Ryanair delayed flight Expenses not refunded

zhouzhousmama

On Tuesday 9th Sept our 23.35pm flights from Gdansk was delayed till 13:00 on Wed 10th Sept. The single women on the desk who was left to tell us this news at 01:00 said it was because crew hours had expired and we would be going back the following day. The plane had been sat on the run way waiting to load and take us before we were originally due to depart, we'd all been sent down to queue to board at 23;00 before being sent back.  When we (many unhappy customers) asked her what we should do she refered us all to the app.  The app said nothing until 2am when it said accomodation would be arranged and to speak to the ground staff, which by this time she had gone and there was none.  My sister and I had our 70 yr old mother with us and she could not sleep in an airport so we took the decision to book a local hotel. By 3am we had found a room, we asked for the cheapest way to get a room for 3 and was offered a room with a double bed and a sofa (my sister slept on  the sofa), it was £171.  The following morning we were advised that we had a refreshment voucher each of 17 zloty to use in the airport only. Upon getting to the airport we found that they only drink we could buy for this was bottled water. Tea was 20,90 and coffe started at 23,90z. I bought 2 bottles of water and a much needed coffee for my very frzzled mum, we used the vouchers and I paid the remaining 6,90z for her coffee myself.  I have tried to claim back the hotel and the extra for the coffee only via the ryanair online claims forms, I think we have been more than reasonable given everything in keeping the expenses to a minimum, but after waiting 96 hrs for a delay decision, we are being told it was a bird strike so not their fault. I dont know how it was a bird strike when the plane was sat there before we were even due to board and the staff member told a plane load of people that it was crew hours.  Even if it was a brd strike why were we not told until after midnight, they must have known before we were originally due to depart?  Anyhow, because they are saying its a bird strike they say we are not entitled to a refund of our costs. I honestly dont know where I stand or what to do next. Ive made claims via ryanir using the EU 261 compensation and refund process and both have been rejected. If ryainairs lying means we lose the compensation, im just 1 (well 3 with my mum and sister), we know its their word against ours so have written that off, but it feels hugely unfair that after they leave all notice till very early hours, they tell us a different reason than what they are now stating, they dont provide the ground staff help they said they would and wont even give an old lady a cup of coffee - we cant even just get our costs back.  Do we have a case and what do i do next? Thank you all        

eskbanker

There may be a mix-up in terminology here?

Under the regulations, compensation is due if there's a delay or cancellation that is deemed to be within the airline's control, so a bird strike would indeed deny compensation being payable.

However, reimbursement of expenses is a different story and isn't conditional on airline fault.

https://www.ryanair.com/content/dam/ryanair/help-centre-pdfs/passenger-rights-notices/Passenger-Rights-Notice-for-UK-EN.pdf

Mark_d

So you booked your own hotel rather than using the accommodation offered by Ryanair?  If you had stayed at the Ryanair hotel you'd get breakfast inc. coffee.  A bottle of water is then more than enough to keep you hydrated at the airport just before your flight on 10 Sept.

It appears that Ryanair have behaved reasonably.  They are not obliged to give you any further compensation as a result of your choice not to accept their accommodation offer.

zhouzhousmama

Mark_d said:

So you booked your own hotel rather than using the accommodation offered by Ryanair?  If you had stayed at the Ryanair hotel you'd get breakfast inc. coffee.  A bottle of water is then more than enough to keep you hydrated at the airport just before your flight on 10 Sept.

It appears that Ryanair have behaved reasonably.  They are not obliged to give you any further compensation as a result of your choice not to accept their accommodation offer.

That was the problem though, although they said they offered accomodation, we had to speak to the ground crew to get it and they didn't provide any. I would have taken their accomodation had they actually offered any! 

zhouzhousmama

eskbanker said:

There may be a mix-up in terminology here?

Under the regulations, compensation is due if there's a delay or cancellation that is deemed to be within the airline's control, so a bird strike would indeed deny compensation being payable.

However, reimbursement of expenses is a different story and isn't conditional on airline fault.

Yes I know, I've given up on the idea  of any compensation even though were told in person on the night it was because crew hours had run out and there was never any mention of an apparent bird strike.  All i'd like back is what it cost me to make sure my elderly mum had some where to sleep and a cup of coffee. I've tried the ryanair website to get EC261expenses and i've also tried to apply for expenses via their fund option asper the advise of the ryanair chat tool ( I did speak to an advisor not a bot), and both were rejected by ryanair because it was a "bird strike".  I don't know how else I can try for my expenses to be reimbursed because the ryanair website keeps sending me the same expenses claim pages i've already used    

zhouzhousmama

eskbanker said:

There may be a mix-up in terminology here?

Under the regulations, compensation is due if there's a delay or cancellation that is deemed to be within the airline's control, so a bird strike would indeed deny compensation being payable.

However, reimbursement of expenses is a different story and isn't conditional on airline fault.

Thank you for the link.  I've just noticed, under right to care, it says meal and refreshment voucher would be offered, we were only offer refreshment, no meal, the flight was delayed by 13hrs and 25 mins, would that warranty a meal? How much does a flight need to be delayed by to warrant some food? It also says accommodation would be offered, but apart from the app saying ground crew would help (it was 2am they had all left), not a single RA crew member could be found, so absolutely nothing was offered and there was definitely no mention of transport to accommodation. It also says that 2 calls would be made available, nothing was mentioned about that on the app or in person (most people have phones so I know not an issue its more the principal that they have a right to care written into their own policy and don't follow it or reimburse if you are left to sort yourself out as a result)   The Ryanair refund process on the website is automated and is not set up to answer questions or take specifics, and my claims to expenses (not compensation) has been refused twice because they say it is not their fault.  Should I just go straight to the CAA?

Grumpy_chap

zhouzhousmama said:

Thank you for the link.  I've just noticed, under right to care, it says meal and refreshment voucher would be offered, we were only offer refreshment, no meal, the flight was delayed by 13hrs and 25 mins, would that warranty a meal? How much does a flight need to be delayed by to warrant some food? 

Your 13 hours was midnight to lunchtime.
Potentially the only meal would be breakfast and that would typically be part of a hotel room rate.
Then you had a voucher for a refreshment at the airport in the morning.

If you meal was part of the hotel cost, you can't also claim the same meal separately as that would be double-dipping.

Caz3121

is it the EU261 Disruption Expense Claim for you are using?
https://onlineform.ryanair.com/gb/en/eu-261

Giving your timings I would expect reimbursement of hotel and breakfast 

eskbanker

zhouzhousmama said:
Should I just go straight to the CAA?

The CAA are unlikely to get involved, as Ryanair are part of the AviationADR arbitration scheme, so that's the nominated escalation route if/when you get a final response from Ryanair to your claim, i.e. you should attempt to continue the dialogue with the above points first.

On the root cause, the explanations aren't necessarily contradictory- when there's a bird strike, aircraft must be inspected by technicians before being given the OK to fly again, a process which can easily take enough time to put the crew out of hours.

la531983

Caz3121 said:

is it the EU261 Disruption Expense Claim for you are using?
https://onlineform.ryanair.com/gb/en/eu-261

Giving your timings I would expect reimbursement of hotel and breakfast 

Maybe including the £1.40 for the coffee stretching it a bit.