Ryanair .... Again

[cris r]

We had a flight booked with Ryanair the end of April. I received an email 31st January saying our return flight had been cancelled and would I like a refund or a voucher. I opted for the refund as over the past twelve months I have changed the flight four times and each time it has cost us more money.
I filled in the refund form and sent it off. A week later I received another email this time saying the flight in April has a scheduled time change and if I am happy with this click the link. I did not click the link.
Today anther email informed me that I can not apply for a refund as the flight is now back on.
I’m wondering where I stand by law on this I have the original emails they sent. Can they refuse the refund once they have cancelled the flight.
On the back of this email I cancelled the car hire the car parking and the dog boarding.
To be honest the way things are I could not see us travelling. I still can not see anyone being able to tr@vel. I just don’t know how they can offer you a refund and take it back a week later. Interesting to hear what others think about it.

Many thanks Christine

[Chinajan]

When you filled in the refund form was it an online form or print off and post?

If online did you get an email acknowledging the refund request?

[Bobbisox1]

RA changes it's goalposts and regularly shows nothing short of contempt for passengers

[cris r]

Yes it was an online form. I just have an acknowledgement email which I printed of along with the cancellation email.

[Chinajan]

Did the acknowledgement state 'we have received your refund request' or not? We need more detail to be able to advise you.

[Chinajan]

Oh, and please check in your bookings to see if the flight is still existing as a booking.

[cris r]

No I just printed off the initial form. The last time we did this it took at least a week to get any reply. And yes it still exists as a booking.
But you can not process a refund if Ryanair do not cancel the flight

[Chinajan]

I've been doing a bit of searching and seems like you're not the only one with this issue. What seems to be happening is that there is no way to not accept the changes to the flight. They also state that they're not responsible for any ancillary costs caused by their changes/cancellations.

Someone else with legal expertise may have something to add but it looks to me, since they have now officially refused to refund, that you're stuck with the booking as it is. If you click their 'help' page there's a link to a chatbot [closed now for the evening] which may involve a wait but is probably preferable to hanging on the phone for hours.

[Hopkirk]

Just make a note to never book with that awful outfit again.

[cris r]

Thanks Chinajan
Yes have been travelling with Ryanair for years. I know how they operate you have to except the flight changes they offer you.
I can not get my head around the fact they got in touch with me to inform me of the cancellation.
I followed the online procedure that they gave me to process the refund.
You could not have got a refund if the flight had not been cancelled
But just like that with no word of apology they decide to put the flight back on. Really angry the way they treat you

[Paigntonian]

My view is that you must be barmy to travel in the current crisis.

[Paigntonian]

And I think it's irresponsible to potentially contract the virus and pass it on to others. Outward flights from the UK should be halted immediately. Only yesterday my friend was buried and his former wife couldn't travel from Spain because of their restrictions.

[Paigntonian]

What on earth are you doing booking flights in the middle of a worldwide pandemic?

[Chinajan]

How rude paigntonian. The flights could have been booked a year ago, not that it's anything to do with you.

[bednobs]

"Please refrain from being rude, abusive or judgemental - members come here for advice, not judgement! Members who offer only moral judgement will be suspended."
"My view is that you must be barmy to travel in the current crisis" well the current crisis wont be current at the end of April will it? It might be worse or it might be better, but unlikly to be the same

Anyway, there is still time for them to cancel i guess, depending on the world situation at the time of the flight

[cris r]

Thank you all you nice people for your helpful comments. Yes I did book this flight in April last year and have changed it four times since. We would not have gone anyway due to the pandemic. It was just a coincidence they emailed to say the flight was cancelled

[KARL]

I know a couple who in early January were to travel from one European country to another via the UK where a couple of days would be spent. The incoming flight was to be with easyjet, the outgoing one with Ryanair. Both flights were operated but at this point, due to the emergence of the English "variant", countries were refusing entry to travellers from the UK. The couple understandably decided to avoid the UK rather than get trapped there in transit. They contacted both airlines to ask about a refund if they cancelled, pointing out the reason.

Ryanair refused a refund but the couple pointed out that if they travelled on the flight, the destination country would deny them entry and Ryanair would then have to fly them back to the UK. Ryanair still refused to refund. The couple said in that case they would turn up for the flight and present themselves at the gate. They asked what Ryanair would do, knowing that they had to make a choice: Take the passengers out and back, or deny them boarding (automatic duty to pay €400 per passenger under law). "I don't know" was the employee's honest answer. The couple repeated that they would come to the gate ready to fly.

To their infinite credit, easyjet's immediate reaction was to refund in full.

What Ryanair did not know was that the couple were never going to be in a position to turn up at the gate because they would be steering clear of the UK altogether. The matter was therefore never put to the test, which I think is a bit of a pity. The lesson learned is not to use Ryanair if at all possible - I know someone else who will rather pay (and has done on numerous occasions) for whatever alternative to flying with Ryanair is on offer.

[KARL]

Having read the outburst above, I would point out (as my story illustrates) that the UK, along with some other but not all countries, is particularly badly affected by the pandemic. The people whose story I told were travelling (for a long-term stay) to a country/area which up to then did rather well (the English variant has by now changed that somewhat). Most importantly, they came from a country where Covid was at that point, and remains to this day, virtually non-existent. They did the responsible thing and avoided the UK, although that was as much as anything to avoid becoming trapped there.

[ummmm]

I've never had a problem with Ryanair. When you can get a flight back from Ireland much cheaper than a train ticket to London, I wouldn't complain.

[Ellipsis]

This was published on the Government website yesterday: "It is of course illegal to travel abroad without a legally permitted reason to do so. So it’s illegal to travel abroad for holidays and other leisure purposes."

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/strengthening-our-health-protection-at-the-border
Oral statement to Parliament
Strengthening our health protection at the border
Statement by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the new system of health measures at the border that will come into force on Monday 15 February.

[cris r]

Yes we agree this is why we had decided a few weeks ago to forgo the £562.00 Ryanair had had from us and not travel throughout the Covid misery. We would not want to be anywhere other than home at this time. Back to my point when I logged into my Ryanair account it told me the return flight had been cancelled and let me process the refund online only to change there mind. On the day I refunded my flight there where limited flights over to Alicante and now they have flights everyday. Even though as you say you can not fly