Ryanair loses legal battle and more than 2M passengers could claim compensation

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In 2014, it was ruled that fliers have six years to make a flight delay claim
The budget airline was attempting to reduce this time to two years
Lawyers say Ryanair fliers could claim around £610million in compensation
A judge ruled that reducing this in the small print in its T&Cs was wrong

By Ray Massey, Transport Editor for the Daily Mail

Published: 06:17 EST, 21 August 2015 | Updated: 15:15 EST, 21 August 2015

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Air passengers scored a major victory today as a judge ruled that budget airline Ryanair's attempts to slash the time limit for passengers claiming compensation for delayed flights 'fall foul' of European law.

Lawyers estimate it could open the floodgates to 2.66million Ryanair passengers claiming around £610million in compensation, with claims against other airlines likely to follow.

Ryanair was accused of using the small print in its terms and conditions to get around rules that give passengers six years to make a claim if their flight is delayed – effectively reducing that limit to two years by stealth.

A judge ruled today that budget airline Ryanair's attempts to slash the time limit for passengers claiming compensation for delayed flights 'fall foul' of European law

Today a senior judge at Manchester County Court, His Honour Judge Platts, agreed and ruled that Ryanair cannot dictate how long passengers have to claim flight delay compensation through a clause in its small print.

The flight delay test case was brought six passengers in two families who suffered a delay of almost 10 hours when returning to Britain on a Ryanair flight from Reus, in Spain, to Stansted in Spring 2008.

Lawyers for Archana Goel, in a party of two, and Diwarkar Trivedi, in a party of four, all from London, said the judge's decision 'stands to benefit millions of passengers'.

In 2014, the Supreme Court ruled that passengers in England and Wales have six years to take a flight delay claim to court.

Ryanair had been attempting to reduce the amount of time passengers have to claim flight delay compensation through a clause in its Terms and Conditions – reducing the time limit from six years to two years, lawyers argued.

Manchester-based Bott & Co Solicitors, who specialise in flight delay cases and acted on behalf of Goel & Trivedi said after the ruling: 'We're delighted that the court has dismissed yet another argument put forward by the airlines to restrict passenger rights.

'If Ryanair had won, all airlines might have been able to put a two-year time bar on all existing and future claims.'

Lawyers estimate it could open the floodgates to 2.66million Ryanair passengers claiming around £610million in compensation, with claims against other airlines likely to follow

WHAT SHOULD RYANAIR PASSENGERS DO NOW?

A spokesman for Bott & Co solicitors encourages all passengers looking to pursue flight delay compensation from any point over the past six years to submit their claims as soon as possible.

Although Ryanair has requested an appeal to the court ruling, this has no impact as of now.

Ryanair has been arguing that by accepting the airline's Terms and Conditions when they buy a ticket, passengers agree that they only have two years to take a claim to court, despite the Supreme Court saying they have six years.

But lawyers pointed out that Article 15 of Flight Delay Regulation EC 261/2004 states that airlines 'cannot limit or restrict the rights contained in the Regulations'.

His Honour Judge Platts upheld Article 15 saying of the airline's two year Terms and Conditions argument: 'On any view that must amount to a restriction or limit on the airline's obligation to pay and thus fall foul of Article 15.1.'

A spokesman for Bott & Co solicitors said: 'As Goel and Trivedi v Ryanair is a test case, it is likely that all other flight compensation claims in England and Wales across will now follow the decision.

'As such, the ruling stands to benefit approximately 2.66million Ryanair passengers to around £610million in compensation. '

Flight delay Regulation EC 261/2004 entitles passengers to claim flight compensation of up to €600 (around £430) per person for delays of three hours or more, as long as the delay was not caused by 'extraordinary circumstances'.

The law states that airlines must apply the limitation period (how long a passenger has to take the claim to court) of the country where the claim is lodged.

YOUR RIGHTS: ARE YOU ENTITLED TO EU COMPENSATION?

The EU's Denied Boarding Regulation states that the airline has an obligation to offer you assistance – and sometimes compensation - if your flight delay is expected to go beyond a certain point.

But exactly what you're entitled to depends on the length of your delay and the length of your flight.

You are not entitled to compensation if the delay was due to 'extraordinary circumstances' such as severe weather. But the courts have ruled that a mechanical breakdown is not an 'extraordinary circumstance'
You may be entitled to compensation if your delay was more than two hours and you were travelling more than 932 miles.
You are entitled to meals, refreshments, phone calls and emails if one of the following occurs:
A flight under 932 miles (for example, London to Venice) is delayed for at least two hour
A flight within the EU that is more than 932 miles (for example, London to Athens) is delayed by at least three hours
A flight that isn't within the EU but is between 932 and 2,174 miles is delayed for at least three hours
Any other flight delayed for at least three hours

Courtesy: CAA

In a previous case (Dawson v Thomson Airways), the Supreme Court clarified that passengers in England and Wales have SIX years to take a claim to court in October 2014.

But in today's ruling Judge Platts suggested that Ryanair did not have this latest legal argument in mind when the Terms and Conditions were drawn up.

Judge Platts said that Ryanair's complicated legal argument: '…requires a somewhat ingenious legal analysis which I doubt was in the mind of the parties when the contract was made.'

The latest case was taken to court by Bott & Co Solicitors on 30th January 2014 – five years and eight months after the delay itself on March 6, 2008.

Ryanair originally put on hold the Goel & Trivedi case pending the outcome of two other test cases - Huzar v Jet2 and Dawson v Thomson Airways in 2014. Bott & Co said: 'But when the Supreme Court ruled in favour of delayed passengers in both cases, Ryanair changed its argument to focus on its Terms and Conditions to defend the claim.'

It added: 'Although no other airlines are currently running the two year limitation argument, the majority have a similar clause in their Terms and Conditions stating that passengers only have two years to issue court proceedings.

'If Ryanair had won the case, this could have led to all other airlines following suit and successfully putting a two year cap on claims.

'If that had happened, claims between two and six years where court proceedings have not yet been issued could have potentially been time barred.'

Bott & Co flight delay lawyer Kevin Clarke, who acted on behalf of Goel & Trivedi said: 'We're delighted that the court has dismissed yet another argument put forward by the airlines to restrict passenger rights.

SO WHAT EXACTLY ARE YOU ENTITLED TO?

If you qualify, you are entitled to:

Two free phone calls, faxes or emails
Free meals and refreshments appropriate to the delay
Free hotel accommodation and hotel transfers if an overnight stay is required

You can also choose not to travel, and get a refund of your ticket cost if the delay lasts for five hours or more but the flight is not cancelled.

Compensation for delayed flights is dependent on the reason for the delay.

Passengers travelling within the European Union who are delayed for more than three hours can be entitled to up to €400 (£280) in compensation, which rises to up to €600 (£420) if the journey is over 3,500km (2,170 miles).

The sums are given in Euros because it is covered by EU law so the a exact amount paid to UK travellers in pounds sterling may vary according to the exchange rate.

However, if the airline can prove the delay was caused by 'extraordinary circumstances', then no compensation is payable. Extraordinary circumstances are situations beyond the control of the airline, for example, security risk, political instability or severe weather that makes flying dangerous. Strikes are also usually included in this category. But the plane breaking down is not.

Courtesy: CAA

'The last twelve months have seen a series of landmark judgements obtained by Bott & Co on behalf of millions of passengers and this is as important as any of those that precede it.'

He added: 'The Supreme Court decision last year said passengers have six years to bring a claim.

'That is a definitive, binding, clear judgement from the highest court in England and Wales.

'This should have concluded matters but unfortunately Ryanair have been able to tweak the argument; we found ourselves running a complicated court case arguing the fine points of contract law.'

Mr Clarke said: 'We fully expect the airlines to continue to fight these cases but we are prepared to hold them to account in each and every instance where the law says compensation is payable, and with the courts continuing to find on behalf of consumers we've real cause to be optimistic that passengers will receive the compensation they are entitled to.'

Ryanair said it believed a six year time limit for a compensation claim was 'unnecessary and unreasonable' and will be appealing against the decision.

A Ryanair spokesman said: 'We note this ruling which reverses Lower Court orders that a 2 year time limit for claims is reasonable. Since we believe a 6 year time limit for submitting such claims is both unnecessary and unreasonable, we have instructed our lawyers to immediately appeal this ruling.'

The CAA issued a penalty against Jet2 and Wizz Air for applying a two year time limit on claims earlier this year, but did not do the same for Ryanair at that time.

Richard Lloyd, executive director of consumer champion charity Which? said: 'This case is a huge victory for consumers and should deter other attempts to shorten the six-year time limit for seeking redress.

'It's about time that airlines hold their hands up and pay compensation where it is due.

'We are urging people to hold their airline to account and claim the compensation they are rightly owed if they have a lengthy delay and the airline is at fault.'

A recent investigation by Which? found more than 9,000 flights in the UK are delayed for three hours or more over a 12-month period to May 2015, which could mean around 900,000 passengers are potentially eligible to receive compensation.

Ryanair added that the claims about its potential liability under the Manchester Court judgement were ‘absurd’.

A spokesman said: ‘Firstly, since less than one per cent of Ryanair flights are delayed over three hours and since more than 90 per cent of passengers make a valid claim within Ryanair’s contractual two year period, there is a tiny potential group of passengers who may wish to submit a claim between two and six years after the date of their flight delay.

‘Accordingly, Ryanair estimates that even if its appeal in this matter is ultimately unsuccessful, its potential liability will not be material and is likely to be less than €5m (£3.6million).’

HOW DOES RYANAIR'S ON-TIME PERFORMANCE COMPARE TO OTHERS?

In 2014, Ryanair had an average delay of 11.2 minutes. In comparison, Monarch's flights were, on average, delayed by 15.6 minutes. EasyJet had an average flight delay time of 12.2 minutes with flybe having the shortest wait time at 10.6 minutes. Both Wizzair and Jet2 saw average flight delays of 13.6 minutes over the same time frame.

In March, Ryanair introduced a new landing jingle in celebration of their 90% on-time arrival record in 2014. This was part of the airline's 'Always Getting Better' campaign.

'It's become synonymous with the Ryanair flight experience to hear an on-time arrival jingle, after all, over 90 per cent of our flights land on-time, and the new version has proven popular with our customers so far,' a spokesperson for the airline told MailOnline Travel at the time.

Courtesy: Flightontime.info

Ryanair has been arguing that by accepting the airline's Terms and Conditions when they buy a ticket, passengers agree that they only have two years to take a flight delay claim to court, despite the Supreme Court saying they have six years