Ryanair cancels 2,100 flights in Sep-Oct 2017, and 18,000 more in Nov 2017-Mar 2018

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Re: Ryanair cancels 2,100 flights in Sep-Oct 2017, and 18,000 more in Nov 2017-Mar 2018

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Ryanair efforts to calm disgruntled pilots were dealt a blow after crew at London Stansted turned down a wage increase that was meant as a peace offering.
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Re: Ryanair cancels 2,100 flights in Sep-Oct 2017, and 18,000 more in Nov 2017-Mar 2018

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Ryanair Cuts H1 Fares By 5%
Profits Rise 11%
Traffic Grows 11% As Q2 Load Factors Improve To 97%
FY Profit Guidance Unchanged

https://www.aviation24.be/airlines/ryana ... wth-of-11/

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Re: Ryanair cancels 2,100 flights in Sep-Oct 2017, and 18,000 more in Nov 2017-Mar 2018

Post by Passenger »

In the Netherlands, the Department of Transport (Ministerie van Infrastructuur en Waterstaat) has now ordered the official consumer protection service ACM / Autoriteit Consument en Markt to investigate the communication from Ryanair towards the passengers that are affected.

The minister says that it seems that Ryanair has correctly informed the passengers by mailing them the link to their webpage with information on EU-Rule 261/2004, but that ACM has to investigate if Ryanair indeed will respect EU-Rule 261/2004.

The letter from the minister to the Parliament is online. It's this Word.doc:
https://www.tweedekamer.nl/downloads/do ... uatie.docx

Geachte voorzitter,

Naar aanleiding van vragen van mevrouw Visser (VVD) tijdens het AO Luchtvaart d.d. 28 september 2017 en het VAO Luchtvaart d.d. 4 oktober 2017 heeft de toenmalige staatssecretaris toegezegd de Kamer schriftelijk nader te informeren over de situatie bij Ryanair, in het bijzonder over de betekenis van de interventies van de Britse toezichthouder CAA voor de Nederlandse situatie. Met deze brief geef ik invulling aan deze toezegging.

Vergelijking met het Verenigd Koninkrijk
Allereerst ga ik in op de situatie in het Verenigd Koninkrijk, waar het aantal gedupeerde passagiers aanmerkelijk hoger ligt dan in Nederland. De CAA-UK is in actie gekomen tegen de aanvankelijke opvatting van Ryanair dat zij niet verplicht zou zijn om een alternatieve vlucht van een andere maatschappij aan te bieden. Aanvankelijk bood Ryanair in het Verenigd Koninkrijk alleen eigen vluchten als alternatief. Bovendien trad de CAA-UK op tegen de naar haar mening misleidende informatie door Ryanair over deze kwestie op de website en in persverklaringen. De grondslag voor het optreden tegen misleidende informatie staat in het Verenigd Koninkrijk in de ‘Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008'.
In Nederland ligt de bevoegdheid om op te treden tegen oneerlijke handelspraktijken bij de Autoriteit Consument en Markt (ACM), die kan handhaven op grond van de Wet oneerlijke handelspraktijken (Wet OHP). De Inspectie Leefomgeving en Transport (ILT) heeft geen wettelijke bevoegdheid om op basis van de Europese verordening 261/2004 op te treden tegen bijvoorbeeld een onoverzichtelijke website of e-mails. Wel heeft de ILT in het verleden Ryanair meermaals gewezen op de onduidelijkheid van de website, tot op heden zonder resultaat.

De e-mails die door Ryanair zijn verstuurd aan gedupeerde passagiers in het kader van de recente annuleringen, zijn door de ILT opgevraagd en beoordeeld. Naar het oordeel van de ILT voldoet de door Ryanair verstrekte informatie in de e-mails aan de eisen uit de Europese verordening, maar roept het vanuit het oogpunt van duidelijkheid voor de consument ook vragen op. De ILT heeft daarom de informatievoorziening door Ryanair aan de consument via de website én e-mails aan de getroffen passagiers recentelijk onder de aandacht gebracht van de ACM. De ACM beziet nu samen met andere nationale consumentenautoriteiten in het Europese samenwerkingsverband CPC of en in hoeverre er sprake is van een oneerlijke handelspraktijk in de zin van de wet OHP.

De situatie bij Ryanair: betekenis voor vluchten vanuit Nederland
Op 15 september 2017 maakte Ryanair bekend in de periode tot eind oktober dagelijks veertig tot vijftig vluchten te annuleren vanwege “problemen met de punctualiteit van de dienstregeling”. Naar schatting werden in totaal 315.000 passagiers van Ryanair hierdoor getroffen. Op 27 september 2017 maakte het bedrijf bekend ook in de periode vanaf november 2017 tot maart 2018 dagelijks vluchten te schrappen, waarmee naar schatting nog eens 400.000 passagiers worden getroffen.

De ILT heeft bij Ryanair gegevens opgevraagd over de geannuleerde, uit Nederland vertrekkende vluchten. Uit cijfers die door Ryanair zijn verstrekt, blijkt het om negen geannuleerde vluchten te gaan in de periode van 15 september tot 1 november, die korter dan twee weken voor vertrek zijn geannuleerd. Bij vluchten die op langere termijn (vijf weken tot vijf maanden voor vertrek) zijn geannuleerd, zijn geen Nederlandse bestemmingen opgenomen.

In totaal zijn 1.147 passagiers getroffen door de annuleringen in Nederland. Deze passagiers zijn door Ryanair per mail geïnformeerd, 1.014 van hen hebben daarop gereageerd. Ruim 300 passagiers zijn op alternatieve vluchten met een Ryanair-toestel vertrokken en nog eens 29 met een andere maatschappij. In totaal hebben 680 passagiers hun geld terug gehad; 133 passagiers hebben nog geen keuze gemaakt tussen geld terug of een alternatieve vlucht. Verder zijn er inmiddels 202 compensatieclaims ingediend, waarbij een claim ook meer dan één passagier kan betreffen.

Tot 1 november waren bij de ILT sinds 15 september dertien vragen binnen gekomen specifiek over annuleringen door Ryanair. Het aantal bij de ILT ingediende klachten over de afhandeling van compensatieclaims door Ryanair in verband met de annuleringen sinds medio september bedraagt nul. Hierbij moet worden bedacht dat een luchtvaartmaatschappij twee maanden de tijd heeft om te beslissen op een ingediende claim.

Naar aanleiding van de ontstane situatie zijn de volgende maatregelen getroffen:
1. De ILT heeft de teksten van e-mails opgevraagd waarmee Ryanair gedupeerde passagiers heeft geïnformeerd om te beoordelen of de opgesomde rechten juist, volledig en up-to-date zijn weergegeven en of correct is doorverwezen naar de bevoegde toezichthouder. De opgevraagde e-mails voldoen naar het oordeel van de ILT strikt genomen aan de eisen uit de Europese verordening in die zin dat in de mails een link is opgenomen naar een overzicht van alle zaken waarop gedupeerden recht hebben. Wel heeft de ILT twijfels of de informatie in de e-mails voor de reiziger erg duidelijk en overzichtelijk is weergegeven, maar hierover bevat de Europese verordening geen specifieke voorschriften. Om die reden zijn de mails door de ILT onder de aandacht van de ACM gebracht om te bezien of er wellicht grond is om op te treden tegen oneerlijke handelspraktijken in de zin van de wet OHP.
2. De ILT heeft naar aanleiding van de annuleringen door Ryanair via sociale media en op haar website de rechten van passagiers bij annuleringen extra onder de aandacht gebracht.
3. Op verzoek van de ILT heeft Ryanair op 19 september jl. schriftelijk laten weten geen beroep te zullen doen op “bijzondere omstandigheden”. Daardoor zou Ryanair geen compensatie hoeven uit te betalen. Ryanair heeft aangegeven om tot uitbetaling van compensatie over te zullen gaan. Zoals eerder aangegeven zijn er op dit moment geen klachten ontvangen of andere concrete signalen dat Ryanair de gedane toezegging niet nakomt.
4. Op 29 september jl. heeft Ryanair de ILT schriftelijk laten weten passagiers ook om te boeken op vluchten van andere luchtvaartmaatschappijen of op andere vervoersmiddelen (bus, trein) als er dezelfde of volgende dag geen andere optie beschikbaar is van Ryanair zelf. Juist over dit aspect was in het Verenigd Koninkrijk onduidelijkheid ontstaan. Ook hier geldt dat er geen aanwijzingen zijn dat deze toezegging in de Nederlandse situatie niet wordt nagekomen.

De ILT monitort de ontwikkelingen bij Ryanair en zal, als de situatie verandert, bezien welke actie gewenst is.


Hoogachtend,
DE MINISTER VAN INFRASTRUCTUUR EN WATERSTAAT.

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Re: Ryanair cancels 2,100 flights in Sep-Oct 2017, and 18,000 more in Nov 2017-Mar 2018

Post by sn26567 »

Italy’s Antitrust Authority started a process that may lead to a €5 million fine for Ryanair due to the latter’s mass flight cancellations in recent months. The carrier said there are no grounds to apply sanctions.
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Re: Ryanair cancels 2,100 flights in Sep-Oct 2017, and 18,000 more in Nov 2017-Mar 2018

Post by sn26567 »

Passenger wrote: 03 Jan 2018, 16:25 Ryanair hasn't paid the indemnity as obliged in EU-Rule 261/2004:
http://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/dmf20180103_03278027
I am surprised. I thought that MOL had promised to follow the EU rules after an injunction of the UK and Irish CAA. And he also recommended not to claim through specialised shops asking a hefty commission, but to go directly to Ryanair to have a full refund.
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Re: Ryanair cancels 2,100 flights in Sep-Oct 2017, and 18,000 more in Nov 2017-Mar 2018

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sn26567 wrote: 03 Jan 2018, 19:06
Passenger wrote: 03 Jan 2018, 16:25 Ryanair hasn't paid the indemnity as obliged in EU-Rule 261/2004:
http://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/dmf20180103_03278027
I am surprised. I thought that MOL had promised to follow the EU rules after an injunction of the UK and Irish CAA. And he also recommended not to claim through specialised shops asking a hefty commission, but to go directly to Ryanair to have a full refund.
O'Leary didn't promise to pay the indemnity for the cancelled bookings. He only promised to advise the existance of EU Rule 261/2004 to all cancelled passengers.

O'Leary has said before that he will only pay the indemnity when ordered so by court.

Jan Dessers, reader Het Laatste Nieuws: "Ryanair is zwaar aan het liegen... Ik vraag mijn geld terug van 11 december en ze vinden mijn booking niet meer terug. Ook mijn vorige bookingen hebben ze het verwijderd. Heb dan mijn tickets ingescand, en nu hoor ik niets meer.... Dievenbende... Nu moet ik dagvaarden voor 261 euro... Ga het wel doen, princiepskwestie". Translated in brief: they lie - I've asked a refund and they say they don't find my booking - so I mailed them a scan of my ticket - and now it's silence. I will have to sue them for just 261 € but I will do so - they're crooks.

That's exactly how O'Leary manages to reduces a multi million claim into one of a few Hundred Thousands: we don't pay, let them go to court. Only 1 on 1.000 will do that - the others give up.

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Re: Ryanair cancels 2,100 flights in Sep-Oct 2017, and 18,000 more in Nov 2017-Mar 2018

Post by sn26567 »

I heard on RTL news at 13:00 that a lady filed a claim alone, without the assistance of a claim hunter, without going to court. She had to insist, but she got her 500 euros for a return flight (2 × 250) from CRL.
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Re: Ryanair cancels 2,100 flights in Sep-Oct 2017, and 18,000 more in Nov 2017-Mar 2018

Post by Yuqu12 »

Ofcourse she got it, everyone who does so get their money. Plus, Ryanair will have to pay for her lawyer costs if she had one, as for such a low amount you go to the "Vrederechter - juge de paix", although it is not necessary that you have a lawyer there.

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Re: Ryanair cancels 2,100 flights in Sep-Oct 2017, and 18,000 more in Nov 2017-Mar 2018

Post by Passenger »

Yuqu12 wrote: 05 Jan 2018, 09:01 Of course she got it, everyone who does so get their money. Plus, Ryanair will have to pay for her lawyer costs if she had one, as for such a low amount you go to the "Vrederechter - juge de paix", although it is not necessary that you have a lawyer there.
Indeed: she was probable refused, and then said "I have legal insurance, see you in court". And only then, they paid.

Belgian justice also has a "rechtsplegingvergoeding" = a legal fee, to be paid if you loose a court case. It's up to the judge to decide the amount (which depends on the amount of the claim). Ryanair risks to be "condemned" to the maximum fee, because it will be obvious for the judge that the EU 261/2004 indeminity had to be paid. Maximum "justice fee" for court claims between 250-600 Euro is 600 Euro.

So every lost court case results for Ryanair in EU-indemnity plus the above justice fee plus normal court costs.

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Re: Ryanair cancels 2,100 flights in Sep-Oct 2017, and 18,000 more in Nov 2017-Mar 2018

Post by Didymus »

600 EUR is usually not going to cover the cost of a lawyer preparing and pleading a case in court.

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Re: Ryanair cancels 2,100 flights in Sep-Oct 2017, and 18,000 more in Nov 2017-Mar 2018

Post by Inquirer »

sn26567 wrote: 03 Jan 2018, 19:06
Passenger wrote: 03 Jan 2018, 16:25 Ryanair hasn't paid the indemnity as obliged in EU-Rule 261/2004:
http://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/dmf20180103_03278027
I am surprised. I thought that MOL had promised to follow the EU rules after an injunction of the UK and Irish CAA. And he also recommended not to claim through specialised shops asking a hefty commission, but to go directly to Ryanair to have a full refund.

Those specialized shops are known to evaluate carefully your case and if they take it, they are real pitbulls.

ryanair is probably trying to avoid having to deal with them and prefers to deal with customers individually to retain the upper hand; a strategy which is similar to the way they organize social relations and negotiations about labor conditions within their company: on an individual basis.

If the notoriously bullying behavior vs their staff is anything to go by, I'd go though professional claim firms too.

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Re: Ryanair cancels 2,100 flights in Sep-Oct 2017, and 18,000 more in Nov 2017-Mar 2018

Post by Passenger »

Didymus wrote: 05 Jan 2018, 17:30 600 EUR is usually not going to cover the cost of a lawyer preparing and pleading a case in court.
Indeed. But when you have a legal assistance insurance (like DAS), you don't have these costs. And when you go to court, you can also ask reimbursement of other costs, caused by the cancellation (like lost hotel costs abroad).

And from Ryanair view: they're 99% sure about the outcome of the court verdict = they willl have to pay the EU indemnity. So this 600 EUR adds to the total bill, making it more attractive to settle out of court.
Inquirer wrote: 05 Jan 2018, 17:55 Those specialized shops are known to evaluate carefully your case and if they take it, they are real pitbulls.

ryanair is probably trying to avoid having to deal with them and prefers to deal with customers individually to retain the upper hand; a strategy which is similar to the way they organize social relations and negotiations about labor conditions within their company: on an individual basis.

If the notoriously bullying behavior vs their staff is anything to go by, I'd go though professional claim firms too.
Indeed. With every single court case that such a law firms wins, they become financially stronger. Thus they get more means to start new cases against Ryanair.

And by settling the indemnity direct to the passengers, Ryanair can avoid most refunds of travel costs.

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Re: Ryanair cancels 2,100 flights in Sep-Oct 2017, and 18,000 more in Nov 2017-Mar 2018

Post by loginas »

I had 3 bookings canceled. Got refunds and filled complains immediately using their website.
First EU261 compensation I had transferred to my bank account within a week.
Second EU261 compensation came after about a month, strangely not as transfer but appeared as refund on my card that I used to pay for the flight.
Third one took some 3 months. After about a month they wrote they cannot find reservation and I should submit more documents. However the form for complaint follow-up would not work - it said reservation number invalid. So I submitted general complaint and got response about this website problem another month later. Two days later I got compensation approved and money appeared another week later.
All without any lawyers - just submitting forms on their website.

And I have very low opinion of the shops that claim to help get compensation. They only took clear cases where they are going to take their huge cut without any work.
I had disputed EU261 case once with another airline. There was a threat of strike in Greece and the airline proactively canceled flight. Later that day and still 24 hours before flight the strike was canceled and other airlines like Ryanair canceled the cancellation and operated. My airline had only one flight to Greece that day operated from their biggest base so even if they had to cancel last minute their other schedule would not be affected. I would argue they had no reason to cancel so far in advance and could have flown as there was actually no strike at all.
None of those compensation chaser firms would accept the case.

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Re: Ryanair cancels 2,100 flights in Sep-Oct 2017, and 18,000 more in Nov 2017-Mar 2018

Post by luchtzak »

This morning a huge case against Ryanair was introduced at the Commercial Court of Charleroi, about 400 passengers are claiming a compensation from the low-cost carrier. The Irish airline had cancelled thousands of flights at short notice last autumn, mostly at Charleroi airport. The complainants have asked Happy Flights, a company specialising in claiming compensation from airlines, to go to court.

https://www.aviation24.be/airlines/ryana ... assengers/

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Re: Ryanair cancels 2,100 flights in Sep-Oct 2017, and 18,000 more in Nov 2017-Mar 2018

Post by sn26567 »

luchtzak wrote: 26 Feb 2018, 15:27 This morning a huge case against Ryanair was introduced at the Commercial Court of Charleroi, about 400 passengers are claiming a compensation from the low-cost carrier.
The session of the Court this morning was very short: the case has been forwarded to another chamber of the Court, which will examine it at the end of March.
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Re: Ryanair cancels 2,100 flights in Sep-Oct 2017, and 18,000 more in Nov 2017-Mar 2018

Post by loginas »

luchtzak wrote: 26 Feb 2018, 15:27 This morning a huge case against Ryanair was introduced at the Commercial Court of Charleroi, about 400 passengers are claiming a compensation from the low-cost carrier. The Irish airline had cancelled thousands of flights at short notice last autumn, mostly at Charleroi airport. The complainants have asked Happy Flights, a company specialising in claiming compensation from airlines, to go to court.

https://www.aviation24.be/airlines/ryana ... assengers/
In other words an unscrupulous company tricked about 400 passengers to loose 25% or so of their compensations.

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Re: Ryanair cancels 2,100 flights in Sep-Oct 2017, and 18,000 more in Nov 2017-Mar 2018

Post by sn26567 »

loginas wrote: 26 Feb 2018, 21:52
luchtzak wrote: 26 Feb 2018, 15:27 This morning a huge case against Ryanair was introduced at the Commercial Court of Charleroi, about 400 passengers are claiming a compensation from the low-cost carrier. The Irish airline had cancelled thousands of flights at short notice last autumn, mostly at Charleroi airport. The complainants have asked Happy Flights, a company specialising in claiming compensation from airlines, to go to court.

https://www.aviation24.be/airlines/ryana ... assengers/
In other words, an unscrupulous company tricked about 400 passengers to lose 25% or so of their compensations.
Maybe this company will get something that the 400 passengers could not get directly from Ryanair, either because the introduction of a claim (in English) is too complicated, or because Ryanair refused to pay.

Ryanair has already said that it does not recognise the validity of the Court case in Belgium: its general conditions say that only Irish courts are competent.
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Re: Ryanair cancels 2,100 flights in Sep-Oct 2017, and 18,000 more in Nov 2017-Mar 2018

Post by loginas »

sn26567 wrote: 26 Feb 2018, 23:13 Ryanair has already said that it does not recognise the validity of the Court case in Belgium: its general conditions say that only Irish courts are competent.
And I think they are right.
But I do not see this as a problem. At least here it is easier to go after foreign company in foreign court using EU small claims procedure that to sue a local company.

In my opinion that company is just racking up fees by going to wrong courts. A honest company would just help with filling claims as Ryanair is quite willing to pay.

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Re: Ryanair cancels 2,100 flights in Sep-Oct 2017, and 18,000 more in Nov 2017-Mar 2018

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loginas wrote: 27 Feb 2018, 08:16
sn26567 wrote: 26 Feb 2018, 23:13 Ryanair has already said that it does not recognise the validity of the Court case in Belgium: its general conditions say that only Irish courts are competent.
And I think they are right.
No. Ryanair is wrong. The court of Charleroi is competent. The consumer has the right to choose the court. It's explained very well in the "Interpretative Guidelines on Regulation 261/2004" that the European Commission has issued on 15/06/2016, and that Ryanair's lawyers know very good:

8.1. Jurisdiction under which action can be brought under the Regulation
"...For flights from one Member State to another Member State, carried out on the basis of a contract with a single air carrier which is the operating carrier, a claim for compensation under the Regulation can be brought, at the applicant's choice, to the national court which has jurisdiction over either the place of departure or the place of arrival, as stated in the contract of carriage (62), in application of Regulation (EC) No 1215/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council (‘Brussels I’). Under Article 4(1) of Brussels I passengers also retain the option of bringing the matter before the courts of the defendant's (air carrier's) domicile..."

So actually, for a cancelled flight Charleroi-Faro, passengers may choose between a Belgian court, a Portugese court and an Irish court.

Ryanairs' statement that their general conditions state that only Irish courts are competent, is against Article 15 from the basic document = EU Rule 261/2004:

Exclusion of waiver.
1. Obligations vis-à-vis passengers pursuant to this Regulation may not be limited or waived, notably by a derogation or restrictive clause in the contract of carriage.

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