Ryanair Lapland flight - people stuck in Rovaniemi

[Outoutoutout]

A hurricane hit Lapland yesterday and obviously lots of flights were cancelled. However people on two Ryanair flights back to the UK have now been stuck at the airport for over 24 hours, despite lots of other flights leaving today. They've only been given 16 euros so far for food and drink and hardly any information about when their flight will go. Anyone know what Ryanair should be doing to look after them?

https://help.ryanair.com/hc/en-gb/categories/12488242270609-Cancelled-Delayed-and-Rescheduled-Flights

That’s not surprising. I think if it’s a weather delay then Ryanair are actuallyliable for very little. And of course they won’t be providing extra out of the goodness of their heart. Ryanair does not have a heart,

That’s assuming it’s classed as extreme weather? Which it sounds like.
https://www.caa.co.uk/passengers-and-public/resolving-travel-problems/delays-and-cancellations/delays/ So they got the vouchers and I suspect the number of people affected means no hotel rooms available?

Its one of the downsides of Ryanair - they’ll do the legal minimum which, if it’s down to weather, is very little!

Travel insurers might be helpful here. They won’t lay on new flights, but they should offer advice and reimburse some costs.

It was extreme weather, but I can't believe Ryanair's only obligation is to give them 16€, and they only got that recently. Nightmare for all those families with young kids.

I would call my travel insurer and see what they can do.

I think the airline usually has a duty of care obligation in circumstances like this - which often boils down to somehow facilitating the provision of accom and food...no comp.

How that's done varies and often can be a case these days of the airline saying sort yourselves out,.keep receipts and we'll refund you later..🙄

Practically regardless of the rules in the event of mass cancellations down to severe weather (sounds like what happened here) it can simply be impossible to find hotel rooms for everybody.

A friend of mine had a Ryan air flight cancelled and NO REPLACEMENT FLIGHT! It was one a week until the next scheduled flight, and so she had a planes trains and automobiles experience across Europe. I won’t use them.

Under UK/EU rules, airline must provide care and assistance no matter what has caused the delay, or refund reasonable costs later. This includes food, drink, accommodation plus transport, means for communications.

The question is what is considered a reasonable cost. According to CAA, "airlines are unlikely to refund you for things like luxury hotels". In Rovaniemi during the airport chaos, a night in a camper van far away from center would cost hundreds of euros, and a real room easily +1000 euros. Even in normal situation, Rovaniemi has luxury prices in Christmas season.

There's a kind of aviation version of realpolitik that can kick in in situations like this, and even providing basic duty of care can become almost impossible.

From what I've read the weather was truley truely dog for a lot of Saturday (including a period of Freezing rain to add to the fun), the terminal got close to overwhelmed and I can imagine even if hotel rooms could have been found at a price finding anything like an adequate amount of ground transport to/from might have been impossible or close to.

Exactly. It’s all very well stamping your feet and demanding your every whim be catered to immediately, but sometimes you just have to understand that it’s impossible.

It’s not a “nightmare” ffs, an inconvenience yes. Uncomfortable for a night, probably.