Ryanair has welcomed a decision by London’s Court of appeal which restricts the consumers right to instruct a third party to act on their behalf. The decision was handed down earlier this year, and means that consumers are required to submit the claim to the airline directly, before instructing a third party to help them.
Ryanair has been able to do this by placing a clause within their Terms and conditions, which defines how to claim against them.
“15.2.2 Passengers must submit claims directly to Ryanair and allow Ryanair 28 days or such time as prescribed by applicable law (whichever is the lesser) to respond directly to them before engaging third parties to claim on their behalf…”
So what’s the Problem?
The main issue that seems to arise is that the likelihood of someone reading the terms and conditions when they book a flight to find out how to claim is pretty slim. The second issue is that if your flight is delayed, cancelled or you are denied boarding after the event it is unlikely that Ryanair is unlikely to inform that you that a) you are entitled to claim compensation and b) how to claim the compensation. The Regulation EC 261/2004 states:
“(20) Passengers should be fully informed of their rights in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay of flights so that they can effectively exercise their rights.”
The next issue that Ryanair has had a murky past when it comes to dealing with Passenger complaints and they have been known to avoid paying passengers when compensation is applicable. Due to this fact it is likely that someone who thinks that they may have a claim even when denied by Ryanair will want to take it further. Due to the restrictions applied to third parties by Ryanair, there are fewer claims management companies and Solicitors who are willing to take these claims on. So the consumer is then left to either submit the claim to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), to a nominated Alternative Dispute Resolution service (ADR), both of which can be a lengthy process or Issue court proceedings against Ryanair themselves.
Due to the above, the number of individuals who will be entitled to compensation but never receive it will be likely quite high.
My view on Ryanair’s terms and conditions are that they are very well written and thought out deterrence to paying out compensation disguised as a way to protect their customers from third parties charging ‘excessively’ to recover compensation on their behalf.
If you believe you have a claim against Ryanair you can find their claim form by visiting their site
If you have submitted your claim to Ryanair and failed to get a response or require assistance with taking the claim further. Please visit our general guide to regulation 261/2004
