Ryanair faces £24million legal bill over flight cancellation chaos
BUDGET airline Ryanair could face compensation claims for cancelled flights totalling nearly £24million, according to a law firm representing affected passengers.
Ryanair could face compensation claims totalling £24million for cancelled flights
The Irish airline announced a mass cancellation of flights last weekend because of a pilot shortage which will affect more than 250,000 customers between now and the end of October.
Ryanair yesterday launched a sale of a million seats for £4.99 each flying from Stansted, Edinburgh and Newcastle from next month to February next year in a bid to recover from letting down passengers.
Leading flight delay compensation experts Bott & Co estimates the airline could be hit with claims costing £23,598,000.
Under EU rules passengers can submit claims when the notice of cancellation from airlines is less than two weeks before the scheduled departure date.
Ryanair has cancelled 828 flights within 14 days of publishing its list of affected flights
Bott & Co has started the legal work on all the cases that have come in
Ryanair has cancelled 828 flights within 14 days of publishing its list of affected scheduled flights, affecting 82,800 passengers.
The number of Ryanair passengers starting proceedings through the law firm’s online claims calculator has soared by 667 per cent in the past week.
A spokeswoman for the law firm said: “Bott & Co has started the legal work on all the cases that have come in.”
Ryanair’s marketing director Kenny Jacobs said it was forced to cancel 50 flights a day for six weeks due to a “mess up of the planning of pilot holidays”.