Are you affected by Ryanair’s flight cancellations?

When Ryanair announced that it was set to cancel 40-50 flights a day over the month and a half, in order to improve its punctuality, there was genuine outcry from the public.

The measures, taken to improve punctuality, mean that hundreds of thousands of customers are forced to rearrange travel plans.

So are you affected by the cancelled flights? If so, reading up on what you are entitled to is important.

At the moment, the cancellations are being drip fed, so the public only have information regarding flights up to Wednesday 20th September. However, the budget airline has announced that they have emailed customers who have booked on cancelled flights to keep them abreast of the situation.

Ryanair have advised that customers can presume their flight is going ahead unless notified by email. Anyone who hasn’t received an email can double-check with the airline themselves on the state of schedules.

What to do if your flight is cancelled by Ryanair

Under EU rules, if you’ve been a, you can be awarded with a full refund or an alternative flight.

If you want to take the alternative flight option, it is up to the airline to find you available flights that are suitable. You can decide whether you want to fly as soon as possible, or at a later date that suits, subject to availability.

However, if Ryanair provide their customers with less than 14 days’ notice on cancellations, customers may be due compensation.

This is based on the arrival time of the alternative flight you’re offered – but you can claim compensation even if you opt for a refund instead and never actually take the alternative flight.

There are a few clauses to the grounds for compensation, and it all depends on the distance of the flight, how long the delay is and how much noticed you were given.

Can I get compensation on hire cars and hotels?

Unfortunately, a cancelled flight’s compensation will not cover consequential losses – ie, anything non-refundable that has been booked to tie in with the original flights, like hire cars, hotels and tours.

It might be a good idea to check our travel insurance to see if you’re covered. They may offer ‘abandonment protection’, however, this is not guaranteed on every policy.