight and that a copy of the death certificate be provided (at some point to support the claim).  

Otherwise it would presumably be clearer to state You must make your claim and provide a copy of the death certificate before the date of the flight.

The claim form does require proof of death to be attached ("Please attach the proof of death of the immediate family member") but it's unclear what would happen if the only document to be attached was a cover note saying something to the effect of 'death certificate to be supplied once available'.