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Ryanair - Refusing to refund my expenses when flight delayed by nearly 2 days

Hi,

I am hoping someone can help as Ryanair are refusing the claim we have made. 

Background:
Our flight (Me, my wife and two friends) from Porto to Leeds was cancelled at the last minute on the 3rd of July due to French Air strikes. We then had to que for Ryan Air customer services for 5 hours, we finally got seen at 11pm.
Their solution was for us to fly back on the next available flight which was 5 days later, on Tuesday the 8th of July (We have two teenagers at home been looked after by family. Also. two of our party had to work on the Saturday for the other two on the Monday ). We agreed they would fly us from Porto to Faro on the 5th of July at 7am and then from Faro to Liverpool at 2pm ish on the 5th of July. There were no options direct to Leeds other than the 8th of July. So we decided to buy our own flights with Easy Jet from Faro to Leeds, thus avoiding the stress of getting from Liverpool to Leeds late on a Saturday. 

The above resulted in us having to buy emergency accommodation for two nights, taxis too and from the airport and food and drink costs. Which we have provided receipts and tried to claim back form Ryanair. Their response (which has taken 3 months) is below. 

We refer to your correspondence dated 10/07/2025.
 
We regret the cancellation of your flight FR2400 from Porto - OPO to Leeds Bradford - LBA on 03/07/2025.
 
We will always make best efforts initially to accommodate you on an alternative Ryanair flight. However, if you choose to purchase a flight with another airline, without prior agreement with Ryanair, this may result in you being unable to recover the cost of that ticket from us.
 
In this case, we note that you were reaccommodated to flight FR4032, from Faro - FAO to Liverpool - LPL on the 05/07/2025.
 
As you did not board the above-mentioned flight, we regret to advise that under EU261/2024 we are not liable for any expense incurred.

I then replied asking them to clarify that this is just in relation to the Flight we bought we Easy Jet aspect of the claim. They replied with the below and have closed the case.

Whilst we sympathise with your view, our position, as set out in our previous letter, remains unaltered.
 
We regret we are unable to assist you further in this matter.

Comments

  • eskbanker
    eskbanker Posts: 37,937 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    SMW1980 said:
    We agreed they would fly us from Porto to Faro on the 5th of July at 7am and then from Faro to Liverpool at 2pm ish on the 5th of July. There were no options direct to Leeds other than the 8th of July. So we decided to buy our own flights with Easy Jet from Faro to Leeds, thus avoiding the stress of getting from Liverpool to Leeds late on a Saturday.
    Not sure I'm following - you agreed to their rerouting but then decided to fly with someone else (for one leg)?  Did you simply not turn up for the Ryanair flight from Faro, or go back to them explaining why you felt it wasn't suitable?  Was there any discussion about how you'd get from Liverpool to Leeds?

    Having said that, while I can understand their reluctance to cover the cost of the EasyJet flights (under article 8 of the regulations), I can see your argument that they should still pick up the separate article 9 expenses incurred while in Porto, prior to taking their flight to Faro, but am unsure of the actual legal position when the offered rerouting is only partially used.

    Their response sounds final, so next step would probably be to escalate to AviationADR....
  • SMW1980
    SMW1980 Posts: 2 Newbie
    First Post
    Thanks for your reply.

    Yes that is correct. We agreed to both their flights under the time and stress pressures and then on reflection we decided to only do the first flight and pay for a flight that took us to the correct location. We had no timely way of contacting them to tell them we're not doing the second flight, so we didn't turn up. 

    Yes, in honestly i didn't expect to claim the cost for the Easyjet flight back, but to avoid further hassle we opted to pay for it. 

    Ok i will escalate to AviationADR. I don't suppose you have any links to this do you?
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