Ryanair loses delayed flight compensation test case

RYANAIR has lost a court case where it attempted to change the rules on claiming compensation for delayed flights. A Supreme Court decision made in 2014 confirmed that passengers had the right to claim within six years of the event, and on Friday (August 21) a Manchester court told Ryanair that it couldn’t shorten that time.

The airline tried to cut the time limit for claiming compensation from six years to two years by adding a clause stating this in the online terms and conditions that passengers agree to when booking a flight with them.

The judge in the case has ruled that this is not an acceptable defence although Ryanair has already indicated that it will appeal the judgement.

Travellers are entitled to claim between just under €200 up to as much as €600 for a delay of over three hours, depending on the length of delay and the distance of their proposed flight.

The final decision could affect millions of passengers as if Ryanair is eventually successful with the appeal, then other airlines are likely to follow its lead.