A couple of weeks ago a Ryanair flight (from Italy to the UK), for which I didn't buy travel insurance, was delayed by about 2h50'.
At the time of arrival, since it was late at night and the last buses had already left, the only way for me to get to my intended destination was to pay £50 for a taxi ride, of which I hold the receipt.
Can this expense be covered by the company under European regulations?
Exactly today (coincidentally, the same day somebody offered a bounty on my question), an Alternative Dispute Resolution agency made a determination on my case, after Ryanair and I failed to agree on the matter.
They decided that Ryanair doesn't have to refund the expenses.
the contract between Mr (..) and Ryanair was solely for transportation from Bari airport to London Stansted airport. Whilst I appreciate that Mr (..) did experience a flight delay with Ryanair, I consider that once he arrived at his final destination on the ticket held with Ryanair, there is no further obligation for Ryanair to refund any further expenses incurred under Article 9 EC261/2004.
This is not explicitly covered under EU261, as the airline's obligation is to ensure that you arrive at your destination airport. Exception to this could be if the ground transportation services were either provided directly by the airlines at no additional charge, or if they were offered by the airlines as a bundled purchase, but executed by a 3rd party.
Each individual airlines may have policies that extend beyond minimal requirements of EU261 and you should appeal directly.
It all comes down to their individual interpretation of Article 9
Right to care 1. Where reference is made to this Article, passengers shall be offered free of charge: a. meals and refreshments in a reasonable relation to the waiting time; b. hotel accommodation in cases - where a stay of one or more nights becomes necessary, or - where a stay additional to that intended by the passenger becomes necessary; c. transport between the airport and place of accommodation (hotel or other). 2. In addition, passengers shall be offered free of charge two telephone calls, telex or fax messages, or e-mails. 3. In applying this Article, the operating air carrier shall pay particular attention to the needs of persons with reduced mobility and any persons accompanying them, as well as to the needs of unaccompanied children.
For reference, here is case precedent with a woman suing Ryanair related to EU261 claims - http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?docid=133245&doclang=EN
EU delay compensation only kicks in at 3 hours:
If you arrived at your final destination with a delay of more than 3 hours, you are entitled to compensation, unless the delay was due to extraordinary circumstances. The airline has to prove this by providing, for example, extracts from logbooks or incident reports. The air carrier should give this evidence to the relevant national enforcement body as well as to the passengers concerned in line with national provisions on access to documents.
Therefore you don’t have a right to compensation.
