Consumers’ association advises on Ryanair rights

The Cyprus Consumers’ Association (CCR) warned consumers on Friday that they need to make sure that their rights are respected after Ryanair’s decision to cancel scheduled flights.

So far flights to and from Cyprus have not been affected, but the CCR wants to make sure that consumers know what they are entitled to if flights are cancelled.

In an announcement issued after Ryanair’s decision to cancel 40 to 50 flights a day over the next six weeks, the association said that in this difficult situation, consumers need to make sure their rights are observed and people get the compensation they are entitled to, noting that in their official statement “Ryanair only speaks of the fact that it will offer a rerouting or a refund, while (most likely) they intentionally forgot to mention compensation”.

As the CCR explains, passengers are entitled to choose between a reimbursement and a free rerouting in case of cancellation, but in addition they have the right to compensation and to receive care such as meals and refreshments, hotel accommodation if needed, transport between the airport and place of residence, and two phone calls or emails free of charge.

If a flight is cancelled, the passenger has to receive compensation of €250, €400 or €600, depending on the flight distance, unless the cancellation is due to extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken.

The airline is not obliged to pay compensation to consumers only if it notifies them of a cancellation in good time, at least two weeks before the scheduled departure time.

Compensation can be reduced by 50 per cent if the new flight offered by the airlines arrives shortly after the originally scheduled arrival time – two, three or four hours depending on the flight distance.

As noted in the announcement, the airline reports that mass cancellations are part of its effort to improve the accuracy of its flights and the need to allocate the remaining annual licenses to pilots and cabin crew before the end of this calendar year.

The consumer association considers that “this is not a valid reason to cause so much discomfort to consumers and certainly not an extraordinary circumstance that could relieve the airline of its obligation to compensate the affected passengers.”

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.