 Poster: A snowHead
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In mid March, Ryanair cancelled our flight back from France to Scotland a few days before we were due to fly home. They gave us two options: 1. get a refund, or 2. rebook onto the next available Ryanair flight, which was 3 days later.
Agreeing to a refund waives your right to claim any compensation or costs, so isn't really a sensible option if you are already on holiday. We therefore selected option 2; however, we couldn't delay our return by 3 days (for a start, my partner works for the NHS and needed to return to work), so we had to pay for alternative flights with a different airline, to London, plus onward transport to Scotland the following day.
My question is, what can we expect to recover re. costs, and how should we go about it?
So far we've submitted a claim for EU261 compensation, as the new return flight which Ryanair offered was much later than the original flight. This would have covered our extra costs - and this option worked for us in a very similar situation following the Ryanair strikes a couple of years ago. However, Ryanair have this time rejected the claim on the basis that coronavirus is an "exceptional circumstance" beyond their control - although I would argue that the flight was actually cancelled due to lack of demand, as the flight 3 days later still operated. Anyone like to add an opinion / are they just fobbing us off?
If the consensus is that the EU261 compensation tactic is going to fail, we could instead try to claim all our individual rebooked transport costs (flight to London + plus transport back to Scotland). This would be on the basis that Ryanair failed to offer any re-routing options, and we had to just go ahead and book them as Ryanair were uncontactable (high volume of customers). Again, chances of success?
I also find it mildly amusing that Ryanair have twice managed to reply so swiftly (within a matter of hours) to reject our compensation request, given how busy they must be at the moment!
(P.S. I realise that there are bigger fish to fry at the moment. However, recouping these costs would help cover some of my lost earnings, since all my work is cancelled at the moment.)
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I am due to fly with Ryanair in April and so far have had an email merely saying they expect to ground most of their fleet, offering me the chance to rebook with out a rebooking fee. I have tried to request a refund but get a message saying my flight has not been cancelled. I am waiting to see what happens as we get nearer the date!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| Quote: |
Ryanair have this time rejected the claim on the basis that coronavirus is an "exceptional circumstance" beyond their control - although I would argue that the flight was actually cancelled due to lack of demand, as the flight 3 days later still operated. Anyone like to add an opinion / are they just fobbing us off?
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The macro environment was indeed “exceptional”. But there’s no blockade or airport closing.
Don’t know if this makes a difference.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Sorry for the thread bump, looking for some advice. My family’s Ryanair flight from Verona was cancelled this morning, fog, incoming flights were diverted to Bergamo. I had already checked alternative Ryanair flights from northern Italy this weekend as I could see the cancellation coming, naturally all booked up with it being half term etc, so when the cancellation email landed advising to try to rebook or accept a refund (glossing over the full EU261 wording, though they did attach a copy), I was ready and prepared to book the last 3 reasonably priced seats with any carrier out of Milan tomorrow to our destination (need to be back for work/school).
Subsequently, over a hour later, Ryanair sent a chaser email stating they are running an alternative flight from Verona to our destination tomorrow morning (but still allowing non-existent rebooks or refunds). By that stage I’d already hired a car and we were en route to Milan, and we’re sticking with that plan (no refund available from alternative carrier and the weather is forecast to be exactly the same in Verona tomorrow morning as today).
Where does the mass wisdom think I stand regarding partial/full compensation under EU261? (I know Ryanair’s track record on this) Concerns are the fog factor (they will likely claim extraordinary circumstances?) and the late notification of alternative VRN flight.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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EU261 compensation prob wont cover bad weather as it would safety of the plane and passengers at risk & not under RyanAir control.
As you said the incoming flights was diverted, then RyanAir are not at fault if they have been stopped from landing due to weather.
I would have thought you would be able to get a refund for the cancelled flight though - at the very least the airport tax element since you did not fly!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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@DidierCouch, were flights leaving Verona or was everything grounded? If it was just incoming flights that were delayed/rerouted, then you might be eligible for compensation. The "extraordinary circumstances" have to apply to the actual flight you were supposed to be on. Not having a plane because the inbound flight was cancelled doesn't necessarily get Ryanair off the hook. They will undoubtedly try to claim that it does, at least at first, so you may have to push quite hard. But if flights were departing, then at the very least they should have offered you to reroute via another flight.
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@mgrolf, flights which had a plane overnight at VRN seemed to get away fine. First flight of the day (Air Dolomiti to Frankfurt), which would have been in the worst conditions, a real peasouper, took off and landed on time. And by about an hour after our takeoff time, some flights had landed, as became clear when we were shepherded into the arrivals baggage reclaim to retrieve our bags.
All incoming flights in the early part of the day (mainly Ryanair and Thomson) seemed to divert to Bergamo after a few circuits. Ryanair cancelled all outgoing, Thomson bussed their passengers to Bergamo to get their flights.
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@DidierCouch, were there any other flights leaving at about the same time as yours, that went? If so, then I think you have a decent chance of getting something.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Plot thickens. Aer Lingus landed a flight at 09:36, easyJet landed their first scheduled flight of the day at 10:32. Ryanair were still diverting flights scheduled to land in Verona between those times (or after the latter) without even making an approach.
@mgrolf, the return legs of the Aer Lingus and easyJet flights did operate, albeit somewhat delayed (c. 2 hours)
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| DidierCouch wrote: |
Plot thickens. Aer Lingus landed a flight at 09:36, easyJet landed their first scheduled flight of the day at 10:32. Ryanair were still diverting flights scheduled to land in Verona between those times (or after the latter) without even making an approach.
@mgrolf, the return legs of the Aer Lingus and easyJet flights did operate, albeit somewhat delayed (c. 2 hours) |
In that case you have an argument for compensation.
If you can find the Tail number/plane number you can probably see its schedule for the day & see if its an operational failing.
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