Ryanair Refunds

I'll try and keep this a brief as possible :

We were due to fly from Alicante to Edinburgh on 26th March 2020 and received a text message from Ryanair to see our email regarding this flight.

On checking our emails we were given the option of either moving the dates of the flight (at no cost) or apply for a refund - we chose the refund option as this suited us best.

Today we have received an email from Ryanair saying that as the flight was cancelled due to COVID-19 this is now classed as an extraordinary circumstance and compensation does not apply under EU261/2004.

Where I am confused is that I applied for a refund not compensation under EU261 ?

Just wondering if anyone else is receiving similar responses.



(I do accept that it may be an error on the part of Ryanair in view of the volume of refund requests they are doubtless receiving)

I would say there trying there luck.

It wouldn't surprise me if Ryanair don't survive to the end of this year. The UK Gov't are not keen to give airlines financial support.

Sage wrote:It wouldn't surprise me if Ryanair don't survive to the end of this year. The UK Gov't are not keen to give airlines financial support.

I really hope this isn't the case or else those of us who pop back and forward might find this unsustainable.

Ryanair do have decent cash reserves so let's hope with furloughing staff and grounding planes they can come back from this.

Sage wrote:It wouldn't surprise me if Ryanair don't survive to the end of this year. The UK Gov't are not keen to give airlines financial support.

Especially when it's not a UK company.

I am in same place as my wife had her flight cancelled & rather than change the flight a refund was applied for which by all accounts takes upto a month to process because understandably they are rather busy.
I think that mention of the extraordinary circumstances is just to give clarity that you cannot apply for compensation literally just a refund or change which seems reasonable in the circumstances.

roberthamilton wrote:I'll try and keep this a brief as possible :

We were due to fly from Alicante to Edinburgh on 26th March 2020 and received a text message from Ryanair to see our email regarding this flight.

On checking our emails we were given the option of either moving the dates of the flight (at no cost) or apply for a refund - we chose the refund option as this suited us best.

Today we have received an email from Ryanair saying that as the flight was cancelled due to COVID-19 this is now classed as an extraordinary circumstance and compensation does not apply under EU261/2004.

Where I am confused is that I applied for a refund not compensation under EU261 ?

Just wondering if anyone else is receiving similar responses.



(I do accept that it may be an error on the part of Ryanair in view of the volume of refund requests they are doubtless receiving)

You are entitled to a refund but you are not entitled to the EU261 compensation (€400 each passenger) due to this being outside the airlines control (extraordinary circumstances).

You can claim your refund from the link in the cancellation email but don't hold your breath, we've been waiting 10 days so far. At least Ryanair are offering a refund, unlike Easjet who want you to either re-book at a vastly inflated price.....Or accept a voucher that has to be used within 6 months! We've started a chargeback procedure with our bank against Easjet to recover our money. Legally they are obliged to offer a refund.

I was due to fly to Ireland and received the same email, it's a generic one sent automatically to all bookings. I applied for a refund through manage my booking and got an email to say it would take up to 8 weeks due to the number of cancellations.

I think 28 days is a fair response time right now but I know some airlines are quoting a longer wait time than this.
Lots of people don’t think of Ryanair etc being a business in real trouble with all this and think they should pay the refund next day.
I don’t particularly like them and only use them when EasyJet isn’t available or way too expensive but I’d rather have them available than bust.
Our April flights were cancelled last week and I’m guessing our May ones will follow. I don’t think moving to another date is sensible right now as this may continue for quite some time so I’ll wait on the refund