Ryanair making it difficult for customers to get refunds

The Commission for Aviation says today that for cancelled flights you are entitled to a refund of the ticket price. This should be refunded within 7 days. Passengers are under no obligation to accept vouchers , it has said. If people do not receive a refund within 7 days can make a complaint to the airline and if no satisfactory response is received within 6 weeks then the complaint can be made on www.flightrights.ie for flights due to fly from any Irish Airport , it says.
 
I have been trying to navigate around website to see how to apply for refund instead of voucher if anyone could advise. On refund page it says airline not correct but booked with Ryanair, am on Ryanair refund request page! As daddy Ireland asked - is the only option the chat now button (I got tired after an hour waiting for any response).
 
Ryanair are breaching the Regulation and are playing silly buggers to induce people to forego their rights and their money.

It's worth noting that member states are required to have sanctions in place for airlines that breach the Regulation. From EU Regulation 261/2004, Article 16.3: "The sanctions laid down by Member States for infringements of this Regulation shall be effective, proportionate and dissuasive."

The "effective, proportionate and dissuasive" formula of words has a specific meaning in European Law which was set out in the Von Colson case back in the 1980s. It means that citizens must have an accessible remedy for a breach and must receive effective compensation for any breach. That compensation must not be purely nominal, and must be sufficient to act as an effective disincentive for breaching the Regulation. If a member state fails to put such a system in place, then the citizen may secure compensation from the State.
 
I read somewhere that refunds would be given when COVID19 no longer existed - whenever that happens! I think it was an Irish Times article.

found it.

“In a new statement to The Irish Times on Wednesday, Ryanair stresses that it will give affected customers “all of the options set out under EU regulations, including free moves and refunds in the form of cash or vouchers”. Cash refunds are taking longer than normal to arrange because “we are having to process 10 times the usual volume and have fewer staff available due to social-distancing measures”.
It says it is offering vouchers and free date changes “as these are automated and would give customers an alternative”, adding that “customers who choose not to accept a free move or voucher will be refunded in due course, once this unprecedented crisis is over. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and we thank our customers for bearing with us.”



Wednesday 22 April Conor Pope article in Life and Style.
 
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My approach to this is that it will have to be solved at a global level.

People should flood www.flightrights.ie saying that there is no facility on the website to get a refund.

I presume that they will direct Ryanair to fix the problem.

I am very tolerant of delays during the current crisis and would not expect any airline to meet the 7 days time limit. But Ryanair should not make it impossible for people to make a claim for a cash refund.

Brendan
 
This is a good idea.


Ask your credit card company to do a charge back.

If this happened a lot, then the credit card companies might tell Ryanair to do it themselves.

Brendan
 
In fairness, Ryanair can be credited with democratising air travel. That said, air travel is a disproportionate polluter so that may not be the best thing.

In any event, there are so many people that have had, at some stage or other, really bad experiences with them. In my opinion, it seems that they try to be customer focussed but on occasion, a magnetic pull to act very poorly comes to the fore and this is yet another example of this phenomenon.
 
I got and returned the email to Ryanair looking for a cash refund when my flight in mid April was cancelled.

I am not one of those people who have received any email now offering a voucher in lieu of the cash refund.

Has everybody received one of the voucher emails who previously were offered a cash refund?
 
Has everybody received one of the voucher emails who previously were offered a cash refund?

I have. I think that they are just stalling in the hope that the rules are changed so that they are not forced to give refunds anymore. I'm going to start sending complaints and requesting charge backs. 4 billion in cash and hoping they can get away with murder???
 
I have just received an email from Ryanair offering me a full refund for my cancelled May flight or re routing option. I have applied for a refund on the link provided and I will have it in due course. That sounds positive..
 
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