Ryanair - tour of Germany....

[bogwarrior]

After flying Ryanair many times with no problems, my lucky streak finally came to an end on Monday. My morning flight from Weese (Dusseldorf) to Shannon was cancelled due to fog. Ryanair gave us the option of our money back or a seat on another flight from a different aiport. Most people opted for another flight and had to make their way to frankfurt (or in ryanairs case, an airport 'near' frankfurt) for a flight 12 hours later. Most people hired people-carrier taxis for the 2 1/2 hour drive. Price came to e30 a head if 8 people shared the cab.

As my flight only cost e7.50 (incl tax), I was just glad they offered us seats on another flight. I always thought they would just refund you the money and leave you purchase a new flight yourself (which would probably cost a couple of hundred quid at such short notice).

Interestingly enough, there didn't appear to be much complaints from the passengers. I guess when you sign up for a Ryanair flight, you always run these risks.

I'm flying with them again next week.......fingers crossed.....

 

[DrMoriarty]

I'll leave this post here for a while instead of moving it to Letting off Steam where it belongs, because then you wouldn't be able to post to it anymore, bogwarrior. But you're not really asking a question, are you?

 

[jdork]

If the flight they put you on is more that 5 hours late then I believe the MUST give you a refund of the original flight cost and put you free flight back to Shannon. You should also have received meals and access to a telephone.

[broken link removed]

[Edited by DrMoriarty to fix link]

 

[DrMoriarty]

The terms of that document suggest that bogwarrior (and all the other passengers) may also be eligible for compensation, and certainly for reimbursement of the expenses incurred in travelling to the other airport.

If you're travelling with them again next week, bogwarrior, you might take the opportunity to lodge a written complaint/claim by hand with the most senior Ryanair representative available at the time, and insist on a receipt signed by him/her. Ryanair's customer services/complaints department are not famed for their excellence...!

 

[bogwarrior]

Thanks for the info!

looking at the terms and conditions on the Ryanair website it states :

If your flight is cancelled or before the date of travel, is rescheduled so as to depart more than three hours before or after the original departure time then you will be entitled to a travel credit or full refund of all monies paid if the alternative flight/s offered are not suitable to you and you do not travel.

No mention of the transport costs between airports or meals\refreshments. I'll fire off a complaint\query - if just to see what kind of reply I receive. Let you know how it goes.

btw sorry for posting it here, I suppose it really is a Letting off Steam post, but I haven't got access to that forum.
thanks again.

 

[DrMoriarty]

btw sorry for posting it here, I suppose it really is a Letting off Steam post, but I haven't got access to that forum.
thanks again.

No problem. In any case, some useful information has come out of it, so as far as I'm concerned it's stopped being just a Letting off Steam post.

I don't know how much ice it'll cut this time, but you could try putting it to them that the T&C's quoted above — which you have to 'accept' to purchase their flights — appear to be in breach of EU-wide consumer protection legislation, so that effectively they're (improperly) requiring all their customers to waive an inalienable right of compensation/reimbursement. An analogy could be drawn with shops who put up signs saying 'no returns/refunds', which have absolutely no legal standing or diminishing effect on the customer's legal entitlements under the Sale of Goods Act. Indicate in your letter that you will take the matter further if you don't receive a reasonable response from Ryanair.

 

[Humpback]

Do these new regulations not apply only in situations where the cancellation of flights is outside of the control of the airline concerned - e.g. fog?

The http://www.transport.ie/upload/general/4775-0.pdf (EU document here) (article 4.3) indicates "extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided". This is for cancellations at least.

 

[onekeano]

Do these new regulations not apply only in situations where the cancellation of flights is outside of the control of the airline concerned - e.g. fog?

Think you've hit the nail on the head here Ronan - had a similar experience with Micko a few months ago and had no joy under the "outside our contol" rule. Couldn't be too dissappointed though as Ryanair have saved me a lot of money over the years and hope to benefit further in future.

Roy

 

[Humpback]

It was for this "outside of our control" reasoning that private rail operators started coming up with the "leaves on the track" excuses for delays in the UK. The can't be fined under their contract for delays if it's outside their control.

You'll find the same reason will start to be used here in Ireland if we start privatising our rail services. In fact, I think I've already heard it used by the Luas operator.