Compensation for cancelled Ryanair flight?

pow wow

My 9.15am flight from Cork to Dublin was cancelled at the last minute this morning, supposedly because they had no aircraft to take us (even though the incoming Dublin-Cork plane was just landing outside). Servisair were almost useless and the only alternative offered was a flight at 4.40pm today. All I was given was a photocopied piece of paper with a phone number for Ryanair and was told to call them as Servisair are only ground handling agents and can't help. No-one answers this Ryanair number.

I've been googling and it appears under the new EU Regs I "may" be entitled to additional compensation because of the big delay between my originally scheduled departure time and the timing of the flight I'm due to take later today.

Can anyone advise or has anyone had something similar happen with Ryanair and what was the outcome? They are possibly the most unhelpful airline I've come across so far.

BuffyBot

My 9.15am flight from Cork to Dublin was cancelled at the last minute this morning, supposedly because they had no aircraft to take us (even though the incoming Dublin-Cork plane was just landing outside).

The problem there is that while the plane landed, it doesn't nessecarily mean that it can take off again, especially if there happens to be a technical fault with the plane itself which requires investigation by the airline's staff.

The actual EU regulations are quite loosely worded, and therefore there are many, many loopholes which may mean you don't get any compensation.

Passengers denied boarding against their will should be
able either to cancel their flights, with reimbursement of
their tickets, or to continue them under satisfactory
conditions, and should be adequately cared for while
awaiting a later flight.

While this paragraph might indicate you have a case to claim, this one

This
should be achieved by inducing carriers to inform
passengers of cancellations before the scheduled time of
departure and in addition to offer them reasonable rerouting,
so that the passengers can make other arrangements.
Air carriers should compensate passengers if they
fail to do this, except when the cancellation occurs in
extraordinary circumstances which could not have been
avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken.

would cover Ryanair if it was a technical issue.

All you can do is keep calling the number, and/or contact them using the information here

http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/faqs.php?sect=cnt&quest=custserv

pow wow

Thanks for that. I did notice that there are numerous "get out" clauses for the airlines to avoid actually having to give you anything. Perhaps that was why Servisair was so sketchy with the details!

I'll give it a shot anyway

BuffyBot

After a bit of research on Ryanair.com, it appears a lot of their schedule is out of whack due to problems at Stansted.

ryanair.com wrote:

Cancellations of flights to/from London Stansted Airport – 25th April 2006

Ryanair sincerely apologises on behalf of the British Airports Authority (BAA) for the below flight cancellations which have been caused as a result of the closure of London Stansted Airport last night and the resulting flight diversions due to the failure of Stansted Airports runway lighting.
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OTHER FLIGHT CANCELLATIONS

FR9844 CORK – DUBLIN FR9845 DUBLIN – CORK

Customers booked on any of the above flights may rebook free of charge to travel to or from London Stansted Airport using the web link below. Flights can be changed, via this link up until Friday 28th April 2006. Customers can rebook to travel on flights, subject to availability, up to the 17th May 2006. Please click on the following link to rebook your flights on line (free of charge).

https://www.bookryanair.com/skylights/cgi-bin/skylights.cgi?module=C3&language=EN&mode=CANX

Alternatively, customers who wish to cancel and claim a full refund on their unused flight(s) should use the link below and enter the required details. Upon receipt and approval the refund will be processed within 7 working days back to the original form of payment used in your booking.

http://frd.ie/refweb.asp

Ryanair again sincerely apologises for the disruption caused by these flight cancellations which are outside of our control.