Liesbeth from Brasschaat has been trying to claim compensation to which she is entitled from Ryanair for more than a year. However, the Irish airline has not responded to her attempts to recoup the cash that she is entitled to after her flight was cancelled due to a strike. The consumers association Testaankoop told Radio 2's consumer team Liesbeth’s story.
Brasschaat woman waiting for more than a year for compensation from Ryanair: "They hope that customers will give up"
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Last summer, Liesbeth's flight was canceled for the second time due to a strike by Ryanair staff. If a flight is cancelled, as a passenger you are under certain conditions entitled to compensation This is also the case in the event of a strike by airline staff.
Standard procedure is to fill in an online compensation claims form. However, despite repeated attempts Liesbeth has been unable to claim a refund "The system on the Ryanair website will not accept the online form. I keep getting an error message. My booking details are said to be incorrect. But they are correct. I am certain of that."
Liesbeth wants to receive the compensation she is entitled to at all costs. She told the VRT that "I have already attempted to file my claim both via the airline’s app and via its website, but neither accepts my request. For my flight to Almeria I am entitled to 400 euro. That is a large amount of money."
Unanswered phone calls
Liesbeth has also tried other means to contact Ryanair. She tried calling the airline by phone. "But that was unsuccessful too. Every time I call, I get an automatic message. It says that I can fill in an online form on their website. But of course that is precisely the problem I wish to discuss."
It is not the first time that Liesbeth has unsuccessfully tried to claim compensation for a cancelled flight. "Last year I booked a flight from Almeria to Charleroi, but that flight too was canceled due to a strike. Then too I was unable to submit the online claims form. It was the same story as now, one error message after another. My booking details were said to be incorrect. Out of frustration, I printed the form and sent it to Ryanair’s head office in Ireland. But I never received an answer."
Liesbeth is now missing out on compensation for a second time. "I can imagine that many customers ultimately give up and therefore never receive compensation, even though they are entitled to it."
Testaankoop: "Many unresolved complaints pending"
Laura Clays from the comsumers' association Testaankoop confirms that Liesbeth's story is not an isolated case. "We regularly receive complaints of this nature. Just like Liesbeth many customers fail to complete the online claims process and receive a message stating that the booking details entered are incorrect."
Testaankoop currently has a lot of unresolved complaints on this very issue. "The complaints we are now dealing with mainly date from the previous strikes. We have not yet had many complaints from the last two strikes, but that is logical as it is still a early days. People are still busy rebooking from their holiday or trying to get home."
What can you do?
But what can you, as a customer, do to ensure you receive your compensation? "The only way you will ever see your money is to carry on bombarding the airline’s customer service department with emails. Unfortunately, that is the only advice we can give right now. Ryanair is not giving its customers what they are entitled to and is failing to abide by the law ."
Testaankoop has been in contact with Ryanair for quite some time now. "We have been asking for the technical problems with the claim forms to be resolved for some time. But the issues continue to drag on. We are demanding that compensation be given automatically to every affected passenger. The customer should not have to do anything to get what they are entitled to"
Testaankoop addes that "Many passengers booked on canceled flights are being left out in the cold. Passengers continue to receive unwarranted error messages. This really shows bad will. Ryanair is doing everything it can to get consumers to drop the extra compensation."