Dear Tripped Up,
Last March, my daughter and I went from Berlin, where she was studying, to Italy for her spring break. Our 8:50pm Ryanair flight to Rome was delayed for several hours and eventually postponed until 6am the next morning. We were given the address of a hotel and told we would be reimbursed for it, as well as transportation and meals, according to European Air Passenger Protection. The hotel was full so we found an alternative nearby for 61 euros. As a backup plan in case our flight was canceled, I reserved a second “Flexi Plus” Ryanair flight for the following evening, for a total of $908, which allowed us to postpone the flight to a future date, as long as we kept the schedule had rescheduled up to 2.5 hours earlier. departure. Our original flight departed around 9am, so when we finally arrived in Rome we spent two hours trying and trying to rebook the backup flight for a new trip in May via the Ryanair app, but the 'Confirm changes' button did the trick. it just doesn't. it works. So I queued up for a customer service chat (I was number 200), but eventually the app stopped working on me. I then called Ryanair, but the agent told me that rescheduling the flight by telephone would cost 180 euros. I declined and decided to contact the airline again when I got home – and submit an expense claim. Neither went well. I got what seemed like an automated (nonsensical) response about the app fiasco. And on the refund form that Ryanair has online, I have to provide my bank account details with an IBAN code – which US banks do not have. When I wrote to ask about alternatives, what was also supposed to be an automated response ignored what I wrote and sent me back to the same form twice. I believe Ryanair owes me about 100 euros for the hotel, taxi and meal, plus a flight for two from Berlin to Rome. Can you help? Tere, Wellesley, Mass.
Dear Tere,
Ryanair owes you a lot more than that, unless the airline claims the flight was delayed due to 'extraordinary circumstances'. When flights are delayed by three hours or more, European law requires airlines to compensate passengers at least 250 euros each, in addition to paying for meals, transportation and accommodation.
You have already asked for 100 euros to cover those costs, and your short flight entitles you to the minimum of 250 euros each, bringing the total of what Ryanair will not give you access to without the IBAN (or international bank account number) at 600 euros comes. about $625.
When I contacted Ryanair's media office in September, I received an initial response saying it would look into the matter, then ignored multiple follow-ups, including a detailed fact-checking email a week before the holiday.
So you may have bad luck with that flight to Rome in May. But I have a possible solution for the $625. You can open an account with an international financial services provider like Wise, which offers multi-currency accounts complete with IBAN numbers so customers can receive payments in euros. When Ryanair deposits the money, you can transfer that money into dollars to your Wise account (in this case for less than $3) or to your own US bank account (for less than $5).
However, it shouldn't be that difficult: Ryanair is legally required to pay “in cash, by electronic bank transfer, bank transfers or bank cheques”. There is no mention of excluding Americans or other travelers whose bank accounts don't have IBANs (or, for that matter, who spell “cheques” differently). I imagine Ryanair has a way to do it, if only a human at the airline would talk to one of us.
(A note here to say that I get a lot of nervous messages from Americans who are hesitant when European companies that owe them money ask for their banking information. This is a normal practice in Europe and many other parts of the world. As long as it is done by a reputable company through a secure platform, you don't have to worry.)
Now for the unresponsive responses you received from Ryanair when trying to resolve your issues.
From the correspondence you provided, I cannot say for certain whether it was received by a real person or by an automated system. But if it was human, it wasn't a well-educated one.
When you made a request to customer service to explain that you did not have an IBAN number so you could not complete the claim form, Ryanair sent an email saying: “You have used the incorrect form to complete your request “, and guided you, uselessly, back to the claim form. When you responded the same day and explained the problem again, you received another unsigned response that again referred you to the same form that you could not complete.
“Your question is now closed,” the email concluded.
When you wrote a separate request describing your experience with the Ryanair app while trying to change your Flexi Plus ticket, the response was no better. Whoever or whatever read it responded with a form letter about refunds – not what you asked about.
I think it's worth speculating that the problems you experienced finding a trained human to help you may be more common on low-cost airlines, of which Ryanair is one. We've come to expect and tolerate a combination of cramped seating, short staffing, less convenient airports, and fees for everything but cabin oxygen in exchange for great prices. But cost savings can also impact the numerous and interacting systems that each airline must design and maintain to manage its complex operations.
Nonsensical responses and buggy apps are of course not unique to low-cost airlines, and things go right far more often than they go wrong. But when so many things go wrong at once, it's hard not to suspect that you would have been better off with alternative travel plans. I also can't help but point out that the fastest route from Berlin to Rome by train takes about 14 and a half hours, about as long as this journey ultimately took you.
If you need advice on a well-designed itinerary gone wrong, send an email to TrippedUp@CBNewz.
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