Pay up Ryanair.
That’s the message from the highest court of the European Union today, who found that the budget airline must reimburse passengers whose travel plans were disrupted and delayed but the Icelandic volcano eruption in 2010.
Meals, transport and accommodation are all covered by the the European Court of Justice (ECJ) finding, who ruled that on such occasions there is time or money limits to the airline’s duty of care to passengers.
BBC News reports that Dubliner Denise McDonagh had a seven-day wait for a Faro-Dublin flight on Ryanair and said she spent nearly €1,130 on a hotel, food and transport after her original flight was cancelled.
The airline had argues that the Eyjafjallajokull volcano eruption was so “extraordinary” that the normal rules for passenger care should not apply, but the judges ruling found that ‘extraordinary circumstances’ “do not release air carriers from their obligation to provide care”.
An Irish court must now decide the amount of compensation to which Ms McDonagh is entitled.
According to The Irish Times, Ryanair cancelled approximately 9,400 flights during the eruption period.
