RYANAIR has agreed to implement measures to ensure all passengers affected by recent flight cancellations are “fully aware” of their “rights and entitlements”.
The announcement came just half an hour before the deadline set by the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to the Dublin-based carrier to sort out compensation arrangements for hundreds of thousands of affected travellers or face possible action.
The latest round of Ryanair cancellations includes several popular routes used by Scottish travellers, such as Stansted to Edinburgh and Glasgow, Newcastle to Faro, and Glasgow to Las Palmas.
The CAA had accused the Dublin-based carrier of “not complying with the law” over its handling of the fiasco.
Ryanair’s new plans include passengers receiving full refunds or being booked onto alternative Ryanair flights or “other comparable transport options”, with reimbursement of “reasonable out-of-pocket expenses”.
The airline made the statement after meeting with Ireland’s Commission for Aviation Regulation.
Ryanair has now pledged to send a “clarification email” to customers outlining their rights and explaining how and when they will booked onto other flights.
CAA guidelines state that, under European Union law, if an airline cancels a flight it must offer passengers an alternative flight.
Customers “may have the right” to be booked onto flights by an alternative airline if it would mean reaching their destination “significantly sooner”.
Ryanair said that if it is not able to offer a flight on the same or next day from the original or “suitable alternative airport”, then it will book passengers onto flights by either easyJet, Jet2, Vueling, CityJet, Aer Lingus, Norwegian or Eurowings airlines.
If those options are not available then it will offer “comparable alternative transport” which may be a flight, train, bus or car hire, with costs “assessed on a case-by-case basis”.
Ryanair said its statement met the requirement of the CAA to clarify the airline’s obligations under EU261 rules.
It called upon the regulator to “now require UK airlines to comply”, claiming the legislation “did not apply” to British Airways when 75,000 passengers were stranded following an IT meltdown in May.
Kenny Jacobs, Ryanair’s chief marketing officer, said: “We apologise again sincerely for the disruption and inconvenience our rostering failure has caused some of our customers.
“We have taken on extra customer service staff and are moving now to process and expedite all EU261 claims from affected customers.
“We are committed to processing all such claims within 21 days of receipt and hope to have all such claims settled before the end of October.”
On Wednesday, the CAA published a letter inviting Ryanair to attend a meeting or take part in a conference call to explain how it would stop breaching consumer law by not fully informing passengers of their rights.
CAA chief executive Andrew Haines said he was “furious” after Ryanair cancelled an extra 18,000 flights for the winter season on Wednesday – a move that will hit 400,000 customers.
A Ryanair internal memo allegedly told call-centre staff to offer flights with other carriers – if the price “does not exceed three times the value of the original Ryanair fare”.
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