CAR News Archive

Ryanair Cancellation of Flights

The Commission for Aviation Regulation is the national enforcement body for flights that depart from airports in Ireland.

Belgium.  If your flight departs from an airport in Belgium please contact Tel: + 32 2 277 44 00 Fax: + 32 2 277 40 73 passenger.rights@mobilit.fgov.be   www.mobilit.belgium.be

Denmark. If your flight departs from an airport in Denmark please contact Tel: +45 7221 8800 Fax: +45 7262 6790 info@tbst.dk   www.tbst.dk

France. If your flight departs from an airport in France please contact Tel: +33 1 58 09 43 21 www.developpement-durable.gouv.fr

Germany. If your flight departs from an airport in Germany please contact Tel.: +49 531 2355 115 Fax: +49 531 2355 9099   fluggastrechte@lba.de    www.lba.de

Italy. If your flight departs from an airport in Italy please contact Tel: +39 06 44596 1 Fax: +39 06 44596 493   cartadiritti@enac.gov.it      www.enac.gov.it

Luxembourg. If your flight departs from an airport in Luxembourg please contact Tel: +352 247 84159   +352 247 84334   Fax: +352 22 16 07        passagersaeriens@eco.etat.lu

The Netherlands. If your flight departs from an airport in the Netherlands please contact Tel: +31 884 890 000   Fax: +31 704 5630 13      www.ILenT.nl

Norway. If your flight departs from an airport in Norway please click contact Tel.: + 47 22 54 60 00 Fax: + 47 22 54 60 01      post@reiselivsforum.no     www.transportklagenemnda.no

Poland. If your flight departs from an airport in Poland please contact Tel.: +48 (22) 520 74 84 Fax: +48 (22) 520 73 47   www.ulc.gov.pl    kopp@ulc.gov.pl

Portugal. If your flight departs from an airport in Portugal please contact Tel. : +351 (21) 842-3500 Fax : +351 (21) 847-3585   dre.pdc@anac.pt    www.anac.pt

Spain. If your flight departs from an airport in Spain please contact Tel.: + 34 91 396 82 10 http://www.seguridadaerea.es

United Kingdom. If your flight departs from an airport in the United Kingdom please contact Tel: +44 20 7453 6888 Fax: +44 20 7240 7071 passengercomplaints@caa.co.uk

Flights
If Ryanair cancels a flight, it must offer you the choice of an alternative flight at the earliest opportunity or at a later date of your choice subject to the availability of seats or a full refund of the ticket.
 
Ryanair is entitled to offer a passenger comparable transport to the final destination if no alternative flight with the carrier is available. When a place is served by several airports, Ryanair may offer a flight to an alternative airport to that originally booked.  Ryanair is then obliged to bear the cost of transferring you to the airport that you had booked or to another close-by destination agreed with you.

Care and Assistance
 
If your agreed rerouted flight departs later than your original, you must be offered care and assistance free of charge while waiting for your rerouted flight– specifically, reasonable meals and refreshments in relation to the waiting time, hotel accommodation in cases where an overnight stay becomes necessary, transport between the airport and place of accommodation and two telephone calls, emails, faxes or telexes.

For example, if as a result your being re-routed following a cancellation, your new time of departure is reasonably expected to be at least the day after the original day of departure, Ryanair should also offer you:

(i) hotel accommodation in cases where a stay of one or more nights becomes necessary, or where a stay additional to that intended by you becomes necessary,
(ii) transport between the airport and place of accommodation (hotel or other).

Where it is not feasible for Ryanair to arrange the care set out above, and you do so yourself, Ryanair should reimburse you for your reasonable receipted expenses upon application to: Ryanair Customer Services Dept., P.O Box 11451, Swords, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Alternatively, you can apply for re-imbursement using the links to the Ryanair claim forms listed below.

 
Compensation
 
Compensation in the event of cancellation depends on a number of factors.

Firstly compensation is payable in the event of a cancellation regardless of whether you have travelled or claimed a refund of your flight if you have received less than two weeks (fourteen days).

Ryanair has said all passengers that had their flights cancelled up to the 28th of October were notified on or before Monday the 18th of September and that any cancellation after October 2nd will not qualify for compensation. Any cancellation between September 10th and October 2nd included which were cancelled due to Ryanair’s scheduling issue will be entitled to compensation.

Ryanair has assessed all the impacted flights within the 14 days and has identified all passengers who qualify for compensation. Ryanair has said that on September 10th and September 12th there were some cancellations due to thunderstorms in Italy and the French ATC strike.  Ryanair has stated these passengers will not be entitled to compensation as these issues were outside of Ryanair’s control. All other flights within the 14 days are entitled to full compensation.

In the event that you have been given notice of the cancellation of more than two weeks (fourteen days) before the scheduled time of departure then you are not entitled to compensation.

Ryanair may not have to compensate you if you are informed of the cancellation between two weeks and seven days before the scheduled time of departure and are offered re-routing, allowing you to depart no more than two hours before the scheduled time of departure and to reach your final destination less than four hours after the scheduled time of arrival
Or

If you are informed of the cancellation less than seven days before the scheduled time of departure and are offered re-routing, allowing you to depart no more than one hour before the scheduled time of departure and to reach your final destination less than two hour after the scheduled time of arrival.
 
Compensation is not payable if Ryanair can prove that the cancellation was caused by an extraordinary circumstance which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures were taken no compensation is payable (e.g. a cancellation due to an air traffic control strike, bird strike or weather conditions that are incompatible with the safe operation of the flight).

Compensation in the event of a cancellation also depends on the distance of the flight and the reason for the cancellation.  The distance of a flight determines the amount of compensation due. If the distance is:
 
1500km or less the amount payable is €250 for example short haul Dublin – Barcelona or Dublin – Milan are less than 1500km.
1500km – 3500km and all EU flights over 3500km the amount payable is €400 for example Dublin – Malaga or Dublin – Faro are over 1500km but less than 3500km.
 
It is very important to note that compensation is distinct from and separate to the notion of reimbursement of expenses and/ or the refund of the cost of an unused flight ticket.
 
 Claims Process
 
If you choose to make a claim for expenses or compensation from Ryanair, you must contact the airline directly.  This is covered in Article 15 of their terms and conditions found on their website.
 
Links to Ryanair claim forms are listed below:

Claiming expenses and compensation - https://eu261expenseclaim.ryanair.com/ 
Claiming compensation only - https://contactform.ryanair.com/?cr=eu261&lg=en&id=78
 
Ryanair aims to deal with your application within 4 to 6 weeks. It is important to remember that Ryanair is not required to pay compensation if the cancellation was outside of their control (extraordinary circumstances).   Once Ryanair has finished dealing with your claim and if you do not agree with their decision, you can refer the matter to:
 
The Commission for Aviation Regulation.
3rd Floor Alexandra House
Earlsfort Terrace
DUBLIN 2
 
Telephone number +353-(0) 1-6611700
apr@aviationreg.ie
www.aviationreg.ie

It is important to remember that we only deal with flights departing from Ireland and that we will not deal with any complaint unless you have first submitted it directly to Ryanair. Details of our complaint process can be found on www.flightrights.ie.

A list of other relevant national enforcement bodies for countries also affected by the recent Ryanair cancellations is available at the top of this page.  Please use the links provided to contact the relevant body for your flight disruption.