Ryanair cancellations: Are you entitled to compensation?

Ryanair passengers could claim up to €400 (£355) if affected by the Ryanair flight cancellations. 

Under EU legislation, you can claim up to €250 (£222) on cancelled flights up to 1,500km, which rises to €400 for longer flight distances.

The Commission for Aviation Regulation says your airline must provide at least two weeks notice of a cancellation in order to avoid paying compensation. 

Those passengers with flights cancelled within the next two weeks could therefore be eligible. 

The Commission said: “Compensation may also be payable depending on the notice period Ryanair has given you.

“If you have been given less than seven days notice you must be offered an alternative flight departing no more than one hour before your original departure time and allowing arrival within two hours of the original scheduled time of arrival.

“Alternatively you must be offered a full refund.”

How to claim compensation

Ryanair has agreed to pay all required flight compensation to eligible passengers – a bill which could mount to nearly £18 million.

If you think you are eligible for compensation from your cancelled flight, you can fill in the online form on Ryanair’s website. 

This can be done at https://eu261expenseclaim.ryanair.com. 

Claims are usually paid within a week or less if approved by the airline.

Up to 400,000 passengers could be affected by the cancellations, which Ryanair admitted are a “mess”.

The airline says the move is to “improve its system-wide punctuality” after a sharp decrease in flights arriving on time in recent weeks.

It’s also to allow for a correction to the allocation of leave for pilots.

Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said: “We have messed up the allocation of annual leave to pilots in September and October because we are trying to allocate a full year’s leave into a nine month period from April to December. 

“This is a mess of our own making. I apologise sincerely to all our customers for any worry or concern this has caused them over the past weekend.” 

A full list of cancelled Ryanair flights through to October 28 can be found at https://www.ryanair.com/ie/en/useful-info/help-centre/travel-updates/flight-cancellations7.