Passengers sueing Ryanair for cancelled flights
Passengers sueing Ryanair for cancelled flights
Ryanair is being sued by passengers whose flights have been cancelled. A Dutch company has instructed lawyers in Dublin to start proceedings against Ryanair.
EUclaim, which specialises in launching
legal action against airlines, has offered to handle
compensation claims on behalf of 40 passengers, reports The Telegraph. The legal action against
Dublin-based
Ryanair could lead to an "avalanche" of similar claims being made.
"When individual passengers approached the airline for
compensation they were informed that the delays or cancellations were due to weather conditions or technical problems," a spokesman for the
Dutch company said.
"In most cases airlines will reject claims made by individual passengers, stating 'extraordinary circumstances' as the cause of the delay or cancellation. But more often than not, this is not the case."
The spokesman added that it is virtually impossible for passengers to object to airline statements, allowing airlines to hide behind their claims of extraordinary circumstances.
EUclaim analyses flight and weather data, and says it is in a position to challenge claims of adverse weather conditions.
The
legal action against Ryanair is the latest attempt in the fight for passengers' rights; under EU law, a passenger is entitled to up to £476 of compensation if their flight is cancelled. However, efforts to enforce these rights are said to have been fiercely opposed by airlines.
"There are very few examples of airlines paying out for cancellations, they have routinely avoided it. They are using all sorts of excuses, [claiming] there has been weather disruption, three days after there were real problems," a spokesman for the
Air Transport Users Council said.
Ryanair has dismissed EUclaim's intervention, saying the airline only deals with
passenger complaints made directly in writing.
"We will never deal with greedy, ambulance chasing organisations who promote a compensation culture where people claim for anything and everything," a spokesman for the airline said.
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