Wednesday 1 October 2008

EUclaim and Irish law firm Lavelle Coleman fight for the rights of Ryanair passengers

EUclaim, the leader in the airline consumer rights movement has handed over dozens of claims to Dublin-based law firm Lavelle Coleman in a bid to ensure that passengers who have suffered flight cancellations or long delays whilst travelling with Ryanair receive the financial compensation that they are entitled to under EU Law.

Over the last year EUclaim has received a rapidly growing number of claims from disgruntled Ryanair passengers who have suffered delays or cancellations and in some cases were left several hundreds of miles away from their final destination, without any further assistance.

When individual passengers approached the airline for compensation they were informed that the delays or cancellations were due to ‘weather conditions’ or ‘technical problems’. When passengers contested the rejection, Ryanair stopped all communication with them.

In most cases airlines will reject claims made by individual passengers, stating ‘extraordinary circumstances’ as the cause of the delay or cancellation. But more often than not this is not the case. It is virtually impossible for passengers to object to airline statements about technical circumstances. As a result airlines have been able to effectively hide behind the claim of extraordinary circumstances.

EUclaim, who specialises in gathering and analysing flight data which it uses to assist passengers in dispute with airline companies, was approached by a group of dissatisfied Ryanair passengers and found that in most of the claims against Ryanair the reason for the delay or cancellation of the flight was simply because the airline didn’t have any aircraft available.

“EC Regulation 261/2004 was established in 2005 to protect passengers and their rights in the event of cancellation, denied boarding and long delays of flights - and it is very clear”. commented Hendrik Noorderhaven CEO, EUclaim. “Sadly, it has not been very effective, both in the UK and in Ireland, where it appears that the law and its requirement that passengers receive compensation is being blatantly ignored by this low cost carrier. We have already submitted dozens of claims to Ryanair, and there are more in the pipeline, but as yet we have not had a proper response from them. That is why we made the decision to take legal action and have passed these cases to Lavelle Coleman. Ryanair is not above the law - it had an agreement with these consumers and it failed to meet its obligations.” concluded Noorderhaven.

EUclaim has already helped make thousands of passengers aware of their consumer rights and has made it possible for them to receive their lawful compensation.

www.euclaim.co.uk www.euclaim.ie