Ryanair backs down in flight delay cases

PASSENGER COMPENSATION:RYANAIR HAS paid compensation of more than €6,000 to three customers who took a court action after their flight was cancelled.

Dublin District Court awarded the maximum amount allowed under EU regulations, together with expenses and interest, in three cases arising from the cancellation of a Ryanair flight from London Stansted to Carcassonne, in France, in September 2007.

The decision brings to an end a two-year battle by the customers to obtain compensation and sets a marker for other pending cases.

The customers involved initially tried to seek redress personally from the airline. When this was unsuccessful they engaged EUclaim, a Dutch company that fights compensation claims on behalf of disgruntled passengers. It in turn employed a Dublin legal firm, Lavelle Coleman, to process contested cases involving Irish and British passengers.

The three cases were proceeding through the District Court in Dublin, where a hearing date had been scheduled for this month. After Ryanair opted not to defend the cases, they were settled and withdrawn from the court. The airline is contesting a fourth claim being taken by Lavelle Coleman on behalf of passengers.

The same firm recently settled claims with British Airways for 23 passengers in relation to a flight from Heathrow to Lisbon last year.

Lavelle Coleman claims the cases show that airlines have no choice but to engage with dissatisfied passengers who suffer flight cancellations or long delays.

"These settlements are a huge boost to airline passengers in Ireland who are affected by the cancellation of their flight," says Michael Rattenbury, associate solicitor with Lavelle Coleman.

"Airlines now appear to accept that passenger compensation claims under the EU regulations have to be met with a reasonable response, and that proactively dealing with these claims is the only way of approaching them."

Rattenbury expressed disappointment that the claims had been ongoing since 2007. "It is hoped that these cases will be important in starting up a dialogue with the airlines, particularly in Ireland, with a view to streamlining future passenger-compensation claims, thus eliminating the need for litigation."

More than 200 Ryanair passengers, in 120 separate groups of travellers, have asked EUclaim to seek compensation on their behalf. Passengers are entitled to up to €600 each when their flights are cancelled or subject to long delays, and they can also claim food, accommodation and other expenses.

Airlines do not have to compensate passengers where problems are caused by "extraordinary circumstances", such as bad weather, strikes or security threats. Carriers also tend to claim exemption for technical problems and difficulties with air-traffic control.