Ryanair boss, Michael O’Leary has made a u-turn and will now compensate all Ryanair passengers caused by the six-day UK ‘airspace’ shutdown caused by the Icelandic volcanic ash clouds.
EU law states that if a flight is cancelled, passengers flying on European carriers in or out of the EU have the right to a refund or to be re-routed. Unfortunately there’s no such law against insurance companies turning their back on compensation claims while pointing to the clause that states this was an ‘Act of God’.
How far would I get if I were to argue I’m an atheist and so that excuse doesn’t have a dinosaur bone to stand on!
Michael O’Leary originally stated Ryanair would not be paying out compensation to cover stranded passengers extra accommodation and food bills but someone, somewhere with a marketing brain between his ears has obviously told O’Leary the damage such bad publicity would cause his tin pot airline.
Do you feel sorry for Michael O’Leary & Ryanair? I don’t.
It’s like paying for a cheap flight only to arrive at the check-in desk and find there are extra costs to pay because you didn’t read the small print!
Now he knows how it feels.
13 comments so far
1 MJ Ray // Apr 22, 2010 at 12:28 pm
I don’t feel sorry for him. He’s had a lot of news coverage simply for complying with the law belatedly.
2 john // Apr 22, 2010 at 12:33 pm
What a turn around! Problem is Ryanair maybe tinpot but are one of the few carriers who are actually cash rich, nice to get O’Leary to dip into it and re-imburse the customers that have supported his business.
3 james // Apr 22, 2010 at 3:11 pm
even terrortists don’t use Ryanair! They need to clean up their reputation. Good luck to them
4 David Snow // Apr 22, 2010 at 4:33 pm
I fly often within the EU and have regularly used Ryanair for my journeys. I have always been happy with their services. However I was a little angry to hear their ‘Top Banana’ saying basically he doesn’t give a toss about his passengers and I kind of regret now giving him a penny… Hopefully everyone heard his words and will remember them next time they are looking to fly somewhere…
5 Tony Klinger // Apr 22, 2010 at 4:34 pm
Sorry for that twit O’Leary running his tinpot airline? no, no, no! The man deserves all the negatives he gets and then some more.
Other stuff that should get thrown in the bin of Political Correctness are “green” must do’s, any mention of climate change, ritual bowing to the demands of the health and safety gestapo and last but not least any further erosion of our freedom to think for ourselves,
6 Jeremy // Apr 22, 2010 at 4:50 pm
I think it is great that O’Leary is refunding the customers’ money. It is gestures like this that give this airline the loyal returning fliers, and will make his company successful.
7 Bob // Apr 22, 2010 at 5:08 pm
If this is the law then presumably he never had any option to refuse to pay and this was just a tactic to get press coverage. I don’t think they care whether their PR.is bad. Their business model is based upon people being seduced by 99p fares, not on being liked.
8 John // Apr 22, 2010 at 8:05 pm
O’Leary has created a successful airline, how many people have tried that and failed? In recent years, only Branson comes to mind.
O’Leary’s brand is no frills. Acts of God are not frills! No frills – no pay!!
9 Rob Martin // Apr 23, 2010 at 1:35 am
thankful that we are in the EU people moan about it (esp Brits) but when it comes down to looking after our rights they soon change their tune, Act of God or not which is prob the excuse O’Leary wud use
10 Justin // Apr 23, 2010 at 11:48 am
I don’t necessarily feel sorry for Michael O’Leary. I do however feel generally sorry for the airlines as they seem to be baring the brunt of a situation that is entirely out of their hands. They are behaving responsibly in grounding their planes, putting safety ahead of commercial greed. I really hope that the insurers are forced to stump up something however. I just don’t agree with the Act of God clause. This should be exactly the sort of thing we insure against.
11 Edward Mugits // Apr 23, 2010 at 11:00 pm
Quite a twist here, an act of god and an act of pure marketing which may or may not have the desired return. Loyalty is lost in most cases when prices are the concern. Let a few months go by and if Ryanair can’t compete, loyalty is nothing more than a memory past.
12 Joy // Apr 24, 2010 at 5:56 pm
Does anyone know what the other airlines are doing in terms of compensation? All publicity is good publicity! It works wonders for Katie Price!!
13 Edinburgh Flights // Oct 12, 2010 at 7:45 am
Which gets us to the current problem: Information overload and too much choice. Where do you start? Which sources of travel information are even worth the effort? It’s enough to (almost) make you yearn for the days when you could set off with little more than a round-trip ticket in hand, vague itinerary in mind, and a vagabonding spring in your step.