Ryanair accused of breaking the law after U-turn on cash refunds
Ryanair has gone back on its promise to immediately refund passengers for cancelled flights, issuing vouchers for future flights instead.
If passengers insist on cash refunds, the airline has told them they’ll have to wait in a refund queue ‘until the Covid-19 emergency has passed’.
Consumer campaign group Which? said the airline is breaking the law as under EU regulations airlines based in the EU or flying from an EU country must refund passengers for cancelled flights within seven days.
Rival easyJet has restored a link on its website for customers to claim refunds, while British Airways is also offering cash refunds but customers are reporting long waits to get through to its calls centre to put in their requests.
Ryanair was one of the airlines praised by travel agents at the start of the Covid-19 crisis for the way in which it was handling cancellations, with members of the travel industry ranking it higher than easyJet in TravelMole’s Smashed It campaign for its earlier decision to automatically refund passengers.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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