The European court of Justice has ruled that Ryanair should have fully compensated a passenger whose flight was cancelled because of the volcanic ash cloud in 2010. On such occasions there is no limit – in time or money – to the airline’s duty to look after its passengers, the Court ruled.
Denise McDonagh had a seven-day wait for a Faro – Dublin flight on Ryanair and said she spent nearly €1,130 (£968) on a hotel, food and transport. Her compensation has not yet been paid.
Ryanair had argued that the eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano was so extraordinary that normal rules should not apply. But the judges’ ruling – which is now binding across the EU – said that such events “constitute ‘extraordinary circumstances’ which do not release air carriers from their obligation to provide care.”
The EU regulation on passenger rights “does not provide for any limitation, either temporal or monetary, of the obligation to provide care to passengers whose flight is cancelled due to extraordinary circumstances,” the ECJ said. “Thus, all the obligations to provide care to passengers are imposed on the air carrier for the whole period during which the passengers concerned must await their re-routing.”
Today’s ECJ ruling said that an Irish court must decide the amount of compensation to which Ms McDonagh is entitled. Her case had been referred to the ECJ by the Dublin Metropolitan District Court, which had sought clarification of EU law.
The passenger is entitled to “reimbursement of the amounts which proved necessary, appropriate and reasonable to make up for the shortcomings of the air carrier,” the ECJ said.
