Ryanair Baggage Delay, Wont Honour Agreement on Out of Pocket Expenses

Steve_C_5

I wonder if anybody can help.

My wife recently took a flight from East Midlands to Dinard with Ryanair. She arrived safe and sound but her suitcase didn't ( it got left in the Midlands arriving 2 days later ).

If this happens in the UK when the bag arrives on a later flight Ryanair courier the bag to you. Not in France - where you have to collect the suitcase. My wife spoke to a Ryanair call centre who assured her that her out of pocket expenses would be paid in full ( costs for emergency prescription and return taxi from her holiday accommodation back to Dinard Airport to collect the suitcase - total Euro233 - not unreasonable ).

When she arrived back in the UK and made a claim ( with receipts ) she was told that Ryanair would only pay £50 ( despite the earlier promise of full payment ).

There is no phone number or e-mail address for Ryanair customer services. Letters to their customer services in Dublin result in the same reply which is £50 take it or leave it and they now don't appear to be going to reply to our last letter.

Has anybody managed to get Ryanair to pay a claim against delayed baggage in full. If so how did you do it. Can we claim against them in the Small Claims Court.

All help would be most appreciated.

Deficient

Apologies for such an obvious question, but have you checked out their T&C's?:

Air Carrier Liability for Passengers and their Baggage

...

Baggage delays

In the case of baggage delay, the air carrier is liable for damage unless it took all reasonable measures to avoid the damage or it was impossible to take such measures. The liability for baggage delay is limited to 1,000 SDRs (approximately £765/€1,130).

Basically, they're liable for way more than this supposed limit of £50. So if they have a £50 limit policy, they're not mentioning it there and I can't see why it should stand. So if you hadn't spotted that yourself already, time to be quoting it at them.

If your wife has any other documentation from the time of booking that states their terms, check that over.

I don't know either way if this is something that could be dealt with in a small claims court, but it seems at first glance like you'd have a good case against them. But certainly, if you haven't gone this far already, I'd suggest writing the ol' Strongly Worded Letter to someone fairly high up in the company (if you can get the CEO/boss's name, that's a good un, because usually if someone is aggrieved enough to write to the big dog, they'll get their way even if only as a goodwill gesture). State your rights and their obligations as per their own T&C's, which they simply cannot deny, and perhaps throw in the added threat of using their competitors in future (although I'm sure you will be anyway!). If they give a damn about your custom, they'd surely put it right fairly swiftly.

You could also threaten legal action in your letter, just for added effect (and of course, if they don't comply then they can't say they didn't see it coming).

Sorry if this is all stuff you've already considered, but from reading your post it seems like you're relying on a verbal promise they made rather than the actual terms of their service. Not that the verbal promise shouldn't stand in principle, but we all know call centre operators can make mistakes. Regardless of what your wife was told over the phone about compensation, it's right there in their legal chat. And, even if they didn't say that in their terms, they are liable as per the Montreal Convention anyway for up to 1,000 SDRs as they mention.

Interestingly enough, I notice some other carriers have a £50 limit for compensation for delays of <48 hours. Ryanair mention no such limit.

Nile

Hello Steve_C

I'll move your thread to 'The Consumer Vent' board.

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere(please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse&#64;moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

Regards

Nile

Iamthesmartestmanalive

Steve_C wrote: »

I wonder if anybody can help.

My wife recently took a flight from East Midlands to Dinard with Ryanair. She arrived safe and sound but her suitcase didn't ( it got left in the Midlands arriving 2 days later ).

If this happens in the UK when the bag arrives on a later flight Ryanair courier the bag to you. Not in France - where you have to collect the suitcase. My wife spoke to a Ryanair call centre who assured her that her out of pocket expenses would be paid in full ( costs for emergency prescription and return taxi from her holiday accommodation back to Dinard Airport to collect the suitcase - total Euro233 - not unreasonable ).

When she arrived back in the UK and made a claim ( with receipts ) she was told that Ryanair would only pay £50 ( despite the earlier promise of full payment ).

There is no phone number or e-mail address for Ryanair customer services. Letters to their customer services in Dublin result in the same reply which is £50 take it or leave it and they now don't appear to be going to reply to our last letter.

Has anybody managed to get Ryanair to pay a claim against delayed baggage in full. If so how did you do it. Can we claim against them in the Small Claims Court.

All help would be most appreciated.

233 euros for a prescription and taxi!!!


Seems pretty excessive

Can you supply a breakdown of the costs and the distance from the hotel to the airport?

neiljc_2

Deficient wrote: »

But certainly, if you haven't gone this far already, I'd suggest writing the ol' Strongly Worded Letter to someone fairly high up in the company (if you can get the CEO/boss's name, that's a good un, because usually if someone is aggrieved enough to write to the big dog, they'll get their way even if only as a goodwill gesture).

Deficient normally I would agree with you but be aware that the management at Ryanair have a reputation for being aggressive, cantankerous and not giving a flying fig for customers especially disabled customers.

hollydays

Did you have any cover also under your own insurance policy for incidental expenses with mislaid luggage after a certain period of time,I am sure mine does.

Altarf

Steve_C wrote: »

costs for emergency prescription and return taxi from her holiday accommodation back to Dinard Airport to collect the suitcase - total Euro233 - not unreasonable

Unreasonable? Well the standard advice is to always pack any prescription medicines that you cannot do without in hand luggage, not checked luggage, just in case the bag goes missing.

Steve_C_5

Iamthesmartestmanalive wrote: »

233 euros for a prescription and taxi!!!


Seems pretty excessive

Can you supply a breakdown of the costs and the distance from the hotel to the airport?

The Taxi fare was Euro200 for a 284km return journey. Prescripton was Euro33 both were receipted. Excesive ?

[If you leave the drugs in your hand luggage you run the risk of having them taken by security as you enter the departure lougne !]

hollydays

Really,I didn't know that about security. What if you also had your prescription with you (your written copy ,I mean.)

Altarf

hollydays wrote: »

Really,I didn't know that about security.

http://www.heathrowairport.com/portal/page/General/Heathrow%5EGeneral%5EAirport+information%5ESecurity+control%5ESecurity+FAQs/76bb00df152dd010VgnVCM10000036821c0a____/448c6a4c7f1b0010VgnVCM200000357e120a____/#9

Steve_C_5

Just had a reply toour last letter ( after two weeks of waiting ).

Ryanair now paid up and appologised.

Thanks for your your suggestions and interest.