Claiming for a Flight Delay

[ahenry]

Six weeks ago, I was on a Ryanair flight to Lisbon. They didn't
have a plane and crew in place and had to fly one in from somewhere
else. We ended up landing 3 hours 5 minutes late.

There is a nice tool to send in a claim at
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel ... solvertool

Initially, Ryanair rejected my claim, saying that the flight had only
been 3 hours late. However, http://www.flightstats.com/ gave
the delay as 3 hours 5 minutes.

There was a ruling a couple of years ago, where the "arrival time"
for a flight was defined as the time when the aircraft doors open,
and not when it has touched down.

Claims against Ryanair can be looked into by
https://www.theretailombudsman.org.uk
I put in a claim with them two weeks ago, and Ryanair have just
agreed to pay the €400 compensation.

There are companies which will offer to handle the claim for you, and
take a percentage of the compensation, but with these two sites,
it was free and fairly easy.

It does feel a bit odd to get €400 compensation for a £50 flight. However,
the rules have been in place for long enough for them to buy more planes
and hire more staff, or to drop a few services to give themselves extra cover.

[TaurusTheBull]

Thanks for that ahenry, very informative.

I am due to take my first ever Ryanair flight next month, and I am already fed up with them and their endless attempts to squeeze more money out of customers. It seems that the only way to avoid a check-in charge, for example, is to do it within 4 days of the flight!

Your experience is enlightening. However, I suspect that in the light of the much-mooted Brexit, many airlines will choose "ignore and delay" tactics, assuming that EU regulations will eventually become inapplicable.

Taurus

[ahenry]

I am due to take my first ever Ryanair flight next month, and I am already fed up with them and their endless attempts to squeeze more money out of customers. It seems that the only way to avoid a check-in charge, for example, is to do it within 4 days of the flight!

I'm usually on expenses when I fly. Paying for speedy boarding means that I can take an extra carry on bag and pick a seat. I usually go for a window seat about row 20, to hopefully get an empty seat next to me. It also means I can check in 30 days beforehand. "Speedy boarding" does also mean extra time spent queuing on the stairs, when the gate staff decide to get everyone through the boarding pass check, so they can get off to their coffee break, before the plane is ready.

Generally I find Ryanair flights are pretty punctual, and I like their focus on getting people on and off their planes as quickly as possible, so they can use their expensive plane with some other customers. They have steps built into the plane, so they don't need to hang around waiting for the ground crew.

This was the first flight out of about 100 which has been significantly delayed. They have cancelled 3 of these flights. Two were when there was a strike from French air traffic controllers. The other was in the morning when a snow storm was coming. They cancelled all their flights for the day, when other airlines were still flying, because heavier snow was predicted later on, and they might have had ended up with planes and crew in the wrong places.

Ryanair would rather you didn't take checked in luggage, and they price it accordingly. I don't try and use them for connecting flights, and if they fly to an airport that isn't near where I want to go, or that has poor public transport connections, I don't use it. I aim to get to the airport in plenty of time, as I'm sure that they are not going to risk a delay for their plane for anyone who is running late.

[Slarti]

I am due to take my first ever Ryanair flight next month

Word of warning then, very soon after landing the play a bugle call - the one I associate with American horse racing - and they play it loudly!

If I am asleep or reading, usually am, it makes jump out of my skin.


Bloody annoying, it is.
Slarti