There are two aspects to the legality of Rynair`s decisions:
1) What will Ryanair pay out
without court action? - absolutely nothing. They will not even comply with EU Regulation 261 in the event of cancelled or delayed flights. They consider themselves liable for the fare paid and that is all.
So to get any money out of Ryanair you have to take them to court...
2) What will the small claims court award based on your particular circumstances? - probably nothing. As I understand it, you purchase an air ticket to take you from A to B - full stop. The time aspect is an estimation of your take off and arrival time.
a) Is it reasonable for Ryanair to alter the take off time by 4 hours? (probably)
b) Your conditions (in the small print) state that in no circumstances will Ryanair pay for consequential loss in the event Ryanair does not honour their side of the deal.
In conclusion this lack of fairness is what we have to accept in the new low fares model. When things go wrong you are on your own. Its not fair, but its the reality.
To declare an interest - ive done maybe 100 sectors (leisure and business) with Ryanair over the last 2 years, with only one delay of two hours...
You can do what most people do after bad service - never book with them again and bad mouth to anyone who will listen (satisfying) OR you can factor in the risk when buying the next ticket.
In my case
ticket price + risk = cheaper price than rivals
Smala01
P.S. - Would Ryanair bother to defend a small court claim for <£200 - probably not for commercial reasons
