Ryanair has baffled two British passengers after paying out £160 to one of them for a cancelled flight – but refusing to compensate his friend who was on the same plane.
David Drummond and Alistair Rae, both 20, took a trip to Warsaw last month but found their return flight to Glasgow was cancelled thanks to Storm Ophelia.
Mr Rae applied for more than £160 compensation following the disruption caused by the 97mph storm – and the money was quickly paid into his bank account.
Alistair Rae (left) and David Drummond (right), both 20, took a trip to Warsaw last month but found their return flight to Glasgow was cancelled thanks to Storm Ophelia
The pair were due to leave the Polish capital on October 16 on Ryanair flight FR4742 but were told the day before by text it had been cancelled
But Mr Drummond, who was due to be on the same flight, received an email telling him there would be no cash because it was cancelled ‘due to adverse weather’.
Ryanair later claimed that both customers should not have received compensation because the flight was cancelled due to bad weather.
The pair were due to leave the Polish capital on October 16 on Ryanair flight FR4742 but were told the day before by text it had been cancelled.
Instead, they had to pay out more for Wizz Air flights to Aberdeen, staying the night in a hotel, and getting home by train the next day.
Ryanair refunded £29.59 each for the cancelled flights but took a different approach to the friends’ compensation claims for the Aberdeen flights, hotel stay and trains.
One of the bookings is pictured (left). Mr Drummond received an email telling him there would be no cash from Ryanair because the flight was cancelled ‘due to adverse weather’ (right)
On October 29, Ryanair emailed Mr Drummond to say: ‘We sincerely regret the cancellation of your flight FR4742 from Warsaw to Glasgow on the 16/10/17, which was due to adverse weather conditions (Storm Ophelia), outside of our control.
‘As this cancellation was unexpected and therefore outside Ryanair’s control we regret to advise that no monetary compensation is due under EU regulation 261/2004.’
But Mr Rae checked his bank account on Tuesday this week and discovered that the full claim of £165.26 had been paid in without him even being notified.
Mr Rae said: ‘Without receiving any email or form of contact, £165.26 appeared in my bank account.
‘Obviously we were doing exactly the same journey and in the same situation so it doesn’t make sense why I got a refund and David didn’t.’
Ryanair (file picture) refunded £29.59 each for the cancelled flights but took a different approach to the friends’ compensation claims for the Aberdeen flights, hotel stay and trains
He added: ‘David phoned them today and they said he filled out the wrong form but it was him that directed me to the correct form so we know 100 per cent we filled out the same form.
‘And I definitely claimed the refund for the return flight, I have got it on my bank statement.’
Mr Rae added: ‘To be honest it’s just ridiculous how a company like Ryanair, who so many people depend on for their holidays, are able to get away with cancelling flights at such short notice without giving a reason.
‘We were left with the option of either waiting four days and taking the next Ryanair flight home or paying our own way back to Glasgow.
‘Given the amount of cancellations recently we weren’t taking our chances waiting on the Friday Ryanair flight.’
Mr Drummond (pictured right during the trip) was told by Ryanair that he was due no monetary compensation under EU regulation 261/2004
He added: ‘I just find it baffling that they’re able to pick and choose who they give compensation to despite the fact we’re in exactly the same position and dealt with the issue in exactly the same way.
‘I can’t see us flying Ryanair again in the future, it’s all been a farce.’
A spokesman for Ryanair said: ‘This flight was cancelled due to safety concerns over Storm Ophelia that day (16 Oct).
‘As this was an ‘exceptional circumstances’ cancellation, no EU261 compensation is due, but both passengers received their chosen option of a refund of their unused air fare.
‘It appears that Mr Rae subsequently received a Euro 250 EU261 compensation payment due to an admin error by one of our reservations agents.’
Alex Neill, Which? Managing Director of Home Products and Services, said of Ryanair: ‘It must honour its legal duty to arrange alternative flights or provide a full refund, inform passengers of their rights and proactively pay compensation and reimburse reasonable out of pocket expenses.
‘This highlights once again the need for automatic compensation across the industry. Ryanair should now take the initiative and pay out to passengers it knows are entitled to compensation without making people jump through hoops.’
Mr Drummond (left) and Mr Rae (second right) were both booked on the same Ryanair flight
Last month Ryanair were forced to apologise for what they called a ‘one-off error’ when Mark Newman was denied compensation after his flight from Brussels to Edinburgh was cancelled with six days’ notice.
Mark was given the same ‘no further liability’ explanation as David, but Ryanair later admitted their mistake and promised to make a payment.
In September and October Ryanair was forced to cancel flights of hundreds of thousands of passengers because of staffing issues, but still announced that they expected to make record annual profits.