Ryanair Flight Delay Compensation

Up to €600 for Ryanair compensation claims

The amount of your Ryanair compensation will be determined by the distance of your journey.

When your flight spans less than 1,500 km, you could claim €250 in compensation. If your Ryanair flight is anywhere between 1,500 and 3,500km, you could be entitled to €400. Finally, for flights over 3,500km, you can claim a refund of up to €600.

When can you submit a Ryanair compensation claim?

According to EU rules, you can claim compensation for your Ryanair flight disruption if you have experienced any of the following:

Ryanair Flight Delay

Under EU261, Ryanair is required to pay flight delay compensation to its passengers whenever:

• A flight arrives at the final destination with a delay in excess of 3 hours.
• The delay is not caused by any extraordinary circumstances.

Extraordinary circumstances are any events which are outside the responsibilities and capabilities of an airline to prevent and that can lead to a delay or cancellation. Some of the most common cases include bad weather, airport strikes, runway closures and other air traffic control restrictions, as well as bird strikes.

Preventing events such as bad weather is clearly outside of Ryanair’s capabilities. This is why in all of the above-mentioned cases, passengers would not be able to claim Ryanair delay compensation.

Mechanical faults are not considered exceptional circumstances. It is reasonable to expect the low cost airline to monitor their fleet and address any potential issues. This means that passengers can apply for reimbursement from Ryanair.

Finally, in order to claim compensation for a delayed Ryanair flight, passengers need to have arrived at their final destination with a delay of over 3 hours. Unfortunately, spending more than three hours at the airport before departure does not automatically entitle you to compensation. It is the delay upon arrival which ultimately determines your right to reimbursement.

Ryanair Cancelled Flight Compensation

If your flight was cancelled, you could claim Ryanair cancellation compensation. Eligibility, in this case, is determined by a few important criteria:

• You were informed of the cancellation less than 14 days before your flight.

• Your alternate flight arrived at your final destination more than 2 hours late.

• There were no extraordinary circumstances (e.g. bad weather, airport strikes).

Most flights tend to be cancelled on the day of their departure. If, however, you were notified of the cancellation between 7 and 14 days prior to your flight, you need to have arrived at your final destination with an overall delay of 4 hours in order to be eligible for compensation for your cancelled Ryanair flight.

It’s important to remember that if a flight is cancelled, you are entitled either to an alternate flight or to a full refund of your ticket costs. In this sense, refunds and compensation differ. You are entitled to a refund even if there were extraordinary circumstances or if you were notified of the cancellation more than 14 days before flying. You retain this right even if your Ryanair cancelled flight is not eligible for compensation.

Can I cancel my Ryanair flight?

You can change your Ryanair flight, but you cannot cancel it. If for some reason you need to cancel your flight with Ryanair, you would not be able to get a refund from the airline. According to Ryanair’s cancellation policy, you don’t need to inform their customer service that you are not flying.

In addition, if you have booked a return ticket, if you can’t fly on your outbound flight, you can still take the return flight.

Unfortunately, if you decide to cancel your plans with Ryanair, you would not be entitled to EU261 cancelled flight compensation.

Right To Care

In case of a cancellation or delay, Ryanair passengers can make use of their right to care. Under EU Regulation 261, the airline is required to provide passengers with food and drinks for the duration of their disruption.

If your Ryanair flight is delayed, the airline should pay the costs for all necessary purchases until your departure. If your flight was cancelled, the carrier is required to cover your food, drinks and accommodation costs.

In most cases, the airline will offer their passengers vouchers which can be used at the airport. If you go over the Ryanair voucher amount or you don’t receive one, don’t worry. You can still make any additional purchases you would like. If you hold on to your receipts, the airline will have to reimburse you fully for your expenditures.

Can I claim compensation for Ryanair strikes?

After a recent court ruling, airlines have been required to compensate passengers whose flights have been delayed or cancelled due to a wildcat strike.

These encompass all spontaneous Ryanair strikes, provoked by airline restructuring.

In the past all delays due to strikes were considered ineligible for compensation. Ryanair can no longer claim that their management's decisions are extraordinary circumstances.

Their passengers can now submit claims for Ryanair strike compensation if the reason was an unannounced industrial action. Airport strikes and union strikes, however, are still considered exceptional events that the company has no control over. In these cases, passengers’ Ryanair flight delay claims would not be paid.

Can I claim for a Ryanair Missed Connection?

According to EU261, to claim missed connection compensation, your flights need to be on the same booking. Unfortunately, Ryanair does not book flights under one reservation. So if you are connecting flights and a Ryanair causes you to miss your outbound flight, you would not be able to get a refund for your next flight.

How to claim compensation from Ryanair?

If you’ve had a Ryanair disruption in the last three years, you can choose between three ways in which you could claim your compensation.

You can claim without any external help

You could approach Ryanair on your own and ask for your flight delay compensation. However, it is very important to have a working knowledge of EU Regulation 261 and any domestic laws on passenger rights.

Moreover, remember to be patient. This can often be a long and tiresome process. It involves a significant amount of paperwork and back and forth with the airline.

In addition, by claiming on your own, you could be reducing your chances of success. Lawyers and claim agencies can provide very useful legal expertise or simply do all of the work on the passenger’s behalf. Unfortunately, many passengers who decide to claim on their own expend significant time and energy without being able to claim their Ryanair refund.

You can hire a lawyer

Alternatively, you could ask a lawyer to assist you. A law firm can provide you with valuable advice about claiming your Ryanair refund or compensation.

Before approaching a law firm, however, be aware that working with one may not significantly affect the amount of hassle involved. You would likely have to attend a number of meetings, hold phone calls and fill-out a lot of paperwork.

The biggest risk when claiming compensation from the airline (Ryanair in this case) with a lawyer is that you would have to pay them for their services regardless of whether they helped you or not.

Get help from SkyRefund to claim your Ryanair flight delay compensation

SkyRefund will take all of the necessary steps to make sure that you receive your delay compensation from Ryanair.

Using SkyRefund’s services, you can receive all of the expert legal advice that a lawyer provides but without having to pay us if Ryanair do not pay your compensation. You only need to submit your flight details (the flight number and flight date) and we will take it from there.

We partner with a leading European aviation law firm, so we are ready to take legal action if Ryanair refuses to pay your rightful EU261 compensation for denied boarding, flight delay or cancellation.

About Ryanair

Since its inception, Ryanair has experienced a remarkable transformation. From a regional Irish airline attempting to disrupt the British Air/Aer Lingus co-ownership of the Dublin- London route, it has become Europe’s largest airline.

This resounding success is likely due to Michael O’Leary. At the time, he was one of Ryanair’s senior financial and tax advisors, and now-- its CEO. After witnessing the “no-frills” policy of Southwest Airlines in the US, he became convinced that their approach could be successful in the European Union.

Thus, Ryanair began flying to secondary EU airports with much lower charges and to rely on online check-in which cut the company’s overhead costs even further.

Today, the airline’s headquarters are based in Dublin and its main hubs are Dublin Airport (DUB) and London Stansted (STN). The company connects more than 30 countries and performs nearly 2000 services a day on its more than 300 operational aircraft.

In 2017 and in partnership with Air Europa, Ryanair launched long haul services to Cuba, Mexico and Brazil.

Ryanair Rankings

Skytrax, the leading airline ranking website, has given Ryanair an overall score of 6/10. This rating represents the average customer satisfaction for air travel components such as overall passenger comfort and value for money.

 Luggage and Fare Information

Ryanair allows air travellers to bring a single small cabin bag onboard free of charge. If you'd like, you can bring an additional bag up to 10 kg to the gate but it will be tagged and taken to the plane's cargo free of charge. If passengers would like to purchase an additional checked-in baggage, they would have to pay €25 per bag if they declare it online and €40 if checking-in at the airport.