The Belfast Telegraph has highlighted a complaint by a person from Tyrone regarding delay in compensation and a wrong customer care approach by Ryanair to a complaint regarding a flight to Malta in the midst of the ash-cloud turbulence last year.

The complaint was raised in a feature by Paul Gosling entitled ‘Your Money’.

The question was:

“We flew to Malta in April last year with Ryanair. Our holiday was extended by five days as a result of the volcanic ash situation. Initially, Ryanair stated that it would not compensate passengers, but on 22 April it conceded that it would abide by EU regulations. We submitted our claim on 30 April for €980, supported by a letter and receipts. On 5 May, we resubmitted the claim, conforming with the statement by Ryanair on its website specifying how claims should be made.

“On 2 June we received an email from Ryanair stating that we did not have a valid claim. On 7 June we emailed requesting an explanation.

“On 15 June Ryanair emailed to say we had no entitlement as we had ‘chosen not to wait for a Ryanair flight.’

“On 17 June we emailed to explain that we had taken the first available Ryanair flight. On 23 June we were emailed by Ryanair advising that we should resubmit our claim (for the third time).

“There was then a further exchange of emails and faxes.

“On 26 August we received an email from Ryanair saying we would receive a cheque within 25 working days. We wrote again on 25 October and 17 November requesting the payment, which had not arrived.

“On 22 November we received an email promising a reply within eight weeks.

“On 2 December, Ryanair issued a cheque for £448.71 in ‘full and final settlement’ – this was approximately half our claim.

“On 4 December we wrote to Ryanair advising we would accept the payment as an instalment on our claim and seeking a breakdown as to the basis of its reduction.

“On 16 December we received a letter from Ryanair advising that our claim was being reassessed with a cheque to follow. We then lodged the cheque, but it was returned by our bank, noted ‘payment stopped’. It is six weeks since we last heard from Ryanair and nine months since we first submitted what we believe to be a bona fide claim.”

Mr Gosling replied: “Our normal practice with any question submitted by a reader is to work with a company’s media relations office to resolve the query or problem. Over the last decade, we have adopted this approach with many airlines, generally resolving problems in a straightforward way. We should, in fairness, say that we have had fewer complaints about Ryanair than some of their competitors.

“On this occasion, though, we have been frustrated in dealing with these two complaints. (Another complaint was referred to, regarding a flight to Spain).

“When we forwarded the problem of RR from Tyrone, Ryanair advised us that the matter was being transferred to the company’s customer services department to resolve. Soon after, Ryanair contacted RR to make an improved offer of £696.

“At this point we asked Ryanair’s media relations office to provide an explanation and comment regarding this offer, which was less than the amount claimed.

“The response, from Daniel de Carvalho, its European communications manager, was that ‘Ryanair passengers (sic) issues must be addressed with Ryanair customer service in writing as advised on Ryanair.com.’

“We requested clarification, asking: ‘Am I to interpret that as a refusal by your office to deal with this enquiry, or to provide a comment on the previous enquiry forwarded?’

“This, I would stress, is at variance with the policies and practices of all other European airlines that I have communicated with.”

“Mr de Carvalho gave the clarification that: ‘We are not refusing anything of the sort – we are providing you with advice (sic) for passengers and the advice (sic) is that Ryanair passengers should continue to address their issues with Customer Service who are better qualified to deal with customer issues.’

“We responded with the comment: ‘Thanks, but I don’t understand the difference in practice between what you are saying and the wording that I used.’

“There was no subsequent reply. The Civil Aviation Authority told us it was unable to intervene.”