In what was described by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) as a “capitulation”, Ryanair responded on Friday evening to threats of legal action by emailing affected customers to tell them they could receive a refund or be transferred to other flights, or travel by train, bus or hire car.
However, as Ryanair customers digested the announcement, there was anger from those who had already accepted refunds. Travellers told of testy exchanges with customer service staff and having phone calls cut off when they pressed their case.
Vasileios Ntontis told the Observer that he had been scheduled to fly from Thessaloniki in Greece to Paris in November: he received an email from Ryanair on Wednesday saying the flight was cancelled, and giving him the option of a refund or rebooking with Ryanair. He accepted a refund and received a voucher the next day.
“On Friday I received a third email saying I could book a flight with another carrier and that Ryanair would cover the cost, but when I contacted them through their chat service they told me that I was not eligible as I had already opted for a refund,” he said.
“When I said that they had not given me that option in the first place, they weren’t very cooperative and tried to avoid any further conversation.”
Ntontis said that he had now booked a ticket with Austrian Airlines for €150 and had been forced to change his holiday dates.
Melissa, another passenger, who asked to be identified only by her first name, had booked Ryanair flights to travel with her boyfriend from Scotland to London for her graduation, but her tickets were cancelled.
“They should have paid for my new flights with a rival carrier, but I was not informed of this at the time and only offered a refund or rebooking on one of their flights. I took the refund and booked new flights. I now realise this was not an issue.
“I now can’t get hold of anyone to speak to about this. I have lost money on new flights and new transfers to the city centre and back, as I’m now having to fly to a different airport.”
A further 18,000 winter flights were cancelled by Ryanair last week in a move that affected 400,000 customers. Several popular routes used by UK travellers were hit, such as Stansted to Edinburgh and Glasgow, Gatwick to Belfast, Newcastle to Faro, and Glasgow to Las Palmas.
The latest cancellations add to mounting anger at Ryanair, which was already being heavily criticised after cancelling up to 50 flights a day earlier this month.
Kenny Jacobs, the airline’s chief marketing officer, said: “We apologise again sincerely for the disruption and inconvenience our rostering failure has caused some of our customers.
“We have taken on extra customer service staff and are moving now to process and expedite all EU261 claims from affected customers. We are committed to processing all such claims within 21 days of receipt and hope to have all such claims settled before the end of October.”
On Thursday, the CAA accused the Dublin-based carrier of “not complying with the law” over its handling of the fiasco and said it was not telling passengers that under EU261 they were entitled to be rerouted on another airline.
Ryanair’s offer to passengers has several conditions, including assessing the cost of flights on other airlines “on a case-by-case basis” before bookings are made.
Alex Neill, a managing director at consumer group Which?, said passengers face a “potential minefield” to reach their destination, describing the process as convoluted. “It still smacks of a lingering reluctance to do the right thing,” she said.
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