Agius Saliba calls on EC to protect consumers from discriminatory Ryanair refund cheques

MEP Alex Agius Saliba has asked the European Commission to protect consumers and investigate questionable Ryanair refund cheques that will unfairly penalise consumers with excessive charges undermining their rights under EU law.

The labour MEP explained that Ryanair customers who have booked tickets through travel agents or screen scraper websites are given refund cheques for which they may face charges of up to €100. The low-cost airline company had issued the refund cheques to people whose flights were cancelled during last year’s pandemic and lockdown measures. Consumers can cash the cheques, but only if they go through a German bank, resulting in charges that are either higher or a substantial percentage of their refund cost.

“I believe that going through a German bank that might impose up to €100 charges for the refund of the Ryanair compensation cheques is an excessive, abusive and discriminatory practice that must not be allowed. This especially because in most cases the charges to be paid will be higher than the price of the refund and will create disincentives for people to get their money back.” said the MEP.

“Times of crisis should be when consumers are most protected, not an opportunity to get rid of consumer rights and endanger their safety. I understand the pressure all the companies are under at the moment and that there needs to be a certain degree of flexibility. However, this does not give Ryanair the authority to brush aside their clients’ rights and downgrade and weaken consumer protection. “

In his Parliamentary questions, MEP Agius Saliba asked whether the practices are illegal and go against European law’s spirit and called on the Commission to prohibit such exploitation of consumers who are unjustifiably paying charges for their refund cheques.