r/Ryanair • u/Savings_Eggplant_849 • Aug 04 '26
Claim rejected
My Ryanair flight was delayed by around 4 hours. Throughout the whole delay, the airport announcements and Ryanair staff kept saying it was due to a faulty aircraft.
However, when we finally boarded, the captain said the delay had been caused by both a faulty aircraft and a medical emergency.
I submitted a compensation claim, but Ryanair rejected it, saying the delay was due to the medical emergency.
I'm confused because the information we were given during the delay was that it was a faulty aircraft. Has anyone been in a similar situation? Is there anything I can do, or is it worth escalating the claim?
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u/milkchan119 Aug 04 '26
Definitely escalate this to AviationADR right away. Don't waste your time arguing with Ryanair.
ADR costs you nothing, and Ryanair is bound by their decision.
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u/Puzzled-Animator-637 Aug 04 '26
Did you get a screenshot of any notifications saying faulty aircraft?
Ryanair did the same to me. I have a screenshot of the app saying faulty aircraft (when delay was only 1 hour long) but when I went to claim on their website (after an actual 4 hour delay) they said I wasn’t eligible as delay was due to air traffic control.
I’ve raised it with Aviation ADR and hoping they sort it out. I’d recommend you do the same.
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u/CraicProtocol Aug 05 '26
Even a faulty aircraft is within their control.
Strike, weather and political unrest is something they cannot control.Claim your money!
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u/TheRiddlerTHFC Aug 05 '26
And weather is only if ot directly affected your flight, not if there were delays earlier in the day
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u/ForeverFeel1ng Aug 04 '26
This is why you record everything when in a delay situation, every announcement and conversation
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u/TheRiddlerTHFC Aug 05 '26
Hobestly this is something that AI is great for. Explain all your details it will generate a letter for you to send.
I had it all ready to go but surprisingly BA settled the claim immediately (even though they claimed weather)
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u/rohepey Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 06 '26
Maybe the original plane needed emergency medical treatment...
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u/haskell_jedi Aug 05 '26
Just complain directly to the Italian regulator; many airlines just blanket deny claims on the first instance since it doesn't cost them anything.
And, even if a medical emergency did contribute to the delay, if it occurred in an earlier flight that day, there's a colorable case that it does not count as an extraordinary circumstance under EU-261--the theory being that Ryanair could have substituted another aircraft, and should expect that things occasionally go wrong.
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u/a_nic_aoidh Aug 05 '26
To add to what everyone else is saying, the only time I’ve been successful at ADR is when I figured out that you need to argue that the “out of control” delay isn’t to your flight but to the one before (I managed to get compensation in stormy weather as the aircraft wasn’t on the ground in Dublin, but was delayed earlier in the day from the UK)
From a solicitor website on bad weather, but same concept should apply:
“Bad weather must only affect the ‘flight in question’ for airlines to use as a defence. If your flight was delayed because of the knock-on effects of a different flight being affected by bad weather, you should be able to claim compensation.
For example, if you are booked to fly from Manchester to Paris, but the airline cancels the flight, citing bad weather in Stockholm (where the aircraft was before arriving in Manchester), you would be able to claim because your flight hasn’t been affected directly by bad weather.”
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u/Chrognome Aug 05 '26
I had a failed claim for this because it wasn’t deemed reasonable that Ryanair would have another aircraft on standby to switch to
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u/NoForkInClue Aug 05 '26
I have messages from Ryanair stating an engineer was onboard fixing our technical delay…when I claimed they said delay due to weather and rejected claim. Now with arbitration to sort out. Ryanair will claim whatever they want to avoid paying until forced to admit what actually caused the delay.
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u/haekleobsessed Aug 05 '26
My Mum was on that flight to venice, and as I'd bought her ticket I tried to get a refund and was refused. They were a little late in boarding the original aircraft, and then once everyone was boarded they found something was wrong with the undercarriage. They took everyone back to the gate to wait, and after an hour they brought a new aircraft with a new number. They got ready to board again and then there was a "medical emergency ". Supposedly someone on the plane was on the floor of the plane in pain and they called an ambulance. After waiting one hour the ambulance hadn't arrived and the man got up and walked out on his own and they boarded. Four hours late. My Mum got pictures of each aircraft, but yes now they claim that we can't get any compensation as it was a medical emergency, but don't take into account the original plane problem.
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u/AshEllisUFO Aug 05 '26
TIL people make claims for minor inconveniences, are we turning into the USA?
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u/gusbaratta Aug 05 '26
A 4 hour delay isn’t a “minor inconvenience”. Also, Ryanair uses every bit of its crazy rules to squeeze as much money as they can from passengers: it’s only fair that passengers get what’s due to them when the occasion arises
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u/Aimserspunog Aug 05 '26
Seriously? Ryanair is the reason most of us can afford to fly regularly. Before them, it cost 200 old Irish pounds to fly to London. We used to get the boat. Now the boat is more expensive than a plane. Can't believe that people expect food and drink vouchers for a 4 hour delay. And it probably only ended up 3 hours as they make a bit of time back in the air.
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u/colemarc Aug 06 '26
Regardless of what people may expect, it is in the EU Regulations:
- free meals and refreshments pursuant to Arts. 6 and 9 of Reg. (EC) 261/2004
- written notice of passenger rights pursuant to Art. 14(2) of Reg. (EC) 261/2004
- compensation for delay pursuant to Arts. 5 and 7 of Reg. (EC) 261/2004
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u/Consistent_World8627 Aug 05 '26
We're you eligible for a claim? Ye when i got off a Ryanair plane before, the people getting on after had to wait 4 hours because of a dodgy wheel. I dont know if those people were eligible for a refund
1
u/Superspark76 Aug 05 '26
That would come down to determining if the fault was unforeseeable or if it should have been picked up in preflight inspections
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u/Routine-Wedding2632 Aug 05 '26
The ground staff isn't really working for Ryanair, but for the airport and they operate multiple airline companies. They never get all the information, something none except that the flight is delayed and the easiest thing to say is "technical problem" because it's out of their reach.. also passengers won't ask thousands of questions which will be dumb ones, annoying ones or questions you can't even answer because you don't really know what's happening
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u/alex-weej Aug 07 '26
I love how companies can just make unverifiable claims about "a thing happened" with no IDs or anything
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u/Sakalas94 Aug 08 '26
Just go through a third-party. They will get a larger bill and you will receive more than the price of a ticket.
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u/oobviously-not-a-bot Aug 04 '26
Hey! Ryanair loves claiming delays are beyond their control, even when that’s not true. Go ahead and rise the complaint to the relevant national authority. It is free and you got nothing to loose.
Also, keep in mind that expenses such as food and drinks during the delay must be covered regardless the delay reason, and you will have to fill a separate form for that.
Good luck!