eshroom

Hi all.

Stranded in Nice due to a flat tyre on Ryanair to STN last night.

No hotel or refreshments given last night. Plane rescheduled for later today.

Booked a hotel, which I intend to claim back. But have only been offered a 5 Euro meal voucher (overnight delay of over 16 hours) - a cappuccino at NCE is 4 euros.

Under EU261 can I just go to an airport restaurant and claim back my meal expense form Ryanair, given the length of the delay? I understand for a few hours 5 euros would be reasonable, but not for overnight.

On a side note. Many passengers ended up sleeping in the airport, Ryanair unbelievable sometimes, even Easyjet have put me up in a hotel in the past.

Second side note, they can’t weasel out of EU261 in the case of a flat tyre can they?

Ditto

Yes, you should be able to claim any reasonable meal expenses under EU261.
There is no requirement that the airline have to provide meal or hotel vouchers, and so in the case they opt out of it, they will simply have to accept and reimburse your (reasonable) hotel/meal expenses.

By what you describe, it clearly seems to be a win-win situation for Ryan Air, even if they have to pay a bit extra for your hotel, they saved up the money on PAX who weren't aware of their rights and stayed in the airport for the night.

Often1

All depends. Most carriers may a fraction of the face value of a voucher (hotel or meals). I suspect here that you won't have any trouble if your hotel and meals fit the norm for the location. As you will presumably be seeking delay compensation in addition to duty of care, just tack it on and include copies of the receipts.

Tafflyer

5 Euros would never cover meals and drinks for 16 hours in Nice. As long as you remain reasonable for what is close to the location you are staying, I am sure you'll be ok. Ryanair will of course try and give you the run-around but that's just the game they play to try and motivate some passengers to give up their claim. Continue to push, follow the process, stay calm and patient and you will (normally) get what you are owed.

eshroom

So bizarrely they re-imbursed my meal, but not a bottle of water I bought. Sometimes I wonder who's making these decisions...

Separately, they have completely refused my accommodation claim without giving any reason. I shared an airbnb apartment with 2 other travellers, the receipt being in one of their names. Could this be a reason? I have asked for clarification but just received an email saying they stand by their decision to refuse the claim - no reason given.

They did partly reimburse accommodation for the two other travellers stating the full cost "could not be considered a reasonable expense according to the duration of the delay". They reimbursed them 80 euros per passenger out of a cost of 221.50 euros per passenger.

Unfortunately, we were kept in the terminal waiting for accommodation to be provided until 23:30 (when we were told they would be providing none), after which time the only place we found was not very cheap (though not outrageous by Nice high season standards).

Often1

The lack of a receipt showing a payment by the passenger is likely an absolute reason to deny a reimbursement under EC 261/2004 or your travel insurance and for many employers. As you can imagine and without suggesting that you engaged in fraud, it is easy enough to find an odd receipt from a colleague or somesuch and submit that for reimbursement.

As to your colleagues who only received reimbursement for EUR 80 when they submitted for EUR 221.50, the question is one of reasonableness. The Regulation establishes a "duty of care" and does not specify what that means. On the one hand, if EUR 80 is reasonable for the reasonable traveler at that location at that time, reimbursement at that rate would comply. I might well screen shot the search I did, showing what else was available (presuming that I did not pass up the EUR 80 place for the more expensive place out of my own preferences).

Tafflyer

Nice can be extremely expensive. If all 3 travellers were on the same flight then the person who's name the AirBnB was in should file a reimbursment request for the full amount stating the names and PNR's of the other passengers also staying in the same accommodation. A good rule for the future is as Often1 has stated, screenshot your hotel search from the phone to show that you were in fact being completely reasonable. I suggest that the reason Ryanair did not provide the accommodation directly was that the local staff were not empowered to go outside their "reasonable" budgetary limits. They should not get away with this and you should take them all the way. Just my 2p.

rhysflies

I don't know about Ryanair but Easyjet have a few details online about what they'll pay. It's something like Ł30 per person per day, and they won't cover alcoholic drinks (reasonable, I think). So that's a good estimate of what you can get away with on Ryanair probably.

Often1

Perhaps a better way to look at this is to ask yourself what you would do if EC 261/2004 were repealed, the COC provision regarding roughly the same were deleted, you had no travel insurance and it is leisure travel so will not be reimbursed by anybody. What would you spend?

If it seems reasonable, don't starve yourself. Submit the receipt and if it is paid, all the better. If not, it is funds you would have spent anyway.

eshroom

OK, thanks for the replies, I will push ahead with my claim. My co-passengers were going to give up, but I will help them push their claim too, so hopefully we will all get a full accommodation reimbursed.

Often1, I kind of agree with what your saying, except the last part. I kept the costs reasonable but while Ryanair are bound by EU261/2004 I fully expect them to meet their minimum legal obligations, and in this case they failed to do so both on the day and subsequently.

Tafflyer

If the cheapest available local accommodation cost €600 per night for 3 passengers, then that amount becomes reasonable in my book. Ryanair local staff gave up looking or didn't even bother, presumably because they knew it was outside their internal limits, but that does not relieve the airline of the duty of care. There are no legal limits set and as long as you have got the best deal you could I think insisting on having this refunded is fair.