AIBU - for expecting Ryanair to have paid out my compensation for volcanic ash delays last April?

[westcoastdad]

We were stuck in Gran Canaria last April due to the volcanic ash, the ash clouds arrived 2 days after arriving in the Canaries.

Long story short, our 7 day holiday turned into a 19 day holiday until Ryanair could provide us with a flight back to Scotland. We had internet access and heard that Ryanair had to pay out for 'reasonable' expenses until they could fly us home. I'm sure you're all familiar with the scenario's.

I negotiated 12 nights all inclusive with the hotel for ?900 for 2 adults and two daughters 9 & 10. A good deal and very reasonable under the circumstances.

We submitted the claim to Ryanair on their claim form which had to be faxed to a Dublin number, we faxed a paid invoice from the hotel showing the bill paid and with their VAT number etc.

We've heard nothing, absolutely nothing and Ryanair won't discuss it on the phone and do not give any method of contact to discuss the claim

Am I Being Unreasonable in thinking that they should have paid out by now?

Easyjet paid me back within a week of the event. They sent me an apologetic email first to say they expected delays in responding due to the high level of queries post-eruption (understandable) so I was perfectly willing to wait a good month, but it was done swiftly and painlessly.

YANBU.

I was in Tenerife. Monarch got us back (though it wasn't easy getting hold of them) and paid some of our expenses, ages and ages ago.

As Ryanair have put a surcharge on their flights to pay for the volcano, yes they should have coughed up by now. They are a disgusting company who treat their customers with contempt.

Do not fly with them.

I'm so pleased we managed to get seats on a different flight! Dh and I are both self employed, if we had been stuck out there for an extra 2 weeks it would have cost us £5k in lost earnings, and then things like kennel fees, parking, and other costs while we were away

We had kennel fees to pay as well :-(.

We were delighted though that Prestwick airport waived the extra car parking charges we had incurred, that was good customer service on their part. :-)

I would definitely go through the Small Claims Court.

We flew with easyJet last summer and had a nightmare with last minute cancelled flights. Ended up incurring costs of approx £500 which easyJet had said would be reimbursed.

After over 5 months of phone calls, letters etc I issued them with a claim throught the Small Claims Court (cost us about £70 I think) and they rang me with an offer within 1 week of receiving the claim. After some wrangling we settled for £800 (our claim was for £1200). It's a very simple process.

The problem is that Ryanair are not a UK registered company, they are Irish.

I'm fairly certain that I will have no luck taking an Irish airline to the small claim court in Scotland. I will check with a tame lawyer though.

A record delivery letter similar to the one above but saying that if you do not receive a response within 7 days of the DATE of the letter then small claims proceedings will be issued without further notice and all costs with be recovered against them. that usually does it. If they are still being bastards do the small claims online and remember to get the court costs off them.

I used the Small Claims online, and you are reimbursed the costs. I'm pretty sure there is a Scottish and Irish version, although no idea which you would use.

I threatened to go through small claims numerous times (including by recorded delivery letter) and got no response. I was amazed at how quick the response was once they had actually been issued with the claim.

westcoastdad, we have a small claims court here in in Ireland too. Don't see why you shouldn't use it?
info here

Have Ryanair paid out to anyone? I think that is your starting point tbh - if they are treating it as an "act of God" and not paying anyone then I wouldn't waste time on it. If they have paid anyone there is precedence and you might have a case.

In terms of AIBU, I think anyone booking Ryanair needs to understand Michael O'Leary's attitude to customer service (i.e. what customer service) and you have to be able to afford an alternative if they let you down. I have booked a flight with them next month as part of a fairly complicated itinery from Australia but I have made sure that I have the funds/time to make other arrangements if necessary.

(strangely finding myself an apologist for Ryanair again!) They have definitely paid out already to some people...my cousins got their expenses back with no hassle at all. They just had to send all receipts (VAT ones/credit card ones etc) and got it all back no quibbles.

Bucharest, you are really Michael O'Leary, aren't you?

YANBU.....but maybe a BU for expecting that Ryanair will play fair and pay out without a fight or a delay....they won't let go of the money easily

They dont have to compensate you anything. It was out of their hands as it was an "act of god". Some airlines where giving out "good gesture" tokens. But they dont legally have to compensate anything. The EU rules stand if you are delayed/stranded through the airlines fault. This was not the airlines fault so it does not stand with this case. You can take it further but I'am pretty positive you wont get anywhere. Just like if a Tornado hit us your insurance would claim it was an act of god and would avoid paying out.

So they are NOT doing anything wrong..

(of course I haven't mentioned the first time I ever flew with them....landing at a different airport to the one predicted, and after 3 hrs stuck there, one bus arrived to transport 250 people back to the original airport)

Ryanair backed down if this report is correct, so probably worth pursuing in the small claims court

"Asking for?" "anyone who gets any sort of refund is lucky"?

For god's sake, I can understand if all claims were being waived, but do some people on this thread think whether companies pay compensation for reasonably incurred, legit costs should be left open to the discretion of how kind companies can be? Because if you're waiting on kindness and compassion, you'll be waiting a long time.

OP, you've been given some really good advice on here which I hope you follow. Just ignore the posters who are basically advising you either: 1) it's a small amount so who cares (maybe it is to them ) or 2) you're not entitled to anything.

No wonder British consumers have traditionally fit the stereotype of having no backbone if they're taking shite advice like the above from some MN posters.

Thanks chipmonkey for that link.

Thanks for all the constructive suggestions, I've fired off the sample letter given by heliumballoons and I'll await a response.

Without opening a religious debate, there is no such thing as an 'Act of God' , I have a legal right to be paid compensation as agreed by the EU.

Many thanks for your all your help. :)

Yeah, you have to go via the small claims route in the Irish courts.
They'll laugh you out of the English ones.

"They'll laugh you out of the English ones."

They would, I live in Scotland :)

Good news is that they have now refunded us in full! Yay! :o

Many thanks to Heliumballoons, I'm crediting your letter as making the difference.

Thanks to all who posted.

Send them a letter recorded delivery as they may be arsey and say that emails and faxes aren't sufficient. A recorded letter is guaranteed to get their and can't be ignored. Include in it all copies of previous correspondence, ask for an acknowledgement by return post, and request a response within 14 days or you will instruct your solicitor further.

We were in a similar situation and got paid all the compensation we asked for from Ryanair and it didn't take that long, I think sorting out what forms we needed to fill in and send to the longest time. They are hard to communicate with, I think we did it all by post in the end.

Jet 2.com paid us back £1000 for our overstay...last July!!!! So goodness knows what Ryanair are playing at :O

at Ciskes week, they made me wait two months