A large Q&A section is being prepared and indexed by the volunteers of Boycott Ryanair. Two out of the initial 25 questions and answers are included here for testing reasons.
Contact Us if you find the claiming process to be too difficult. We’ll gladly help you. Like with all assistance offered by Boycott Ryanair volunteers, this advise will of course be free of charge.
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Question:
Can applications for delayed/cancelled flight compensations filed by British residents be refused by Ryanair refused because their claim is over two years old?
Short answer:
British residents can claim even after two years. This covers the residents of Northern Ireland (but it doesn’t cover those residing in the Republic of Ireland).
Detailed answer:
You actually have five or six years to claim (five years for the Scottish residents, six years for UK residents living outside of Scotland), despite Ryanair’s Terms and Conditions. Local consumer rights and laws cannot be lowered by the laws of other countries or by EU regulations, nor by some company (even if the airline presents its rules to you before you book your flight).
Completely ignore the fact the computer says no. Once you take Ryanair to court, Ryanair’s lawyers will not dare to quote this limitation again.
Give them two weeks to pay you, quoting ECJ (European Court of Justice) case C‑139/11 and, if they refuse or send you the same generic two-year thing again, sue them from the comfort of your chair.
The straightforward online application takes about an hour to fill. Don’t worry, no lawyers or legal lingo will be required. This simple claiming process can be used by all EU residents who live outside of the Republic of Ireland, this of course includes all UK residents. More on the Europe-wide claim form here.
Let us recap, the regulation provides that a contract between the airline and you cannot deprive you, the consumer, of the protection of the laws of the country in which you have a habitual residence, i.e. the UK.
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Question:
I received a compensation refusal from Ryanair. It was based on a “technical safety/technical problem.” Can the airline refuse me because they failed to spot a problem before it was too late?
Short answer:
No.
Silly answer:
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It’s like saying you burnt the dinner because attending to the cooking process was beyond your control. Besides, if you were Ryanair, you would completely ignore everyone (no information given, no compensation offered/authorised — voluntarily, and even when requested in person), then you would make them wait much longer than needed, predominantly to allow the dinner to get completely cold (delayed flight, no timely replacement of aircraft) and then you would force everyone to eat the inedible dish (denial of compensation at a later stage). Quite possibly, you would also throw half a kilo of salt over each portion while smirking evilly and pointing your Taser in a friendly manner (Ryanair’s general level of customer service).
Detailed answer:
The most important point is that cancellations “due to extraordinary circumstances” are only allowed when these situations could not have been avoided even after all the reasonable measures have been taken. Mechanical failures are certainly not unavoidable, undetectable or unpreventable.
This means that Ryanair cannot refuse your compensation claim just because it quotes its infamously vague “technical safety/technical problem” excuse. The hard working employees of Ryanair’s enormous Claim Refusal Department, whichever name they hide it under just now, use this vague quote to discourage majority of customers from proceeding with their valid claims. Since each licensed carrier is responsible for the aircraft and its maintenance (both preventive and real-time), the failure to keep the aircraft well maintained and fly worthy is not an act of God. Also, any airline with many airplanes should be able to secure a replacement aircraft, locally or within a reasonable distance, when their hardware or mechanics fail. The courts confirmed these points over and over again so do not let Ryanair’s canned replies stop you from collecting the funds you are entitled to collect.
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Many other carriers also refuse to pay the statutory compensations.
Here is what Jet2 tried:
The aircraft due to operate your flight was unable to do so due to a pressurisation issue caused by a Air Cycle Machine fault. The part was fitted to the aircraft in march 2010 and would not have been expected to fail after only 3mths, our records show that we could expect the part to last at least 8 yrs. As the fault occurred far earlier than what could have been anticipated and the defect occurred mid flight, this constitutes an extraordinary circumstance. As the aircraft was out of service, we sourced the next available aircraft and operated the flight asap to minimise disruption.
I have reviewed your claim and regret no compensation is due.
(Jet2 Customer Service)
Ryanair is winning though. They are trying to wiggle out of paying up the compensation you paid for in the first place. Their executives simply created a “special” fee that’s added to your Ryanair ticket (not very dissimilar to the wheelchair usage fee that’s evenly spread between all paying customers), sort of like an insurance premium. This should, in theory, allow the poor little airline to pay the required compensations without going bankrupt.
And then they keep the compensation.
They keep your money.
They deny your valid claim.
The only guaranteed way to get what you are entitled to receive is to take them to a small claims court.
This is a breach of the Wallentin-Hermann v Alitalia precedence and the Regulation (EC) 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of Europe (11 February 2004) which established common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation/long delay.
And here is how Ryanair puts it (one of many versions used over the years):
“We sincerely regret the delay to your recent flight FR____ from ______ to _______ on the __/__/20__, which was due to an unexpected operational fault. It was necessary to delay the departure of this flight until the fault was rectified and the aircraft was cleared for operation.”
“However, as this delay was outside of Ryanair’s control due to extraordinary circumstances, we regret to advise that no compensation is due under EU261”
(Ryanair Customer Service)
The Guardian reported on this over five years ago:
http://www.theguardian.com/money/2009/mar/21/airline-ticket-justice-compensation
Like we said, every single passenger of Ryanair pays a special (supposedly perfectly legal) fee in order for the airline to pay the few customers who are entitled to receive the compensation. This means Ryanair collects millions of Euros each month from these extra fees alone. Then, when it’s time to compensate the small number of passengers who have been severely delayed by Ryanair and those people who have not been flown anywhere at all, the carrier simply sends them one of the generic messages of denial. They often do this even after they attempt to charge the affected customers extra to fly them home.
This low-fare airline alone then adds the EU261 fees to its profits.
Quite a few of Ryanair’s customers should have received the funds. They were fully entitled to get compensated. Yet the airline keeps these funds too. It’s not that hard to see why the courts and authorities consider Ryanair to be the most dishonest airline. Now that you have access to this knowledge, you should do the obvious: Boycott Ryanair until these issues get sorted out.
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If you wish to get your money back, ignore the generic ‘No’ emails and tell Ryanair the following:
“In keeping with the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (case C-549/07 Wallentin-Hermann v Alitalia), Ryanair’s reasons for refusing my claim are not valid. I hereby instruct Ryanair to transfer the funds I am legally entitled to receive. Should the airline elect to withhold the said compensation from me for longer than 14 days, legal proceedings will commence on the 15th day. No further notice will be given.”
If they refuse again, regardless of what new excuse(s) they fabricate, do not communicate with them. Wait for two weeks and fill up this simple form. If you would like to receive free help from Boycott Ryanair volunteers, Contact Us. We will ask you a few questions and send you personalised step-by-step instructions on how to get things done fast and stress-free.
(GeekTeam: the ‘form’ will lead to item 21 from the Link list, Contact Us will lead there)
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