Ryanair passengers hit compensation turbulence

Ryanair passengers hit compensation turbulence
By Euronews
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Complaints against low-cost carrier mount after flight cancellations

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The turbulence continues for Ryanair, after it cancelled more than two-thousand flights over staffing issues.

Complaints are mounting against the low-cost carrier on social media.

Passengers like Belgian Pierre Vanhollebeek, left stranded in Sofia, in Bulgaria, says claiming compensation is turning out to be a complete nightmare.

“For the moment, there’s no compensation. I went to the Ryanair site for a refund of my flight, in addition to compensation for additional costs. And it’s the same thing for several hours. The website gives me an error message,” he told Euronews.

“So I can’t access the reimbursement and compensation pages. I am completely blocked for now.”

In a statement, Ryanair’s sincerely apologised to all passengers. It told Euronews that it has taken on extra staff to deal with compensation and refund requests, and that it is doing everything it can to process those requests quickly.

CEO Michael O’Leary said on Monday (18 September 2017): “We will not be trying to claim exceptional circumstances. This is our mess up. When we make a mess in Ryanair, we come out with our hands up. We try to explain why we made the mess. We will pay compensation to those passengers entitled to compensation which will be those flights that are cancelled over the next two weeks.”

Ryanair has said that it is braced for 20 million euros in compensation claims and five million in lost fares. But analysts say the damage will be deeper.

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