Ryanair has failed to make it sufficiently clear to thousands of passengers that many are entitled to €250 compensation in addition to ticket refunds or alternative flights after it cancelled 2,100 flights at short notice, a French consumer group has said.
Some 315,000 customers were affected when the airline cancelled the trips in September and October. Several routes to or from French airports were included.
Consumer group UFC-Que Choisir has written to Ryanair warning it “has not made passengers’ rights clear” and must do more to tell them compensation is obligatory and comes on top of a ticket refund.
It has also passed its complaint on to the DGCCRF French consumer protection agency for possible legal action. UFC-Que Choisir spokesman Morgan Bourven said: “Very few people know this €250 compensation rule. We estimate only 10% of those entitled to it made a claim in 2016.”
Under regulation EU261 anyone who has a flight cancelled due to the airline’s fault with less than 14 days’ notice can ask for compensation of €250 for flights under 1,500km into and within Europe, and €400 for flights between 1,500 and 3,500km.
Connexion reader Tricia Howell from the Dordogne said her flight to Stansted for a wedding was cancelled with six days’ notice but Ryanair’s helpline said she could have either a refund or compensation, not both.
“Even when I tried to claim compensation the Ryanair website would not recognise our flight number. We are furious. It was just one stress after another and the extra costs just mounted up”.
Malcolm Cartledge, also in the Dordogne, said when he spoke to Ryanair’s chatline they refused point-blank to pay extra. “We were on a Mediterranean cruise when Ryanair said our flights in six days were cancelled.
“It offered new flights a week later but that did not work. I spent £24 on ship internet to get alternative flights and fares of £74 on another airline – but when I asked Ryanair to cover costs they said ‘afraid not’.”
Many passengers are also discovering that they are not covered by travel insurance.
Passengers must ask Ryanair directly for compensation and, if not satisfied, can complain to France’s Direction Générale de l’Aviation Civile (DGAC) or, if booked in the UK, to the Aviation ADR (aviationadr.org.uk), the airline dispute scheme.
The EU has a form which passengers can use to send a demand for compensation. This must be sent to the airline, not to the EU. See: ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/passengers/air_en
In France you have five years from the date of the flight cancellation to make a claim.
Civil Aviation Authority chief executive Andrew Haines said: “We have written to the airline to clarify their legal obligations and seek assurances on alternative flights with other airlines.
“In the last six years we have taken action against a number of airlines, including Ryanair, for a range of issues, including non-payment of compensation.”
UK aviation minister Lord Callanan wrote to the airline saying it must be “unequivocal in its communications to its passengers about their rights relating to compensation”.
Which? magazine said Ryanair’s approach “falls woefully short” of legal requirements.
Ryanair said it fully complied with all EU261 legislation and that all affected customers had been offered alternative flights, refunds and EU261 notices.
Its website says it “understands cancellations may cause distress and we will accommodate your options wherever possible, while complying with EU Regulation 261/2004”.
However unless passengers click on EU Regulation 261/ 2004 and read the small print, they are not told that this includes compensation.
Ryanair blamed a change to pilots’ holiday rotas for the disruption which affected around 315,000 travellers and CEO Michael O’Leary apologised for “a mess of our own making”.
Christophe Tharot, president of French airline pilots’ union Syndicat National des Pilots de Lignes, said: “I cannot believe a major firm can get their holidays so wrong. Ryanair has been using every excuse to cancel flights.”
He claimed it was down to a shortage of pilots: “Our members don’t work for Ryanair but we have pilots who used to work for them. They have told us working conditions are poor.
“I believe over 50% are not salaried but self-employed or work through agencies, some are not guaranteed enough work and take on second jobs to make ends meet.
“If pilots didn’t have to pay for their uniforms and car parks on top of all that, maybe they could keep staff on.”
Growing low-cost airline Norwegian Air confirmed that 140 pilots have joined it from Ryanair this year and it is looking forward to welcoming more as it is opening up in Dublin, Ryanair’s home base.
Ryanair categorically denied any problems with pilot recruitment and its annual report shows a rise to 4,058 pilots in 2017 from 3,424 in 2016.
Michael O’Leary said it took the decision to cancel flights to “protect the punctuality of the 98% of flights that will be unaffected by these cancellations”.
Morgan Bourven from UFC-Que Choisir, said this was not a credible excuse: “Passengers would prefer to wait an extra 20 minutes rather than have their flight cancelled.”
