Airline finally tells passengers about their cancellation rights
RYANAIR rushed to assure passengers of their rights yesterday after the UK aviation watchdog threatened legal action against the airline.
In a flights fiasco that has been going on for two weeks, Ryanair informed passengers that they have the right to be re-accommodated on another airline if Ryanair cannot offer them a suitable alternative flight either the same day or the next day.
Ryanair said it was using flights from rivals including easyJet, CityJet, Aer Lingus, Norwegian, Jet2, Vueling and Eurowings to carry passengers who suffered flight disruption.
If such options were not available, then Ryanair said it would provide alternative transportation, such as by bus, rail, car hire, or an alternative flight, “with the cost of this comparable transport ticket to be assessed on a case-by-case basis”.
It also confirmed that passengers were entitled to reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred as a result of flight cancellations, as long as the airline received an EU261 expense claim form from customers, supported by original receipts.
The chief executive of the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority, Andrew Haines, said this week that he was “furious” with Ryanair over the manner in which the airline announced on Wednesday that it was cancelling 18,000 more flights across 34 routes over the winter.
Yesterday, Mr Haines said
the authority was reviewing the latest Ryanair correspondence to ensure all its requirements had been met.
Ryanair has spent two weeks firefighting a public relations nightmare after it attributed a raft of flight cancellations to a “mess-up” with its rostering that left it short of pilots in coming weeks.
Hundreds of thousands of passengers have been affected.
The Civil Aviation Authority blasted Ryanair for what it said was “persistently misleading passengers” regarding their rights when their flights were cancelled.
“We have made this crystal clear to Ryanair, who are well aware of their legal obligations, which include how and when they should reroute passengers, along with the level of information it provides its passengers,” said Mr Haines.
In Ireland, passenger rights are dealt with by the Commission for Aviation Regulation (CAR).
Ryanair said that it met with the CAR yesterday and agreed with the body to implement steps necessary to make passengers aware of their rights under the European Union’s EU261 compensation regulations.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar also weighed in on the flights chaos.
“People’s and passengers’ rights need to be protected, so if anyone has had a flight cancelled, any airline, in this case Ryanair, needs to provide them with an alternative way of getting to where they need to go or refunding them in full,” he said yesterday.
“I’d absolutely expect the airlines to do that and if they don’t do that, I’d expect the Commission for Aviation Regulation to make sure they do.”
The CAR – which only deals with flights departing from Ireland – said yesterday that it had “secured agreement” from Ryanair that it would comply with the relevant regulations.
“Ryanair aims to deal with your application within four to six weeks. If you do not agree with its decision, you can refer the matter to the commission,” it added.