Scotland - Ryanair loses compensation battle

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Source: theherald.co.uk

Ryanair loses compensation battle
JAMES MORGAN November 10 2006

RYANAIR has been forced to pay out more than £600 to four Scottish passengers who were left stranded in Poland.

The travellers have won a year-long battle for compensation after they were stranded in Krakow in January, with around 300 others, when their flight to Prestwick was cancelled.

The challenge could open the way to claims from other Scottish passengers who were on the affected flight.

After being told by airport staff that the next available flight was 10 days away, Elizabeth Kinghorn, 51, and her husband Stuart, 56, from Jedburgh, had no choice but to make their own back at their own expense.
They were joined by another stranded couple, Christina McCallum and her husband David, from Johnstone.

The four travellers paid £800 for an exhausting 16-hour journey, which involved a taxi to Krakow, a bus ride to Katowice, a taxi to the airport, a flight to Liverpool and finally, a car hire to Glasgow.

Mrs Kinghorn said: "Our return journey was a nightmare and extremely costly. But we were the lucky ones – we had enough money to get us back. There were others with no money, including a young mother with a nine-month-old baby. Who knows how she got home. We heard stories that it took some people four days."

The couples immediately sought compensation from Ryanair, but the airline was only willing to refund the cost of their original ticket – around £30. "Ryanair told us: 'As your flight disruption was outside the control of the airline we regret to inform you that no compensation is due.' As far as they were concerned if we got a refund that was the end of their involvement."

The couples wrote to the Polish Civil Aviation Authority, which agreed to take up their claim with Ryanair.

The lengthy process involved a series of e-mails, involving claims and counter-claims from Ryanair.

"Ryanair tried to say that we had been offered a flight back the next day, which was nonsense", says Mrs McCallum.

"They also said that we had failed to accept the help they offered and that we had cancelled our flights ourselves.

"Finally they claimed that they had given us all the information we needed about how to claim back our costs, while we were at the airport."

Finally, this week, the airline was ordered to comply with recent EU regulations, and pay both couples about £330 of the £400 they each spent.

"It would have been even more if we had kept all our receipts," said Mrs McCallum. "It turned out we were not eligible for 'compensation', but we were eligible for 'reimbursement' of travel costs.