Budget Travel - advice needed(Ryan Air)

Hi everyone,

I need some travel advice..

My fiance and I were booked on a single flight with Ryanair at the weekend. When heading through security, it was announced that the flight would be delayed for eight hours. As the next flight with Ryanair was too late, I headed to the desk where the worker said that all she could do would be to refund the flight.

- Will the refund be the total price I paid, or will it be minus the taxes & charges and debit card fee?
- How long will it take?

I had to book a new flight with flybe. This cost us more than the ryanair flight.
We also had train tickets pre-booked on the Stansted express. As we would not be flying into this airport, and flying into Gatwick instead, we had to buy a new set of tickets for the Gatwick Express.

As you can see, Ryanair delaying their flight for 8 hours has made us considerably out of pocket.

What advice do you have for me?

The refund should include the taxes and charges. Not sure about the credit card fee.

Under the EU compensation rules you can opt for reimbursement of the full cost of the ticket if the delay is over 5 hours.

Besides that you won't get anything else from Ryanair.

Please continue to follow the Thread in the Budget Travel Forum.
Thanks..
Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator

Did Ryanair inform you of your rights? They are legally obliged to do this, and if they didn't then they were breaking the law.

Did they offer you, as they are legally obliged to do, the choice between a refund and a re-route to your destination?

If they didn't offer you the choice, and they said that a refund was all they could give you, then they were in breach of the law. They HAVE TO offer you the choice, and if they didn't offer you that choice then any claim against they should succeed (i.e., they should pay for your alternative transport, seeing they didn't give you the choice - if they had given you the choice, and you had opted for the refund, things would be different)

The relevant law is EU Regulation 261/2004, and you may want to use the services of www.euclaim.com to make your claim against Ryanair. Ryanair won't pay. (I have no connection with them - but I've read reports from people who have used them and they seem to do a good job)

Did they offer you, as they are legally obliged to do, the choice between a refund and a re-route to your destination?


This only applies when the flight is cancelled.

The OP said the flight was only delayed 8 hours, (and not cancelled) so Ryanair only have to offer a refund of the original ticket cost if you don't fly.

I'm afraid Ryanair will not pay for the extra costs of the Flybe flight, nor will they refund you any of your rail costs under any normal circumstances.

You're right, I missed one tiny letter...:

when the delay is at least five hours, the assistance specified
in Article 8(1)(a).

I missed the (a). Re-routing is 8(1)(b)

Welcome to Flyertalk topyam !



What advice do you have for me?

At the risk of sounding glib, it would be to NOT fly Ryanair if you have any kind (even distant in time) of connection.

All you have to do is sroll back a coupe of pages or do a search for Ryanair, and you'll see the consensus is to only book Ryanair if you get one of the super discounted fares, AND do not have to be anywhere OR do not have any connections.

I think Aviatrix and abfab gave you some good advice above.

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